Ideale [San Francisco, North Beach]

[Mr_Happy]

I had dinner at Ideale in North Beach tonight, a longstanding (31 years) Roman restaurant which is in the process of being taken over by two of its employees:

https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/sf-ideale-restaurant-sold-after-three-decades-19857931.php

They have a full liquor license, and I started with a Negroni on the rocks ($14) which was a good Negroni.

There was free bread with olive oil.

CALAMARI E RUGHETTA ($20)
FRESH LOCAL CALAMARI, GRILLED AND SERVED WITH ORGANIC ARUGULA
I started with the calamari, which was grilled to a perfect doneness with a bit of smokiness from the grill. It came with a small salad of arugula and cherry tomatoes.

PIZZA FUNGHI E SALSICCIA ($23)
PIZZA TOPPED WITH MOZZARELLA FIOR DI LATTE, TOMATOES, HOME-MADE SAUSAGE & MUSHROOMS
For a main, I had the pizza with sausage and mushrooms. Ideale describes its pizzas as personal sized Roman pizzas, which I believe is pizza Romana tonda, a round pizza with a cracker thin crust. There aren’t that many places that serve this style in SF. I’ve been to Rome once but only sampled the pizza Romana al taglio there - the rectangular pizza sold by the kilo. So I can’t compare with the pizza tonda in Rome. Nevertheless, this was a delicious pizza. The crust was cracker thin and crispy, and there was just the right amount of sauce and cheese along with mushrooms and sausage.

TIRAMISU ($10)
MAURIZIO’S FAMOUS TIRAMISU LAYERS OF SPONGE CAKE DRENCHED WITH ESPRESSO & MASCARPONE DUSTED WITH COCOA
For dessert I had the tiramisu, which was a very good rendition, very moist, and soaked with espresso.

Menus

This was a delicious dinner at Ideale, with very friendly service at the bar.

[Mr_Happy]

I had another dinner at Ideale at the bar. It looks like with the change of ownership they switched to a beer & wine only license, there was no hard liquor at the bar.

CROSTINO DI FILETTO DI MANZO AL GORGONZOLA ($20)
TOASTED HOMEMADE BRUSCHETTA TOPPED WITH SLICED FILET MIGNON & GORGONZOLA
I started with a delicious appetizer of filet mignon crostini. There were three crostini, on toasted bread that was a little crispy but was moistened by the Gorgonzola sauce, which was creamy and not strong on the blue cheese funkiness. The toast with the sauce had a very good texture. The beef on top was cooked to a medium rare and was very tender. There was a simple salad of arugula and carrots on the side dressed with a vinaigrette.

PIZZA MARGHERITA ($21)
PIZZA TOPPED WITH MOZZARELLA FIOR DI LATTE, TOMATOES AND BASIL
And for a main, another pizza tonda. This time, a Margherita. It was simple and delicious and light and crispy with the cracker-like crust.

MILLEFOGLIE ($11)
“ONE THOUSAND LAYERS”: A LIGHT, FLAKY PUFF PASTRY LAYERED WITH CUSTARD, NUTELLA & CHOCOLATE GELATO
For dessert I had the millefoglie, which was artfully presented with a thin drizzle of caramel and garnished with strawberry slices. There were thin light crackly puff pastry sheet layers with a custard in between, topped with a scoop of chocolate gelato. This was a very nice dessert.