Last Saturday was a hot day. For those of
you that don’t know… San Franciscan’s don’t ‘do’ hot. It’s actually hot here
maybe five days a year. There is no A/C anywhere and we all tend to look a
little frightened when it’s hot enough to potentially get sunburned.
I spent a good portion of the day napping in
front of the fan. Could we have gone to the park? Sure. But Dolores park was
akin to hipster Woodstock and we wanted no part of that. What did we want? Well
not to fire up the oven in our small apartment that’s for sure.
Good thing I had made a reservation at
Delfina for that night – two months in advance.
At 9 pm it was still hot in the city. People
crowded the streets. The sidewalk in front of Delfina was no exception. A small
mob stood outside hoping to get a seat, if not in the main restaurant, at least
in the pizzeria; wine glasses in hand, sweat on their brows.
We waded through the throng and made
it inside where our table was waiting for us.
Our waiter was new, that was clear, but his
small foibles were more than compensated for by his smile and the way the
entire staff worked together to ensure our comfort.
Again… it was hot. So hot. The thought of a
huge heavy meal all to ourselves was basically unbearable but there were also
so many things on the menu we wanted to try. We decided on sharing everything
to get a taste of more delectables. Tapas style if you will.
We settled into our cozy corner with a blood
orange bellini to start. Way too refreshing for words. Sparkly, sweet, perfect.
We quickly agreed on a bottle of rose to follow, the heat deemed it necessary.
For our antipasti? Speck with artichoke
fritti which I believe was on dandelion greens. It was salty, it was sweet, it
was balanced by the bitter greens.
For our salad? Chilled asparagus with a
prosecco zabaglione. The cloyingly sweet sauce was the perfect foil for the
piercing green stalks. A bite of the speck piled on top of the asparagus….
heaven.
Our secondi was a Strawberry
Mountain Ranch hanger steak and French fries. The steak was so rare it was
about blue. The sauce that enrobed it was a sweet and savory concoction that
was fruity, salty and had it been appropriate… drinkable. The fries were small,
crisp and soaked with the aforementioned sauce. As I made my way through the
steak, Mimi noted several times “hey you don’t like your meat rare”…. but my
half of the plate was just about licked clean. The steak had the texture of
butter and the sauce… oh the sauce.
We
sat back, completely satiated. I didn’t think I could go on but Mimi had other
plans. We would be ordering the Brachetto -Gatti Piero and the
Moscato d'Asti-Sori.
She
was right. They were delightful. Both crisp, cool, sweet and refreshing. At
this point we just knew that we were not going to be finishing any dessert, but
we had to try one…. at least one. For
our dolci we decided on the profiteroles with espresso gelato, warm chocolate
sauce and sugared almonds.
As
we sipped our dessert wines and waited for that dessert we took some joy in
people watching. Older gentleman with
trophy wife and ‘natural black’ hair? Check. Uncomfortable tourist wanting hot
sauce? Check. Young, newly engaged preppy couple both wearing loafers
with no socks? Check. Monied man out on a ‘date’ with an obvious escort? Check
and mate!
The
profiteroles came oozing cold gelato and warm chocolate that was as dark as
chocolate gets. We ate, we smiled. It was just a perfect evening.
Now…
I share my dining experiences more than ‘review’ eateries but I can say that
this is one experience I could in all good faith nudge you to indulge in
yourselves. It’s just an amazing neighborhood spot, that happens to be spot on.
If you want to give it a try you can reach them at:
621 18th Street
San Francisco, CA
415.552.4055
But
be warned… reservations required… early.
Enjoy!
Erin
