Pesce

The welcoming, warm toned, wood clad walls seem to be about as close to a traditional Venetian cichetti bar as we will come with this venue. As I walked inside, it struck me that the restaurant was too modern, too spare, too polished, to give an authentic feel to the place, but that isn't what the owners had in mind for their restaurant. What they ran with instead was the small plate idea and a strong seafood representation on the menu. It was easy to find something that looked appealing to eat, and sitting at a table was a big plus; something not traditionally provided in a cichetti bar, unless it was an afterthought. Instead of an eat and run institution, Pesce is a comfortable restaurant where one can linger and savor the food. But don't look for really small plates, the sizes presented were much bigger than one would find in Venice and there was not a single menu item that was traditional.
 

My small meal consisted of two courses from the cichetti menu, the first cichetto was picked from the cold dishes offered on the menu and the second from the hot selections, even though my hot course was lukewarm at best, but that is definitely an authentic Italian approach.

 

 

The Carpaccio di Barbabietole was a lovely lite salad of roasted red beets, sliced paper thin and topped with a lemon dressed arugula salad that was sprinkled modestly with pecorino ricotta. The ricotta was so dense it was shaved onto the salad, and I suspect it was actually ricotta salata. Either way it had a mild creamy taste and worked well with the salad. I was wishing for more cheese, but the restraint kept the salad lite and a good first course selection. It was drizzled with extra virgin olive oil that had a slightly bitter taste, so the acidity level must have been more than the Italian standard of 1% or less.

The second course was also a salad, but this one named Polpo included grilled octopus. It worked well with the celery and potatoes, and was very tender. The thinly sliced octopus didn't have enough flavor for my needs, nor was it plentiful enough in proportion to the other ingredients. It arrived almost cold, but may have tasted better had it been served with more heat, even the heat of pepperoncino may have improved it some. Venetians are masters with spices and that tradition would have been welcomed had it been part of this particular dish.

Pesce Website

2227 Polk Street (between Green and Vallejo)
San Francisco, CA 94109
(415) 928-8025