I had a nice dinner at Barberio Osteria, located where Ancora and before it Locanda used to be near 16th and Mission. It’s an Italian/Cal-Italian restaurant from the owners of AltoVino which I haven’t been to.
More info from Eater:
The interior looks a lot like how I remember Locanda was (I didn’t try Ancora before it closed).
Free bread and olive oil mixed with chopped up olives.
I started with Acciughe ($18) marinated house cured local anchovies, pepperonata, olive oil poached marble potatoes, Star Route Farm’s mustard greens, fried capers, cherry tomato passato, crispy potato
Acciughe means anchovies in Italian (thanks Google). A hearty salad like dish. Herbs and greens including mint I think and chives, some brined butterflied boned anchovy filets, little potatoes, and a pepperonata which was like a caponata but with peppers instead of eggplant, sweet and sour. And some tomato sauce. Very good.
Sacchetti ($26) pasta parcels filled with slow roasted Stemple Creek lamb, pecorino romano, & rosemary served with zucchini & pecorino fonduta, peperonata, fresh herbs
Delicious! Pasta bundles of roast lamb. Thin but sturdy wrappers with a tender and juicy lamb filling. There was more of that sweet and sour pepperonata in the middle which at first seemed a little incongruous but worked well to cut through the richness of the stuffed pasta and the creamy sauce which had cheese and zucchini in it. The mint on top also provided a nice complement to the lamb filled dumplings.
For dessert I had Zabaglione ($14) nectarine zabaglione, citrus granita macerated berries & stone fruit
Which had lots of fresh berries and stone fruit along with a citrus-y granita. Seemed like a lot of dessert but the zabaglione custard was very light and airy. Refreshing and light.
I thought the pomodoro and the zabaglione were the highlights from my meal there. Fagottini and garganelli were both a little more al dente than I like, but that’s pretty common in higher end pasta places, so I don’t think they’re out of line from what seems to be standard. Everything seemed quite strongly flavored, maybe drifting towards unbalanced depending on your personal tastes. The Barberian cocktail is definitely too sweet for me. Overall pretty good, I’ll be back to check out some of the mains at some point.
I forgot to mention, they don’t have a full liquor license yet - I think they said they might have it next spring when I asked about amari. So no amari and only lower ABV cocktails right now (and wine and beer of course).
i don’t know how i missed this when i was posting my recent review, but i’m glad to know you liked your dinner! makes me definitely want to try it again.
First time visit to Barberio Osteria https://www.barberiosf.com/ and as a solo diner the kitchen counter seat was perfect to see the action in the kitchen. Pork belly appetizer, fresh pasta entrees and panna cotta were excellent. The fried olives were good but the braised oxtail filling hardly noticeable. Will be back with the family to try out more dishes soon.
