Delfina

[Pan]

I'm truly shocked that there is no thread on Delfina yet (as opposed to the threads on Pizzeria Delfina). But now there is.

My last meal on my recently-completed trip to San Francisco was a dinner with my brother at Delfina. We shared the following, most of which can be seen on the menu on Delfina's website:

Grilled fresh calamari with warm white bean salad

Little gem lettuce with gorgonzola piccante and champagne vinaigrette

Halibut with roasted fennel and tomato aioli (not on the menu online, may be subject to correction)

Buttermilk panna cotta with blackberries and lemon caramel

I also had two glasses of a Tocai that interacted especially well with the salmon, while my brother had one glass of a California Chardonnay and one glass of the Tocai.

In terms of quality, the cuisine struck me as occupying something of a middle position between a fine neighborhood restaurant like Cacio e Pepe in the East Village and a great one like Lupa, if I can make some comparisons with restaurants I know in New York -- except that Delfina is not really an Italian restaurant, and reminded me more of Scott Conant's cuisine at L'Impero, only less Italian. What Delfina serves, to me, is a really good Italian/Mediterranean-influenced California cuisine of impeccable ingredients, delivered by superb servers. The quality of the service can be summed up in the fact that our waiter gave us tastings of several different white wines, when we were ordering by the glass.

Some more specific comments on the food:

The calamari in the Grilled fresh calamari with warm white bean salad was grilled perfectly and couldn't have been better. The salad was tasty and the little white beans were really pleasant, but as a high-level criticism, we felt the dish could have benefitted from a little less liquid.

The lettuce hearts in the Little gem lettuce salad were truly little gems, but this salad should have been mixed better, as some lettuce hearts had a fairly extreme overabundance of vinegar inside and others, barely any. Excellent ingredients, but problematic execution.

The halibut dish, however, was absolutely brilliant! The fennel was roasted perfectly and had an unusually strong licoricey taste, and the tomato aioli was an imaginative and harmonious component. The fish was of course perfect.

The dessert was also really pleasant, with all ingredients having a bracing sourness and the result being only slightly sweet.

The total cost including tip was $60 [Edit: per person], and it was worth every penny. Delfina probably wouldn't be quite as popular amid all the competition it would face if it were in New York, but it would have a loyal clientele. Meanwhile, its San Franciscan fans are right: This is a restaurant well worth your patronage.

Edited September 8, 2005 by Pan (log)

[Pan]

I should add that we found the tomato aioli in the halibut dish to have a very healthy amount of hot pepper in it. That's rather in keeping with the spirit though not quite the taste of Nicois aioli (as it was really a plain aioli plus a very spicy tomato sauce), and we really liked it, but we thought that it would probably be in the restaurant's interest to include the hot pepper in the description, lest some diners might send it back.

[robyn]

Did you have any problems with reservations - being seated on time - anything like that (what I guess I would define as service issues)? We've made some reservations for our trip to San Francisco in a couple of weeks - but our dance card isn't full yet . Robyn

[Pan]

We went in without reservations and were promptly seated at the bar (or, rather, a communal counter which is very comfortable). At least some Mission District residents treat it like the neighborhood restaurant it in some measure is, and sometimes are able to get a seat on a whim.

Edited August 24, 2005 by Pan (log)

[hshiau]

I was in San Francisco last week and ate at Delfina on Thursday. When I called for a reservation on Monday, the only thing I could get was at 5:30.

However, we were seated promptly and had no issues with the service. The food was good but not exceptional. I'd definitely go back for a nice solid relaxed meal.

[raxelita]

What they do, they do really well. Ingredient-wise, execution-wise, they excell.

I'm also surprised to see that there were no previous threads on Delfina. It was one of my favorite restaurants when I lived there.

The food was dependable-- you always know you were going to get something well-prepared and solidly framed (by fresh, quality ingredients). The service was always so warm. I love how they demonstrate that casual can be professional. New York could take a lesson from them.

[highflyingbird]

I've been to Delfina four or five times and I've never been impressed. And this opinion is shared by some other locals I know. It is really overrated.

The way some people talk about it, you'd expect it to be mind blowing. It just isn't. The last time I was there four of us had about 15 dishes and a few of them were just bad. Off flavors, poor seasoning.

The service has always been cheerful and fun, though.

I wouldn't commit to a full meal there again. I'd do the bar for a few things that i like (the squid and white beans, soups, apps) and move on. When you sit at the bar, you can see the salad prep, and they really take a lot of care with the food, so I've never understood how the overall quality of food is so unimpressive.

Try Range just around the corner. It is new and very good. rangesf.com

[melkor]

Range is also good, though I much prefer Incanto to either.

[eje]

This week's Bay Cafe TV Show featured a day in the life of Delfina.

Delfina

While the feature was pretty light, the host was a little less dominating than he usually is, allowing his subjects to speak for themselves, and it did give some small glimpse into restaurant culture.