VinDivine

Barbacco Eno Trattoria

230 California St

San Francisco , CA 

(415) 955.1960

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VdV Rating: 4

Food:   Italian

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PRO: Excellent ingredients, impressive food, great service, sleek design and good vibe
CON: Nothing really.

So we were invited to a mock/rehearsal lunch for the eagerly-anticipated soon-to-open Barbacco Trattoria today. Hey I heard that. Don’t sound so surprised. For new restaurants, we know we can break ya, but we can also make ya…OK, sorry I can’t even keep a straight face saying that. And yes, since I talk when I type, that does make sense.

Anyhoo, we were very happy to be invited for a dry run, as 1) We love Perbacco, which is right next door b) Barbacco has the same owners Staffan Terje and Umberto Gibin, so we figured it’d be good too, and lastly but not leastly, 3) the up-and-coming Sarah Burchard herself is da chef. She rocked it as Sous Chef at Perbacco, and by the looks (or tastes) of it today (and we basically ate our way through the menu) this young ‘un has a huge future in front of her. Yee haw!

OK here we go: First off, this place is sexy-modern-sleek. No I don’t know what’s up with all the ‘-’ today, just go with it. Why is it? Well, it has a nice layout, good materials, nice lighting and comes together well, yet is not stuffy or too formal. It has nice contrasts in materials and color, and all just works. Don’t make me explain in more detail, it’s not like I’m a writer for Dwell. 

The space is a long, relatively narrow area with some good natural light from the street. Looks like it comfortably seats about 60. There’s a long bar area on the left hand side, stainless steel and slightly higher than the normal bar height. Down the right side there’s old-school brick walls with short mirrors and a long red leather banquette with some type of birds-eye wood, but dark, not maple, more…darker. Yeah, I know. There’s basic, but nice spot lighting, and stainless steel wrapped square columns. Nice clean hip design. Great work!

The service was exceptional. Attentive and very pleasant without trying too hard. We had Rebecca, and a very cool woman by the name of Desireé who rocked it, checked in on us as well.

But we’re here to talk about the food, the alimento, as our Italian friends would say, are we not, bitches?!

First off, the menu is grandé, topping out at almost 47 items. Yeowsa! And it will change frequently. I tell ya, we rolled in here like Pimps and rolled out like Porkers. Here’s the highlights from our lunch, strap on your seat belts:

1) Barbacco Salumi ($9/$12). Chef Sarah knows her way around a pig, if ya get my drift. You do not want to be on the business end of her meat cleaver, let’s just say that. The Salumi here is just as good as at Perbacco. Know why? ‘Cuz that’s what she did there, too. This is a nice selection and serving size of various meats. Today, Duck Mortadella, Blood Sausage, Coppa and Salami, served with crunchy bread sticks and some crostini. They included a nice pickled vegetable side, chopped very fine so you could put it on the meat, and a great Offal spread with yummy mustard jam. Bam.

2) Bruschette Trio ($8). Check this out! We had the Spicy Anchovy with Egg & Celery Heart; Crushed Cannelini Beans with Rosemary; and Duck Liver Pate with a Red Onion Marmalade. Who are we?!  Nope, we weren’t trashed, just adventurous. The Anchovy was actually excellent. I am not normally a big fan of that pesky little fish, but this was very fresh, just salty enough and the celery heart really complimented it well. Actually the celery helped make the dish. The Cannelini was excellent, a nice bed of creamy, but kind of meaty beans well-spiced with rosemary. Perhaps you think bland? No f’ing way… And the Duck? Again very fresh, rich like butta, and again paired well with other flavors that just work. In this case, the slightly sweet red onion marmalade.

3) Burrata Cheese with Arugula on Grilled Filone ($6/12). Mmm, mmm. I love me some Burrata. It’s basiaclly Bufala Mozzy isn’t it? Oh, why am I asking you?! Let’s ask the Wikipedia! Yes, Burrata is Bufala Mozzarella and Cream. The outside all Bufala, with the inside a mixture of Bufala and Cream. Finger-lickin’ good! Again, we had a very generous serving, and talk about tender. You could cut it with a plastic straw. Excellent texture, very nice presentation on the bread and the spicy arugula made it a party in my mouth.

4) Tuna Conserva with Celery, red Onion, Potato and Roasted Tomato ($7/10). Tuna Salad, ya maroon! A FAVE! Yep, this is just awesome. Key: There isn’t much, if any real lettuce. There are celery greens, which I just discovered I have a fondness for, and then a nice melange, if you will, of the other ingredients that is great. Kinda like an Italian Nicoise salad, but better than those frogs make! Great herbs too.

5) Zuppa di Pesce with Aioli Crostino ($6/9). Fish soup? Us?! Word. This, kittens, was also A FAVE of the meal. No shit. This puppy is tomato-based and I swear every tomato they have must be San Marzano. An excellent, semi-chunky broth with some really zesty spice and a teensy-tiny bit of heat. Today’s fish was mackerel and rock cod. Both were tender, fairly mild and with excellent, firm texture. And the slice of bread with that creamy lemony-buttery aioli? Rocked me.

6) Rotolo, which is Rolled Pasta filled with Chard, Ricotta, Sage and Brown Butter ($10). They roll this stuff up inside homemade
pasta, cook it then cut it into little slices. Very attractive presentation. I love the medley of flavors with this dish, and it’s slightly rich (doi, pasta, cheese and butter, Gomer).

7)  Seared Spanish Mackerel Sandwich with Roasted Tomato Condimento (what a cute word) and Arugula ($11). I know, I know you’re noggin’ is about ready to explode, huh? Did ‘ol J&J lose it? Did someone jump into their body like Patrick Swayze did to Whoopi Goldberg in ‘Ghost’? A Mackerel Sando?! This is the first fish sandwich either of us had had since a Filet O’ Fish at Mickey D’s 10 years ago after a serious bender .

This bad boy was served on an excellent Torpedo Roll. Nice crust, not too crunchy, and nice soft bread, but not too thick. Perfect for a sando, it does a nice job as a vessel, but doesn’t take over the innards of the sandwich. The mackerel here is selected very well. No fishy taste at all. And the texture is great, similar to a cod or sea bass in that respect. The tomato spread and spicy arugula make it. OK, enough about a fish sando no matter how tasty it was.

Eight?! Yep. Polpette, which is Pork Meatballs with Raisins & Pine Nuts with Braised Chard and Tomato Sugo ($10). A FAVE! Yeah, we thought we were done then I spied these on the menu and had to. And I’m slap-happy I did, too. We got three balls, not as large as baseball, yet larger than a hand ball…cooked perfectly with golden raisins and pine nuts rolled into the meat. Again, these people nail the mix of flavors and tastes here! And those damn tomatoes. Hey, what’s a-meatball without Tomato Sauce, you big Galoot? That’s right.

9) Gelato & Sorbetto ($2/scoop). We had one of each, naturally. Spiced Chocolate, Pistachio, Vanilla-Huckleberry and Meyer Lemon Sorbetto. Each excellent. I’m torn between the Spiced Chocolate, with cinnamon and some other spice in it, and Pistachio…And I’ve never really loved Pistachio. The other J? Pistachio as well. And you wonder why we’re together…

Jesus H Christ I think I just burnt off all those calories typing this up! You’ve never seen me type. It’s a full body experience.

Note: No liquor yet, ya drunks. They should be outfitted with a license in a couple weeks. And it’s gonna be a very wine focused experience. We can’t wait!

Bottom line: We love this food like fat kid loves chocolate cake. Like a crack ho likes….crack. Like Kanye West likes to break up award shows. And break 19-year old’s hearts. Like…like…ahh, hell. You get it. We Are fans.

Make resies via Open Table. They’ll prolly open for lunch Monday 1/11, and hopefully for dinner a few weeks after that. Stay tuned!

Hours:
Mon-Fri: 11a-10p
Sat-Sun 5p-10p

Barbacco Trattoria
230 California Street (betw Front & Battery)
San Francisco, CA 94111
(415) 955-1960