SPQR AT LAST

1911 Fillmore Street (@ Bush)
(415) 771-7779

Italian in Lower Pac Heights/Fillmore

Photos courtesy of Tinwin's new SLR!

Mike and I have been meaning to go here for awhile now, basically since Michael Bauer's raving reviews and my pastry chef friend was filling in there. After a few unsuccessful attempts (no reservations = ridiculously long waits), we finally made it out a little after its 5:30pm opening. Unfortunately for us, we were a few minutes too late because the first seating cut off a few people before us. Sucks! We weren't that hungry yet anyway, so we decided to stick out the almost 2 hour wait (RIDICULOUS).

We did "chef's seating," aka counter overlooking the extremely narrow kitchen and I think one of the line cooks hated us cause we were so loud. It's not our fault the place is so noisy! Can't hear anything. At least he couldn't spit in our food since we were watching him make it.

The food was pretty solid. I got so many recommendations to just go with the apps and not so much the entrees, and I have to agree with that, even though we got two pasta dishes anyway. They're very aggressive with the salt, which is what I prefer (cooking 101: season your food), but for others it was too much in some dishes. We had:

- fried cauliflower: unbattered, the frying was subtle and just added a nice crisp. This was one of the salty dishes
- fried bay scallops: they fried some small lemon slices too. The scallops were tiny.
- House-made sausage w/ braised fennel: the fennel was very nice
- Grilled romano beans
- Clams in lobster brodo: could've done without
- Potatoes: tasty!
- Grilled porcini: plump and juicy
- Canneloni
- Amatriciana: Mike thought it was decent, but I couldn't taste anything but tomatoes.

We didn't do dessert because we decided to go to Bi-Rite (salted caramel!). Everything was pretty decent. I'm not sure if I would go back, even without the wait. The apps were solid, but not enough to fill you up - I'd get hungry again like 2 hrs later. Maybe it would be better for lunch?