Pizzeria Delfina

San Francisco has had a pizza problem since the very start. Yes, the beautiful city by the bay has been famous for food since the gold rush. There were oysters back then actually thriving in the bay and local bakers made sour dough bread that was, i am sure, quite tasty… Fast forward to the modern age. Michelin Star restaurants and food from all over the globe. I could point you to places for amazing and perfectly authentic food from Russia to Cambodia and from Africa to India. San Francisco is a food lover’s paradise. Yet, for some very odd reason it has always been New York for pizza and bagels. Yes, we have always had both. But? Really? No. Well, then Anne and Crag Stoll of Delfina woke up one morning and undoubtedly had the same epiphany I’d been having for years. “Why is there no authentic, thin crust Italian Pizza in S.F? Why is there no amazing pizza here?” Unlike my years of bitter complaints they actually did something about it. They opened Pizzeria Delfina next door to Delfina. Nice. Is it good? Yes. Is it good enough to rant and rave about? Absolutely. Better than pizza in Italy? Sometimes. Yes. Well, let me just say that it is so damn close to some of the best pizza that I’ve had in Italy that well, it really doesn’t matter. A side-by-side taste test is not possible. Pizzeria Delfina is thin crust bliss in the Mission District of S.F. It does not try, in any way shape or form, to compare to the New York Slice. Nope. They serve whole pies that are fairly small. Each pizza comes hot out of the over hot and perfect…
But where am I now? Sitting on my couch. Surrounded by redwoods in the Santa Cruz Mountains. I sold my house in Bernal Heights and moved to the mountains. I am now 1.5 hours from Pizzeria Delfina. The distance has limited any impulsive pizza purchases. They say distance, at times, can make the heart grow fonder. Well, not sure about that logic, but I can assure you that when I am in San Francisco now I plan my meals with strategy and with purpose. There is also shopping, but I’ll get into the sorrow of shopping at say Johnnie’s vs. Avedano’s Holy Park Meat Market at another time… Yes, I come into the city and I plan my lunch carefully. Once or twice a week I am back in the land of quaint Victorians and the blight of chilly summer fog. I am in the land of amazing restaurants. I am in food heaven. So, I work for each and every meal in S.F. these days and I really appreciate them. Yep. So, Delfina?
Yesterday I was in the city and had lunch with Hideko. She and I met on a rare sunny day in August. Always exciting to leave the sunny comforts of the Santa Cruz Mountains and ride along the spine of the Mountain range flashing past different climactic zones. From hot to cold and back as I wind along the twisting road through the redwoods. Into the chilly wind along the Highway 35 looking off to the coast where a blanket of fog (and the cold) sits off shore menacingly… But today? It is hot and beautiful in the city. We get a table and the light and airy pizzeria. We chat with the waitress and are told to get the soup. This is always a good move. Beyond pizza? Everything on the menu is good to the point where it will make you weep. If sand dabs are in season you will find them on the menu. Always get the sand dabs. Today I get a “cherry pie” made from cherry tomatoes. Hideko gets the calzone. Our food is celestial. It is almost too good to believe.

The pizza is amazing. A pity they don’t deliver…