Cotogna [San Francisco, Financial District]

Went to Cotogna for a solo dinner a few weeks ago on a Sunday. Got seated at the bar/chef’s counter and had fun watching them make pizzas and dishes on the wood fired pizza oven and the wood fired stove, which you can feel the heat coming off of. Had their Sunday supper fixed price 4-course menu which is $55. They also serve their normal a la carte menu on Sundays.

This was the menu that day:

Insalata di Tonno e Cetriolo:
Fully Belly Farm cucumbers, poached albacore & quinoa - Very good, not sure what was in the sauce but may have been yogurt based. I’m usually not a big fan of quinoa but in this dish it was very crispy and was a nice texture change from the rest of the salad. Pretty hearty salad with a big chunks of tuna.

Pappardelle alle Erbe:
Mint, tarragon, chervil, lamb ragu & caciocavallo - This was great. Sauce was kind of thin and brothy but clung to the pasta, and the bits of lamb were tender and flavorful. There were herbs embedded in the pappardelle. Pasta had a nice bite to it. My favorite dish of the meal.

Porchetta della Casa:
Jillian’s porchetta, kale & smoked tomato - After hearing so much about their porchetta I was a little bit disappointed. Big portion. It came with crackling which was good, but some of the crackling was a little too tough to eat. Stuffed with a bit of sausage in the center I think, and topped with a nice brownish sauce. The meat itself was fine but didn’t blow me away. Served with an interesting looking purplish specked polenta which was good, and roasted cabbage and cherry tomatoes.

Tartelleta:
Stone fruit tartlet - this was a somewhat hard pastry topped with some sort of plum with I believe a raspberry sauce and a scoop of cream cheese flavored ice cream, and some granola-like things. Good contrast of slightly salty cream cheese ice cream with the sweet sauce, fruit, and pastry. Was a bit stuffed at this point.

This was a huge amount of food and I probably should have taken some of it home. I felt a little too stuffed afterwards. I wonder if dining solo had anything to do with it. For the amount and quality of food, $55 for the dinner was a pretty good deal. If I were going again on a Sunday though I would maybe order a little lighter off the a la carte menu.


Pictures:
Stove:

Insalata di Tonno e Cetriolo:

Pappardelle alle Erbe:

Porchetta della Casa:

Tartelleta:

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I didn’t know the a la carte menu was also available Sundays

Wow my phone camera was really cloudy when I posted this. Ate some more things at Cotogna recently.

Raviolo with farm egg & brown butter ($24)

A single large raviolo, stuffed with ricotta and a runny egg yolk. Quite impressive looking. This is apparently one of their signature dishes but this was a the first time I had it. Delicious. Nicely textured pasta. The cheese and runny yolk made a delicious combination. It was covered with a large amount of browned butter that added even more luxurious richness and a slightly sweet nutty flavor. A very nice pasta dish albeit a little on the expensive side at $24.


Lamb sausage, ramp and fontina pizza ($22)

The green pesto looking (and tasting) sauce in this pizza was made with ramps. The fontina cheese layer was a little more complex and tangy tasting than mozzarella. It was topped with balls of cured lamb sausage and little bits of what looked like pickled onions that provided a bit of acidity. Very good pizza. The thin crust had a nice chew, and by the end of the pizza (I ate the whole thing) my jaw was getting a good workout. Nice smoky wood fired char on the crust and bottom.

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Loved my meal there a couple years ago.

Never mind. Sounds good!

Barbacco ?

Yes. And Perbacco. But google says I’ve been to Cotogna, so what do I know?

I bristle at the $24 raviolo, but then again, HELL YES I would order that!

I am curious how they cooked the pasta while keeping the yolk so runny?!

Magic?

I found the recipe:

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Meanwhile, place the ravioli into a pot of boiling water for 5 minutes.

I would have thought boiling the raviolo for 5 minutes in water would be sufficient to cook the yolk inside somewhat. I guess I was wrong.

Check out the different cooking time here. Another recipue I read instructed to poach in a deep frying pan, three ravioli at a time. Sounds right to me.

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I had dinner at Cotogna for the first time in awhile a couple of weeks ago. I walked in early on a Saturday night and got a seat at the bar.

Started with the Corn triangoli with chives ($26), which were these large triangular pasta stuffed with a sweet and creamy pureed corn filling. Very nice texture on the pasta wrappers. The pasta were in a simple buttery sauce and were topped with some roasted corn kernels and some chives which added a nice savory allium accent to the sweetness of the pasta.

For a main course I had the Polpettone al forno with potato purée & Tuscan kale ($26). Delicious meatballs in a simple tomato sauce. The meatballs had a bit of a sausage-y texture and taste and were nice and savory and juicy. Nicely cooked kale. The potato purée was very buttery, kind of like a Robuchon mashed potato. Tasty potato, wish there had been a little more of it.

And finally for dessert I had the Fresh Run Farm Gravenstein apple crostata with vanilla cream ($12) which was a nice apple tart.

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Nice! I noticed they were on the Michelin list that’s been shared on HO. Was it busy? Do they check for proof of vaccination?

I went a bit after 5pm on a Saturday so there were a few seats available but they were pretty filled up by the time I left. Yes, they did check for proof of full vaccination for indoor dining (as all restaurants and bars in SF must do currently). They do also have some tables and a parklet outside for outdoor dining.

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Thanks! I went to Town Hall a few weeks ago on a Saturday night and I think it was emptier than I’ve ever seen a restaurant!

It’s been quite a long time since I’ve been to Cotogna, and I’m glad that it hasn’t skipped a beat especially with the outdoor dining space increasing its footprint so much.

Foccacia di Recco ($26) is a very different from the regular kind. It’s like a super thin, flaky “pancake” with cheese baked into the middle. The texture is astonishingly similar to a very well executed scallion pancake or paratha.

Tortelli di Piselli ($26) is a nod to spring, filled with an English pea puree, ricotta and lemon zest. I really liked the contrast between the richness of the cheese and the bright, sweet flavor of the freshly shucked peas and pea shoots.

Agnolotti del plin ($28), always is on the menu and is my favorite dish here. They swapped from saucing in a simple butter/pasta water finish to a meaty jus that amplified the savoriness of the filling. I like it even better than before.

Was very busy tonight, but I’m glad to see that it’s both doing well and able to maintain or even exceed what I had last time.

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I snagged a seat at the bar for dinner on Saturday.

Yes I ate a whole pizza by myself :pig: This was the
Lamb sausage with shishito peppers & oregano ($27)
Great pizza as per usual at Cotogna, very nice crust. The shishito slices had a little bit of heat to them.

I even had some room for dessert so had the
Semifreddo al cioccolato with coffee liquor ($13)
Which was a very nice chocolate semifreddo. Semifreddo is like ice cream but with a slightly harder texture. I’m not sure what the little bits were around it but they tasted like a crunchy chocolate cake which was a nice contrast in texture.

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Oooh that sounds like a great combo!

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