I had a very nice dinner at Penny Roma during SF Restaurant Week back in October. Penny Roma is a Cal-Italian restaurant from the owners of Flour + Water, which is just down the street. There is a pasta shop next door - Flour + Water Pasta Shop - where one can purchase their house-made pasta and other items, and the pasta for the restaurant is made there as well. More info from Eater:
The SF Restaurant Week prix fixe replaced their regular prix fixe for the week, and was priced at $65 per person with an optional wine pairing for $35. My dining companion wasn’t able to eat raw fish and they were great in accommodating that by splitting some of the crudo appetizers with non-raw fish appetizers.
Albacore Tartare
tomato, caper, calabrian oil, pistachio
Good meaty tuna with pistachios. Who knew raw fish plus nuts would make a winning combination.
Halibut
fennel, orange, pink peppercorn
Good, fresh citrusy sauce and an orange wedge.
Early Girl Caprese
jersey cow mozzarella, basil, balsamico
A well executed caprese salad with fresh basil, ripe Early Girl tomatoes and good mozz.
Fried Shishito Peppers
Assorted Pickles
Prosciutto San Daniele
persimmon, pecorino toscano, calabrian honey
A nice fall riff I think on prosciutto with melon, only with persimmon.
Caramelle con Stracchino e Noci
walnut, carmelized, onion, aceto balsamico
I looked up the name and the “caramelle” or caramel in Italian refers to the pasta shape, which resembled wrapped candies. Nicely textured pasta. They were filled with a creamy Stracchino cheese. The sauce had balsamic vinegar in it, which gave it a sweet acidic pop. It was topped with walnuts. Really good.
Squash Risotto
I couldn’t find this on the menu. This was a risotto with both honeynut (or butternut?) and delicata squash. This was ok, a little too soupy perhaps. It did have a lot of squash flavor.
Grilled Pork Chop
castelvetrano olive, peperonata, white bean purée
Delicious! Topped with kind of an olive giardiniera, the pork chops were very flavorful and not large. Maybe it was brined. Very tender and juicy as well.
Wild Arugula
parmigiano, cannonau wine vinaigrette
This simple arugula salad, which was dressed in a wine vinegar vinaigrette and topped with shaved parmesan, was nice and went well with the pork.
This was dessert but I neglected to write down anything about it.
