San Francisco waits...

So I was in San Francisco last week for work and I got a chance to sample some of the restaurants that are putting San Francisco on the foodie map.

First stop was rising star, Nate Appleman's A16 in the Marina District.

After being given the choice of either a 5pm or 9:30pm reservation, the hostess told us we would have no problem walking in at any time as a big part of the restaurant is left open for walk ins.

Wrong.

We got there around 8:30 - granted our bad for going to a popular restaurant at possibly the most popular hour...but after being told there would be no problem, we decided to risk it. Big Mistake.

Wait time? 1.5 hours. What do we do? Well, we walk around a little in the neighborhood, only to discover that it is populated by either super crowded restaurants like A16 and Mamacita or restaurants that have nobody in them. Never a good option. Especially on vacation.

So we packed it in for the 1.5 hour wait. Luckily there is quite an extensive wine list to go through during that time.

The atmosphere is Californian rustic/chic. As in - kind of homey, but pricey nonetheless. Pretty young people, older yuppies - it was overall exactly how I imagined how the mid-upper dine in SF. Lots of blondes I may add - as I come from NYC, the land of dark brown hair.

Anyhow, onto the meal. We started off with the grilled calamari and a margherita pizza to share. The calamari was nice - not too rubbery, not too fishy. Good, but not awesome. Same with the pizza. Traditional Naple style pizza - it was definitely the eat with your fork type of pizza. A little messy, a little goppy, but the flavor was nice.

Onto the main dish. Had to go with the house special - Maccaronara with ragu napoletana and house-made ricotta salata. Essentially this was like a thick spaghetti - noodles cooked a bit al dente for my style. But that's probably the way it's supposed to be.

I also tried the Berkshire pork done in a scaloppine style - i.e. fried and sliced. Super duper fatty - so much fat, it really took on a weird flavor combination that I couldn't quite stomach. I know that I was warned it would be fatty, but even this was a bit much for me...

At least the cucumber relish provided some acidity to the dish to relieve my clogged arteries a bit...

Overall, the meal was really just "ok." But I don't know, compared to NYC, every meal in SF tends to be just "ok" to me....

A16
2355 Chestnut St (at Divisadero)
415-771-2216