NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2001 01:40:03 +0000 (UTC) X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2919.6700 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2919.6700 Xref: usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu ba.food:66304 David D. wrote: > Someone wrote: > >Hint: Look into the Italian-American social clubs in your area. They frequently > >have benefit dinners or regular dinners which have some *real* Italian food. In > >fact, one person posted a few months ago about the "Italian American Social > >Club" on Russia Ave. in SF. That served as a reminder to me, as I hadn't been > >there in awhile. I believe the IASC still has a few nights a week it actually > >acts like a regular restaurant. I certainly have had some *real* Italian food > >there in the past. > > I've posted about the IASC, and I like it, but I don't find the food there > to be particularly Italian (the chef definitely isn't). It's retro > Italian-American comfort food, and I can't imagine an Italian worth his > quilted jacket setting foot in the place. > > Also, ravioli di zucca is not foo-foo. It's a simple, traditional, > seasonal dish. > > What dishes constitute your definition of real Italian food? Is it just > what your grandmother cooked? > > ObReal Italian restaurants in SF: > > Spiazzo Cafe (slightly Californicated, but a favorite) > Pazzia > Il Borgo > Il Fornaio (not always good, but inarguably real) I wholeheartedly agree on Pazzia. The place never fails to make me feel like I visited Italy, however briefly. But Il Fornaio? Yes, they have authentic, regional Italian dishes on the menu. Great, they can research and write a menu. But their execution is so inedibly piss poor as to be laughable. Unfortunately their prices are not. I had to spend a $75 gift certificate there. Wasn't hard to overshoot the gift with dinner for two, but ordering anything, inlcuding prosecco and vin santo -- which they don't even make! -- that warranted the price proved impossible. I don't think I'll ever go back unless I have to attend an event there (see Filippo's non answer above). -Amalia
San Francisco Bay Area, CA