Dinner at Eight is a regular column by Ms.Collins reviewing restaurants in the Bay Area. If you have a restaurant you want reviewed, please send an email to the editor: midori@realgirlsmedia.com.
Rating Scale:
Panties in a twist (unimpressed)
Panties low-riding (intrigued)
Panties on the floor (impressed)
Panties swinging from the chandelier (amazed)
Albona
545 Francisco Street
San Francisco, CA 94133
(415) 441-1040
Conditions: Entertaining my boyfriend’s cousin from the East Bay. (She bagged at the last minute, so we ended up here on Date Night.)
Rationale: Wanted to try a place where we had never been before, and a friend had recommended the food.
Long story short: A quirky, off-the-beaten-path spot located on a North Beach side street with cuisine from Istria, a region most people can’t locate on a map.
The deal: No need to worry, the map is on the front of the menu. A few minutes of reading, and you’ll get a feel for the unique combination of flavors from this area, which has included parts of Croatia, Slovenia, and Italy. If you’re lucky, you’ll also get a short introduction to the food from the restaurant’s colorful owner, who will talk about the soup that he started in the morning (and every ingredient that went into it), the area the food originates from, and why it is not flavored heavily with garlic. He won’t, however, make any recommendations (each of the items on the menu are “like children” to him, and therefore, he has no favorites).
Some passionate suggestions from the server, on the other hand, turned out to be solid choices, beginning with an appetizer of warm, homemade marinara poured over calamari stuffed with fish, and leading to two memorable entrées. The first was braised rabbit slightly flavored with the sweetness of honey and brown sugar, served over creamy polenta. The second was the magical “strudel con pasta fatta in casa”—a bubbling casserole of pasta, salty prosciutto, and Lappi cheese, in a delicate tomato cream sauce.
We took the server’s suggestion for dessert, also, and ordered his favorite. The description didn’t sound like something that would have normally have appealed to me, but the frozen gelato mousse topped with Maraska cherries (not to be mistaken for maraschino cherries, the owner will admonish) in brandy was truly a perfect finish to the meal, particularly with a glass of port.
The space at Albona is small, and not unlike what you would imagine a grandparent’s dining room to look like—elegant, in an outdated way—but at the same time warm, welcoming, and totally unpretentious. White tablecloths and a quiet setting create an air of romance, and couples are the dominant patrons.
Downside: Had my boyfriend’s cousin made it, this would have been a slightly awkward choice for the three of us dining together. Albona is a prime spot for Date Night—but there’s no “scene” beyond the one created by you at your table—or, depending on the night, created by the owner and his colorful tales.
Rating: Panties on the floor (impressed)
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