I had a nice snacky dinner at the bar at Bar Sprezzatura in the Financial District near the Embarcadero. It’s in the Maritime Plaza across from the Punch Line Comedy Club.
Eater blurb here, it’s from the same group behind La Société:
The interior is very elegantly decorated with large floor to ceiling windows. The bar is first come first serve.
I had a couple spritzy cocktails as it was a warm day by SF standards.
PROSCIUTTO & MELONE ($18)
Meletti Bitters, Grappa Camomilla Cantaloupe Juice, Tonic, Prosecco
A delicious and refreshing cocktail. Lots of cantaloupe flavor. Delicious garnish - a piece of cantaloupe wrapped in a slice of prosciutto and topped with balsamic pearls.
NORCAL SBAGLIATO ($18)
Mommenpop Meyer Lemon, Lo-Fi Sweet Vermouth, GF Lemon Sour Ale
Bitter Negroni like flavors with fizziness from the sour beer. Also quite refreshing.
For food I had:
GUANCIALE MEATBALLS ($7)
“Polpette di Patrizio”
Off the cicchetti part of the menu, which are Venetian style small bites. Good tender meatballs with a tomato sauce that had large chunks of porky fatty smoky guanciale.
BACCALA MANTECATO ALL’ARCO ($8)
Whipped Salt Cod, Parsley, Garlic
Also off the cicchetti menu. A toast round with baccala and zucchini zoodles. Garnished with some little blue flowers. Quite good and pretty presentation.
They have a few dishes made with local Ramini buffalo mozzarella and I had the
STRACCIATELLA ($18)
Pistachio Green Olive Condimento, Focaccia
Which was the creamy middle part of the burrata with a pistachio and olive topping, along with two slices of very good focaccia that was crispy on the outside and soaked with a healthy amount of olive oil. Delicious.
These first dishes were served together on one plate. Focaccia in the back:
Finally I had a pasta, the
FRESH BIGOLI ($26)
Liberty Duck Ragu, Orange, Clove
Bigoli are like thick spaghetti. Very nice pasta that I think is made in-house, good texture. The duck ragú, which was made of minced duck and maybe some duck liver as well, was fine but a little thin and missing some oomph, or maybe just needed some salt.
No room for dessert, but I had a double espresso, which comes with some sparkling water.
In summary, very good cocktails that were a bit expensive, nice little bar bites/cicchetti to go with the cocktails, and really good focaccia and mozzarella.
