The Best Italian & Italian-American Recipes on the Internet
The Chronicle’s food writers just completed a year-long culinary tour of San Francisco, one square mile at a time. The city was divided into 49 “squares”. Each Sunday the culinary adventurers shared their take on the best restaurants and food attractions in each square. After exploring …
The Purple Onion, the North Beach cellar club where Phyllis Diller, Woody Allen, Richard Pryor and the Smothers Brothers performed early in their careers, will close next month. A new owner has new plans for the building. A comedy cooperative staged shows at the Purple …
Victoria Pastry Company has reopened in its new digs near Washington Square Park, on Filbert just down the street from Saints Peter & Paul Church. Victoria moved after almost 100 years on the corner of Stockton & Vallejo, across the street from Little City Meats. …
Not Puccini’s opera, the North Beach cafe on Columbus with opera on the jukebox. Tosca Cafe, a favorite with the famous and locals alike, is 8 years short of its 100th anniversary. Owner Jeannette Etheridge just got an eviction notice. It all started earlier this week. The …
When I’m in Manhattan one morning is set aside for a visit to Arthur Avenue in the Bronx. If you want to experience a vibrant Italian-American food neighborhood with a distinctly southern Italian flavor, this is the place to go. When we make the 20-minute …
Don’t miss the annual Festa Coloniale Italiana this Saturday, August 11, 2012 on Washington Square in front of the San Francisco Italian Athletic Club (SFIAC). The Festa is the only Italian festival that celebrates San Francisco’s Italian and Italian-American heritage. It’s our version of Ferragosto, the …
Victoria Pastry has been in North Beach since 1914. The Vallejo and Stockton corner bakery closed last month to move to a new space on Filbert and Powell on the other side of Washington Square Park. As word about Victoria’s closing spread many wondered whether …
The 58th Annual North Beach Festival is next weekend, June 16-17. Don’t miss this opportunity to revel in all that North Beach has to offer. The weather will be superb. Stroll Grant Avenue, the oldest street in San Francisco. Enjoy music, ranging from The Carol …
I’m back in the Village after a week out of town and was pleased to see the Capos sign was up. Capos is Tony Gemignani’s new place on Vallejo (between Stockton and Columbus). As Tony promised the vintage National cash register sits proudly on top …
North Beach’s Tommaso’s opened in 1935. The Crotti family bought it in 1973 and they’re still serving the original menu from 77 years ago. Agostino Crotti boasts that Tommaso’s was the first to have a wood-burning oven on the West Coast . “That’s written in the books.” …
The Spring holidays are upon us. Passover is covered. We’ll be at Joyce Goldstein’s Seder celebrating the Italian Jewish kitchen. (Our private table is full. Sorry to those of you who wanted to join us. Maybe next time.) Now I’m getting ready for Easter. I’m making …
I’m jazzed. San Francisco’s own world-famous Italian cook, teacher and author Joyce Goldstein is preparing a Seder at Perbacco on April 10. The roots of this meal are in Square One, Goldstein’s sorely missed Jackson Square restaurant. She first served a Seder meal there in …
There was just one shuttered space left on the blocks surrounding Washington Square Park. Now there are none. The historic Original Joe’s restaurant re-opened in North Beach Thursday more than four years after a fire shuttered its Taylor Street location in the Tenderloin. “Joe’s Special,” a …
“It takes a village,” was the frequent refrain at a community meeting at Broadway Studios. The group gathered to develop a strategy to bring Broadway back. Call me crazy but after years of decline I think it’s happening. Maybe the transformation of Big Al’s sex …
Ciao Caesar’s
It’s the end of a North Beach era. After 56 years as a destination for locals, Caesar’s Restaurant near Fisherman’s Wharf, closed yesterday. The family-owned restaurant is a victim of changing San Francisco and North Beach demographics, changed tastes at the table, and a sour …