SF (or Bay Area) Authentic Sicilian Restaurant?

[mjj1066]

I'm looking for a recommendation for an authentic restaurant, preferably of high quality, that is dedicated to Sicilian food in the city. I know the whole A16 routine as a source for some Sicilian dishes but would like a deeper survey than our friends on Chestnut offer. Outside of SF is a second option but one that I'd be happy to entertain. Thanks.

[foodeye]

Not sure how authentic or if it's really of the highest quality, but there's Trattoria La Siciliana on College Ave. in Berkeley which is quite popular.

www.trattorialasiciliana.com

[Robert Lauriston]

It's a fun place, if you're not in a hurry, but the food's not traditional Sicilian.

[happenstance]

But the family is actually Sicilian, so if nothing else it is a great time.

[hill food]

wasn't there some ultra old-school Italian joint on Taraval near the Safeway? and I seem to remember another way out on Noriega, but definitely red sauce and off the beaten path.

[Calvinist]

Marcello's Restaurant
2100 Taraval St
San Francisco, CA 94116
[phone]

I haven't been there -- but I served on a jury with the owner!

[hill food]

ha! small world. Marcello's was what I was thinking of. Sicilian, I don't know (my ignorance).

[Robert Lauriston]

Ristorante Marcello has a very northern menu: pasta Bolognese, veal parmagiana, prawns alla Livornese.

[hill food]

whoops...

just ignore me.

[Amy G]

Ristorante mezzo mezzo in Marin. There are some mundane dishes but others such as the pasta with cauliflower, pine nuts, raisins, and saffron are great. I really like the sea bass with blood oranges and the rabbit too. Skip the apps.

http://ristorantemezzomezzo.com/pages...

[Sarah]

I bet if you called them and asked for certain or authentic off-menu specialties, they'll be happy to comply (with notice).

[Robert Lauriston]

You might get on Incanto's mailing list for the special mattanza dinner.

The food at Caffe Sport is nothing like what I had in Sicily.

The owners of the Original US Restaurant may be of Sicilian extraction, but the food is strictly Nord Biccese.

Reportedly Sicilian restaurants I haven't tried:

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Palermo's Restaurant
1010 El Camino Real, Menlo Park, CA

Belle Arti
1040 Main Street, Napa, CA

La Finestra Ristorante
100 Lafayette Cir Ste 101, Lafayette, CA 94549

[Xiao Yang]

The original owners of U.S. Restaurant were apparently actually Slavs (per the Chron's Original Joe's article link you posted recently) but only lately the U.S. started displaying "U; Siciliano" prominently on the window, so I assume it's the current regime that claims to be Sicilian. To tell the truth, I haven't eaten there since before the makeover of the original location (currently the Panta Rei site).

[Robert Lauriston]

Does the current U.S. Restaurant actually make any claim to be Sicilian? The online menus on menupages.com and menupix.com are standard North Beach Italian, which is what the place always used to be, plus American breakfast and lunch dishes.

[Xiao Yang]

Here's an early report on the change to Sicilian ownership from GAW in 2004. I'll try and score a current menu and check it against what's published.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article...

[Xiao Yang]

Smokescreen or whatever, here's the way the US currently presents itself. Note that the phrase "U; Sicilianu" are also at the top of the menu shown on the menu board.

[waldrons]

"U.S." originally meant "Unione Sportiva". Not sure what that means, but that's what the old signs said.

Susan

[Robert Lauriston]

That was the name of an athletic / social club across the street.

[Eat_Nopal]

U.S. (Unione Sportiva) is the name by which Sicily's main Football (soccer) club is referred to in its hometown of Palermo. Other Italians (and foreigners) refer to club as Palermo but to the locals its still the U.S.

[Robert Lauriston]

The Unione Sportiva club was reportedly across the street when the U.S. Restaurant opened in 1907, at which time Palermo's team was still called il Football Club Palermo.

[Xiao Yang]

It's now The Italian Athletic Club, and located on Stockton next to the :Post Offfice.

http://www.sfiac.org/SFIAC%20Club%20H...

[Eat_Nopal]

The team was founded in 1902 and its name was & still is Unione Sportiva Citate Palermo.... but Sicilians always referred to it simply as the Unione Sportiva or U.S.... it was only non-Sicilians that called it IL Palermo

[TopoTail]

Funny that the U.S.'s Sicilian roots should come up just now. Lidia Bastianich of "Lidia's Italy" recently did Spaghetti Pesto Trapansese, a dish I first experienced in Trapani, the Sicilian city it was named after. It involves chopping up almonds, garlic, tomatoes and hot pepper flakes with olive oil and I love it.

Anyway, this spurred a memory that I had spaghetti Trapanese a the U.S. restaurant a few years ago, and it appears they still serve it (with sausage). It's not something I've run into in very many restaurants and speaks of Sicilian roots.

[Xiao Yang]

Apparenty the original owner of the US was a Slav (and who knows what the"US" stood for then), but the Cippolinas, who owned it for 50 years prior to the regime change in 2004 were Sicilian (or at least the husband was) but put out that the "US" stood for "Unione Sportiva" and had a mostly mainland Italian menu (with some exceptions,as you noted). The current trio of owners (one of whom is Sicilian) have kicked up the Sicilian ID (with a map of Sicily on the window and turning the "US" into "U; Sicilianu"). Not sure what they've done with the menu to make it more Sicilian.

[Robert Lauriston]

Looking closely at the long menu, I see about half a dozen Sicilian or Sicilian-influenced dishes.

[Xiao Yang]

Caffe Sport in North Beach is Sicilian, but I haven't heard much about the food since the original Chef/Owner Antonio La Tuna passed away.

Alioto's at (gasp) Fisherman's Wharf, is Sicilian.

The humble U.S. Restaurant in North Beach is Sicilian. (The U.S.stands for "U; Siciliano".)

Those are three I know about; but this is San Francisco, after all, where Northern Italian reigns.

[Scott M]

I haven't been yet, but maybe a trip to the North Bay is in order.

http://www.ristorantemezzomezzo.com/

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Mezzo Mezzo
1025 C St, San Rafael, CA