Linda and Mike L. Mc Colgan's culinary journey to eat at all 3000 San Francisco restaurants (500 plus and counting) recently continued at North Beach Restaurant located at 1512 Stockton Street. It is open 7 days a week from 11:30am to 11:45pm and also has a variety of interesting private dining rooms and valet parking. Since 1970, owner Lorenzo Petroni and Chef Bruno Orsi have been creating authentic Tuscan cuisine for local residents and visitors from all over the world.
This famous San Francisco restaurant has a warm, friendly feeling when you enter and are greeted by a knowledgeable staff dressed in black tuxedos. Having just returned from a trip to Italy, the restaurant has a fantastic list of Italian wines and also many selections from Lorenzo's Petroni Vineyards located in Sonoma. His dream was to be the first California vintner to grow the prized Sangiovese Grosso clone from his native Tuscany. Lorenzo was at the restaurant and we sampled some of his prized creations that validated his "dream" to be true.
Our attentive servers Mel and Alex were very helpful in selecting from the extensive menu. We began with home cured prosciutto and melon that was very tender and presented with love and passion like a Michelangelo work of art.
We then shared an order of homemade cannelloni and veal scaloppine piccata with white wine, lemon and caper sauce.
The house special cannelloni was tender and served with a perfectly seasoned sauce. The veal dish was also fantastic and we smiled with joy telling each other that both were the best we had ever tasted.
For dessert, the decadent chocolate tiramisu (which we were warned about) lived up to its hype and was delicate and very moist. In Lorenzo's grand style, he also served us his special Scropino which is lemon sorbet with vodka and grappa that was a soothing ending to an elegant lunch.
After we finish eating at these various places, Linda and I always ask each other the important question: WOULD YOU RETURN?
Absolutely, is the answer!
It is easy to understand why so many have made it their favorite place for genuine Tuscan cuisine in San Francisco for 43 years. We have also!
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