sunday, monday, tuesday

by michelletranny

Wednesday: oops, I’d planned on eating cereal for dinner tonight but ended up eating a late dinner at Ragazza instead with Lolo. The pork belly with Mission figs, farro and arugula (?) was amazing, but the stuffed sardines with breadcrumbs and the amatriciana pizza were too salty, even for me. The amatriciana pizza was topped with tomato, pancetta, chilies, Pecorino, oregano and an egg. Sad to say, the crust was actually too thin for my liking in the middle and perhaps even slightly overcooked ? such that the pizza bore a striking resemblance to flatbread, and not in a good way. Actually I know the pizza was overcooked, because the egg certainly was. Ragazza is not the new Pizzaiolo. It is quite affordable though, I must say.

ANYWAY..

As is evident in this next series of photos, I’ve been treating myself very well these last few days. I wanted to try one of the restaurants on the Bib Gourmand list this past weekend so P and I made resies for Kokkari Estiatorio on Sunday. We started off our meal with glasses of the 2008 Duckhorn decoy cabernet sauvignon and the crispy smelts with garlic-potato skordalia and lemon, the grilled octopus with lemon, oregano and olive oil, and the pan-fried Kefalograviera cheese with lemon and oregano. All the apps were pretty stellar — surprisingly, I was least blown away by the fried smelts, but I’d shove any of these things into my pie hole again any ol’ time.

The grilled octopus was SUPER NOMZ — very nicely flavored and with an amazing texture that I wasn’t expecting. It was doughy with just the right amount of chew — the closest thing I can think of to compare it to is a very dense fish like a halibut steak, but it’s a pretty unique texture really.

Aside from having to listen to some Stanfurd alums at the table next to us suck their own dicks, the ambiance of the restaurant was extremely pleasant, romantic even.

I ordered one of the specials, which was a goat stew with feta, artichokes, “tomato compote” and orzo. It was bursting with flavor. The goat meat was incredibly tender and almost too copious in the dish. I found myself almost wishing for more artichoke and orzo, but at least I definitely can’t accuse them of skimping on the meat! This was a really great dish.

Paul ordered the oven-roasted sea bass with potatoes, tomatoes and olives. The fish was succulent yet delicately flavored. I immediately swooped in on the fish head with my fork thinking that there would be some delicious cheeks to be had but alas, there were none to be found. A minor complaint but still, am I retarded (do sea bass not have cheeks?), or did someone steal our fish cheeks?

At $130 total the meal did not seem the fit to criteria for a Bib Gourmand pick, i.e. “For $40 or less, you can enjoy two courses and a glass of wine or dessert.” Maybe it’s possible to spend $40 each but it seems like kind of stretch. Regardless, I was happy to pay that much for a truly lovely meal. I’d rather pay more and have few complaints than pay less and have many.

On Monday, C, J and I had girlz night at Zero Zero, which we’d been wanting to try forever. Caro and Jane were already pretty wasted by the time I met them at Bloodhound before our reservation, so the meal was a real hoot!

We started off with a round of Ninth Wards, which had Bulleit bourbon, Velvet Falernum, St.Germain, lime and Peychaud bitters in them. Tho lux.

For starters, we ordered the yellowfin tuna with shaved raw artichoke, scallion radish and meyer lemon, the avocado bruschetta with pickled onion and house cured lardo, and the local squid cooked on the plancha with butter beans, peperonata and salsa verde.

The tuna appetizer was a very tasty flavor combination. I don’t feel like it was the freshest tuna I’ve ever had, but it definitely wasn’t not fresh. In my search for sushi in this city I’ve come to realize how picky I am with regard to the quality of sushi grade fish. Or at least I seem to be pickier than a lot of Yelpers out there.

The bruschetta was tasty and kind of reminded me of the avocado toast at Pizzaiolo. I definitely wish there had been more lardo though. Less avocado, more lardo. Pretty solid for $4.50 but I guess nothing special.

The squid was perfect. We all thought so.

I’m definitely coming back to try the trivella with cauliflower and blue crab… sounds amazing!

The bucatini with uni butter was so delicious and decadent. It was srsly like mac ‘n cheese, only better. It blew my mind!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The pici with short rib ragu was delish, but also kind of watery in a way.

We got the Geary Pizza, which had Manila clams, tomato sauce, garlic, bacon, pecorino, parsley and Calabrian chile. The combination of the Manila clams and bacon was kind of intense. I prefer the Pizzaiolo version with just clams and aioli. The crust on the Geary was spot on though — not too burnt like it can sometimes be at Pizzaiolo.

After our first round of cocktails we delved into some of the wines they have on tap. We had a carafe of the 2007 Alexander Valley sangiovese followed by a carafe of the 2007 Sonoma barbera. One of us couldn’t resist getting dessert, which at Zero Zero means Build-Your-Own-Sundae.

I found the ricotta doughnut enticing but was disappointed at the topping options for pairing it with. Where the fruit at? A berry compote would’ve been divine.

Jane:

Meh. The soft serve was flavored quite subtly — too subtly for the taste of my dining companions.

Look, a shit ton of lint on my glass. WTF?

It’s relief to have finally found a place that can dish up some good Italian in the same vein as the Pizzaiolo we so love and miss. We ladies really know how to treat ourselves on a night out. What a gorgeous gorging sesh.

I’d been wanting to try Super Duper for a few weeks now. The concept of a simple, In ‘n Out style menu with organic, good quality ingredients really appealed to me. No-No and P are always down for a good boygeh, so of course they were down.