La Aciugheta

Many years ago, my spouse and I found a hole in the wall restaurant just north of the Piazza San Marco in Venice in what is now a pharmacy. It had no more than 6 tables and it was cramped at that, but the food was wholesome and authentically home style and the pizza was very good. While on my own, I decided to revisit it and see what else they had on their menu. When I saw the pharmacy my heart sank, but just west of the old site I saw their sign "La Aciughetta" and knew I had not lost an old friend, but lived to see it prosper and expand. Come to think of it, we had been asked to pay our original bill at the larger location they hold today which had a different name; it confused me at the time. Perhaps we had stumbled upon them as they were starting their expansion. Now, it has a reputation as a very good wine bar, with cichetti and pizze, but the menu offers items you will not see in other restaurants and is well worth exploring.

Their outside seating is popular with tourists and wine enthusiasts, but I really enjoyed their spare, modern dining room.

Timballo is a name of the special dish prepared in the American movie "Big Night". It was a molded pasta and meat dish, but I have come to realize that the term timballo can be applied to any dish made in a mold. The photo above shows a dish that is a case in point. It was an onion and parmigiano timballo that had a velvety custard holding it together. I would purchase an entire cookbook for that one recipe.

Bottarga is the name of an ingredient that drew me to this particular pasta dish. It is typically used in Sicilian or Sardinian dishes and punctuates the flavors the way anchovies do. It is a fish roe, usually gray mullet or tuna that is made into a paste and cured in sea salt. It was fun to try but there were other choices on the menu that seemed so authentically Venetian that I was sorry I had not tried them instead. Next time, if they are still on the menu I intend to try the corn pasta with cinnamon and anchovies or the beef stew with cinnamon, cloves and red wine. I cannot find a website to connect to this review and I wish they had one so I could look at it right now and properly identify the name of the beef stew.

Campo SS. Filippo e Giacomo

Castello 4357 Venice

041 5224292

fax 041 5208222

This original post was dated for 9/20/2008

Update:

 









In 2012 we went back and tried this spinach timballo with a rich Parmigiano sauce. There were none to be seen on our last trip in 2015. In fact, the selection seemed to have changed dramatically.

 







The menu was missing the pasta sauced with cinnamon, olive oil, and anchovies; as well as the mussel dish, a very basic offering. There was no sign of the stew I referred to earlier.

Neither were there any of the non regional pastas we had seen, such as the Penne Marinara or Pesto. We would not order those anyway, because the results are better if you eat something local.


What I truly missed were the baccala manticato and the timbali. Since the vegetables wrapped in eggplant had no custard, they may not have been considered a timballo, but it would have been a pleasure to eat that again.



                                                                              





There were far too many vegetables to call it a risotto, but the rice was mixed with cheese; I suspect it was Grana Padano.

The potato and fish salad was at least an interesting combination, so it was a relief to see it on the menu, but the new dishes seemed a bit middle of the road, trying to please everyone, yet pleasing no one.

Tortellini with a prosciutto cream sauce wasn't as bad or bland as it looked, even though it is not a regional specialty in the Veneto. 

The fish filled ravioli were more plausible as a local specialty, but they lacked more than they offered, and there are better versions of this dish in Venice.

 

What does one do when a good  restaurant fails to perform? Perhaps, enjoy the atmosphere and have a few beers. In my case, I'll give it another try in a few years, if I can read the menu before sitting down. 

             

Pizzeria Amalfi

After hours on our feet and covering over 7 miles at The Vatican Museum and St. Peter's Basilica, we needed a rest. Not wanting to end up in a tourist trap across the street from St. Peter's, we walked through the Vatican walls and headed north for several blocks to Via Dei Gracchi and found Pizzeria Amalfi. It stood out because of it's large awning and double storefront width. The tables sitting along the sidewalk were full, but it was cooler inside, so we sat down with a sigh of relief. We had no expectations of eating, merely wanted cold drinks. After seeing  pizza fly past, we adjusted our plans.

Since it was hot, it was easy to convince ourselves that prosciutto crudo and melone would be refreshing, and they were. It may not be easy to say one restaurant serves better prosciutto than another, but we were too tired to notice any perceptible difference, and would gladly order this again at Amalfi.  

Being surrounded by pizzerie all over Rome, one thing that stands out is the look of the crust. Not all pizza are created equal and that is especially true of the crusts. Many of the crusts we had seen were flat and bore a resemblance to a cracker like flat bread. They appeared crisp, not chewy. Not so at Pizzeria Amalfi.

Once we saw the ingredients, we immediately needed to try the Zucchini flower pizza with mozzarella and anchovy. Until we bit into it, we had no idea that it had been made with fresh mozzarella. The creamy, milky taste was unmistakable and so much better than dried mozzarella. The flowers were sparse and dispersed throughout the pizza with an equally sparse number of anchovy, but they were just the right amount to allow the flavor of the cheese to dominate. The crust was chewy with a small inflated rim. We talked to the waiter about how we had been avoiding ordering a pizza in  Rome, so he informed us that the reason the Amalfi pizza was different was that it was made in the Neapolitan tradition. Good to know. He was happy to tell us that it had also been made in a wood fired oven.

WEBSITE

Via dei Gracchi 5, 12 Rome, Italy

+39 06 397 33165

email info@pizzeriaamalfi

Osteria Da Fortunato

 

Campo Dei Fiore is surrounded by a plethora of restaurants of various quality and price, not only in the campo itself, but on the surrounding streets. Fortunato has found a great way to distinguish itself from it's many competitors. They have their pasta maker (wearing the white scarf on her head) sitting front and center, so that she can be seen plying her trade by anyone passing by. For that reason it is difficult to continue onward past their osteria located on the small street heading south toward the northwest corner of the campo. Pasta must be ordered here, however, antipasti and secondi are also offered. Besides making fresh pasta, another thing that distinguishes Fortunato from its competitors is the fact that you as the customer make your own selection from a variety of sauces.

What was a quick photo op turned into an early lunch. As we were being seated, the pasta maker walked by with a large tray of gnocchi. No second guessing, with gnocchi that fresh it had to be tried, so a menu selection was quickly made. Coda Alla Vaccinara is a Roman classic. This tomato-based sauce is made with ox tail and celery to name but a few ingredients. I had noticed that the ox tail was also available as a secondi. Perhaps that explains why there was no meat which I had fully expected to find in this sauce. This proved to be a minor disappointment, as the sauce still had the bold flavor that I had also expected.

Caccio e Pepe is another classic Roman recipe. This time it was paired with tagliatelle that had been made with a very egg yolk, rich, pasta dough. The deep, yellow color of the dough made me think that perhaps they were experimenting with saffron flavoring, but it was actually their basic dough. The recipe is very close to that of Carbonara, with the exception of the Guanciale, a salt cured, pig jowl. The recipe is composed of pecorino cheese, eggs and pepper. It is simple and simply delicious and there's no better place to try it than Rome.

 

Via Dei Pellegrini

Rome, Lazio Italy

Acchiappafantasmi

As the capital of Italy, Rome attracts people from all over the country. Many of those people are hungry for familiar food from home, so small restaurants pop up all over the city, offering food from the different regions of Italy. This place is one such restaurant, specializing in Calabrian classic recipes that usually rank high on anyone's spiciness scale. They are also reviewed favorably for their pizza, but we didn't order any. After seeing so many pass by, I would have to classify Acchiappafantasmi (Ghostbusters) a pizzeria as well as an osteria.

One tipoff to Calabrian food is the use of hot, red peppers; another is 'Nduja, a soft spreadable sausage with a distinctive red chili pepper taste and the heat that goes along with it. The bruschetta pictured above is simply toasted rustic bread with 'Nduja. This sausage is rarely seen in the U.S. So it has become a habit to order it when we are able.

Although caponata is not a Calabrian recipe, it was well executed and the addition of potatoes and fresh basil gave it a unique spin. Serving it hot was also something new to me, but perfectly acceptable. Since it is porcini season, the menu included an appetizer made of porcini and black truffle with more of  that buttery tasting olive oil. It was served over a crust of some sort. It was unidentifiable, but necessary to hold the dish together. It was so good we went back the next evening for more along with another 'Nduja Bruschetta.

 

On our first visit, the house presented us with fried anchovy fillets. We tried ordering more on our second visit, but it was on a Sunday and they had none. That lead me to believe that they only serve it fresh on days when the fish markets are open. On the second visit, our waitress presented us with polpette, oddly unfamiliar, because they were unlike any meatballs we have ever tried before. They were flattened and made with breadcrumbs and perhaps a small amount of 'Nduya, They were little tasty morsels, no matter what ingredients they used; especially while drinking the red beer on tap.

While I failed to write down the name of the pasta, it can easily be described. The menu called it "dark" pasta, but that seems much more ambiguous than whole wheat. It was dressed simply with olive oil, garlic, and very fine breadcrumbs that had been toasted. The olive oil had a very buttery flavor which is not unusual in Southern Italian produced olive oils. Good on its own merit, this dish greatly improved with the grated cheese that was brought to the table. It was not the usual pecorino used throughout Rome, nor was it a Parmigiano as it lacked the nutty flavor. It is also unlikely that it would be Asiago, which is a Northern Italian cheese. The mouth feel was creamier than most hard cheese used for grating over pasta.

For someone who likes 'Nduja, it was easy to order the special that consisted of Strozzapreti dressed in a tomato sauce flavored with this distinctive tasting sausage. It met our expectations and was a good choice.

  

Rarely does one see a large selection of desserts, or at least atypical desserts, on an Italian menu. It took quite awhile to decide, so it seemed a good idea to try the Misti Mega, a tasting of five of  their desserts. The first was a bread pudding bathed in an orange flavored fruit sauce, then came a strudel. Next up was a tiramisu with chocolate dominating the coffee flavor; it may be the best I've tried. A scoop of vanilla gelato sat front and center on the plate, but paled in comparison to my favorite of the five items which was the amaretti mousse. Another simple execution, the mousse seemed to be made entirely of crushed amaretti cookies and whipped cream, however I suspect that it was more complicated than that.

Via dei Cappellari, 66

Rome, Italy 00186

+39 06 687 3462

Ragazza

 It's about time that I finally talk about Ragazza, my favorite neighborhood Pizzeria. It was a long time in coming, but the North Panhandle finally was presented with a good Italian restaurant and it was quite a present. Everything is cooked on a wood burning grill and that takes some doing when you're serving pasta and polenta. In truth, there is one gas burner, but no stove, so pasta is limited to one kind only. No matter because pizza is what people flock to the restaurant to order.

How does smoked mozzarella, sausage, potato and wild nettle sound for a unique topping? This pizza was delicious as are all the pizze served here and in part because of the dough.

Are you a traditionalist and need tomato sauce on your pizza? You won't find a typical pizza at Ragazza, so no cheese on this Puttanesca version, but you will find authentic Italian flavor combinations with sun cured black olive, capers and anchovies. You can always add the grated Parmigiano that is placed on your table along with red chili flakes.

If you have simple and traditional pizza cravings you can easily find a Pizza Margherita with both tomato sauce and Mozzarella cheese, but most of these seemed to be ordered by families with small children.

Thankfully the menu changes quite frequently, so there are so many choices at Ragazza if you are able to go there each month. Eggs are often an option for the pizze and this one was particularly good with smoked bacon, potato, red onion, Fontina and parsley.

Here's the same without the bacon and eggs, just in case that seems too much like a breakfast to you. Both are excellent choices and this works for the vegetarian. The fact that it's not overloaded with cheese is the best part of the Regazza pizza, because the other flavors are not smothered by the richness of the cheese.

I have always been attracted to mushroom pizza, but until I tried the Ragazza version with chanterelle mushrooms, I hadn't had the best. The caramelized onion and small amount of radicchio added a bittersweet (literally) taste that was the perfect complement to the mushrooms. I believe Fontina was used on this pizza also.

Just look at that chewy crust. Of all the pizze I've eaten,  my favorites always have a flavorful, chewy crust. Pizze with no puffy, chewy edges just leave me, well, flat. You can see that the exterior has a great little crunch to it. this was a Pizza Bianca. Again, no tomato sauce, but cheese, arugula, radicchio and white truffle oil.

Pancetta, portabello mushroom, mozzarella, red onion and stinging nettles make as fantastic a pizza as has ever crossed my lips. I wish this one were on the menu all year long, but the seasonality of the ingredients is what makes all the Regazza pizze so wonderful.

I've eaten so many great pizze at Ragazza that I don't even recall the name of this one. all I know is I've never met a pizza i didn't like at this treasure of a restaurant. This one had yellow crookneck squash, tomato and garlic among other toppings for their wonderful crust. But man does not eat by bread alone...

                                                                   Two memorable starters were  roasted pork belly with a piquant salsa verde, served upon a large white bean salad. the idea was good,, the execution even better. Then there was a roasted pickled pepper stuffed with tuna on a fresh corn salad. Both dishes brought so much to the table in the way of flavor and uniqueness. The salads involved were so refreshing and wonderful counterpoints to the richness of both the tuna and roasted pork belly. Oh! speaking of pork belly... yes, the restaurant did make a pizza with pork belly, large square chunks of it, but I haven't downloaded the photo yet.

The charcuterie plate was one of the best I've ordered in San Francisco but ask them to toast the bread, because the lardo is better eaten warm and the residual heat of the bread does the trick. That's fava puree and the carrots were pickled. Nice contrasts in flavors and textures were on this plate.

Salads are inspired at Ragazza. I believe this one was inspired directly by Sicilian cuisine because of the combination of oil cured, bitter black olives, blood oranges and fennel. We've also eaten broccoli salad, corn and orchietti salad, and radicchio salad that were very different from what you find in other Italian restaurants.

As far as grilled meats go, who could resist a perfectly cooked pork chop? Not I. It was blushing pink in the center and so juicy I had forgotten it was a pork chop.

The chicken cannelloni has been my favorite pasta thus far, but it's not on their menu often enough, however, the baked pasta with winter squash is a staple at the restaurant and provides a pasta dish  that's hearty and filling.

They also serve a variety of vegetables such as winter squash and Brussels sprouts that are  nicely roasted and very flavorful and seem much bigger than a side dish for a main course.

Two polentas have tempted me so far.

The first had sauteed chanterelles  with creme fraiche on top. They were creamy tasting to begin with and the savory mushrooms gave the polenta a very complimentary earthy taste that seemed so appropriate for a chilly evening.

The second was also creamy on its own, but  the added dairy,  the Fontina melted upon it made it even richer and the basil confetti added its perfume and sweetness to the dish. Both were very good and both were eaten on chilly evenings.

Desserts are also on the menu, if you have any stomach room to spare. I ask you, how does one bake a cheesecake on a grill? Perhaps there's a small oven somewhere, thankfully so, because the ricotta cheesecake is simple and satisfying. I've seen it served with fresh figs and caramel sauce or amareno cherries in syrup, both quite good. The tiramisu was done with a light hand on the whipped cream, that made it better than most. The chocolate torte was rich and would thrill any chocoholic in the room.

Ragazza's Website 

311 Divisadero St
San Francisco, CA 94117
(415) 255-1133