Locanda

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Brought to you by the makers of Delfina and Pizzeria Delfina.  I was really excited to try this restaurant since I absolutely love all the smaller dishes served at Pizzeria Delfina.  I found that the menu does have a lot of similar items to that of Delfina (the restaurant).

The complimentary toasted focaccia bread is lightly brushed with olive oil before its brought out to your table.

Jewish style artichokes.  A totally different preparation of artichokes that I'm used to (steamed or deep fried), this dish is a mixture of both.  The head of the artichoke is deep fried and lightly sprinkled with salt and mint.  With the addition of a squeeze of lemon, its a crunchy, salty, earthy flavors makes this dish a winner. 

 Part of Locanda's menu is broken into offal treats which are served in small or large portions.  This is the sweetbreads small portion.  I was really hoping for a different preparation than the usual fried method, but it came out lightly deep fried.  It was still delicious.  The smaller sweetbread portion was a lot larger than I thought.

Again, another dish off the offal portion of the menu.  The tripe was braised and served in a red sauce.  It reminds me of a more refined spaghetti O's canned sauce.  Not in a bad way, but that's what it tasted like.  The smaller portion again is quite generous here.

I'm always excited when bone marrow is on the menu.  This item is actually called pizza bianco with bone marrow.  Definitely not what you picture when you think pizza.  It's actually three toasted and butter (olive oil?) slices of bread to where you spread the bone marrow on top.  The bone marrow here is pretty awesome.  It's juicy and full of flavor.  It's served with a small salad made of celery, capers, and radish.  The combination of salad was a little strange to me.  I didnt find that it meshed well together.

Radiatore "pecora e pecorino".  I love this type of squiggly pasta.  Especially with a meat ragu, in this case duck ragu, the thick sauce gets stuck in the crevices of the pasta.  Just another way for the pasta to really soak up more of the flavors.  The shreds of mint were a nice touch to this pasta.

I was hoping that the oxtail dish would be fall off the bone tender, but it wasn't.  I spent some time wrestling the meat off the bone.  The meat is also rubbed with I think with either coffee grounds or cocoa beans, so it gives it a rough texture and a deep flavor.  Also, at this point I started to notice all the young celery leaves all over most of the dishes I ordered.  I didn't find that it added anything flavorwise to any of the dishes.

Address:                      Locanda

                                            557 Valencia St.

                                            San Francisco, CA

Type:                              Italian/American/casual

Popular chomps:  Jewish style artichoke
                                             sweetbreads
                                             duck egg with asparagus
                                             pizza bianca
                                             rigatoni alla carbonara

Chomp worthy:       Jewish style artichoke
                                             pizza bianca with bone marrow