Salumeria

[Scooter22]

I love good italian cured meats. I am going to in in San Francisco and have a few hours to burn after a meeting and am willing to go anywhere for some good salame, sopressata or capocollo. Can anyone give me some suggestions? I saw Boccalone was opening a place in the summer, but is there somewhere else I can go. Plan on being there this week, May 14th.

[lovebitessf]

DeLessio Market carries a good variety of Boccalone. They have stores on Market (at Gough) and Broderick (at Fell). http://www.delessio.net/index.php

DeLessio also carries Fra'Mani - produced in Berkeley, launched in 2006. Fra'Mani has an online store. Not sure about Boccalone

You didn't ask for restauraunt suggestions, but as a fellow salumi lover I'd like to mention Perbacco - Italian (Piedmont region) restaurant downtown on California. They make wonderful salumi onsite. If you're not up for a full meal there, you can order a plate of salumi at the bar.
http://www.perbaccosf.com/perbacco_restaurant.html

Bar Bambino also serves good salumi produced locally.
http://www.barbambino.com/

Enjoy!

[Robert Lauriston]

You're talking about Wednesday the 14th? What time of day?

The following are restaurants where you can get a good salumi platter. Is that what you want or do you want to buy stuff to go?

Boccalone's a spinoff of Incanto, which opens at 5:30 (closed Tuesday) and has a great salumi platter.

Cav opens at 5:00.

A16 is open from 11:30-2:30 Wed.-Fri. and from 5:00 on every day.

Bar Bambino and Perbacco are open all afternoon.

[rworange]

Are you looking for a sit down restaurant and a platter?

You know, with all due respect to all the fancy new salami/sausage makers ... they still can't beat the businesses that have been doing this for decades like Molinari's or Columbo. There's a Molinari outpost called Mastrelli's at Ferry Plaza ... but it is a sandwich/deli type of joint.

I still find the latest entries into this field a little crude, not as flavorful and way, way ... way over-hyped and expensive ... like many California cheesemongers.

[Robert Lauriston]

I enjoy the salumi from old-school local manufacturers like P. G. Molinari and Columbus (especially hot coppa), and some of the artisanal stuff still needs work, but the best of the artisanal stuff is closer to the best I had in Italy.

Columbus's higher-quality, pricier "Artisan Collection" line rivals the stuff from newer companies.

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Perbacco
230 California St, San Francisco, CA 94111

Incanto Restaurant & Wine Bar
1550 Church St, San Francisco, CA 94131

Cav Wine Bar
1666 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94102

Bar Bambino
2931 16th Street, San Francisco, CA 94103

Boccalone Factory - Not Open to Public
1924 International Blvd, Oakland, CA 94606

Fatted Calf
644-C First Street, Napa, CA 94559

P G Molinari & Sons
1401 Yosemite Ave, San Francisco, CA

Columbus Salame Co
493 Forbes Blvd S, San Francisco, CA

Fra Mani Handcrafted Salumi
1311 8th St, Berkeley, CA

[Glencora]

Has the Fra Mani store on 8th street opened yet? I read about it in the Monthly, but I haven't noticed anything going on there.

[Robert Lauriston]

I'd guess not, since there's no mention of it on their Web site.

[lovebitessf]

I do like the taste of the new fancy stuff...very much...but ultimately can't argue with rworange that it's over-hyped and overpriced. The fancy stuff is certainly not better than Molinari, just different. I like Columbo less, but it's good, too.

For the ultimate comfort food, in my book there's nothing like a good Molinari salami sandwhich. The best place to get this IMO is the Molinari Deli on Columbus in North Beach.
http://www.northbeachshop.com/pages/m...

[sugartoof]

Without a doubt you will have some truly out of this world cured meats to sample on your trip.

Canyon Market in Glen Park (which is accessible by Bart) has a growing selection at their deli that is incredibly well curated. There you can pretty much sample all the Bay Area options in one shot. They also have a really nice looking locally made pastrami.

The artisinal trend is exciting in theory, but taste wise there's usually something lacking (and I don't just mean peppercorns). I have to agree that the classics still do it best. Columbus Salami is tops. I'm also a big fan of Molinari Coppa. It's a mass produced product, but I swear the Columbus stuff sold at Lucca Raviola just tastes better.

[lovebitessf]

I shop at both Canyon and DeLessio frequently for cured meats. I have to say that while Canyon has a good selction, right now it's still somewhat limited. From Baccalone, they only carry the Lonzo. From Fra'Mani, only Nostrano and Mortadella. Molinari and Columbus selections are also limited - no Toscano, for example. At the moment, I think DeLessio on Broderick is better bet if the OP wants to sample more in one shot...a much wider variety of Baccalone, Fra'Mani and Molinari plus a couple from Columbus.

But as you said, sugartoof, we have have some truly out of this world cured meats to enjoy no matter where Scooter22 ends up.

[poulet_roti]

My only problem with the DeLessio on Broderick is that the people working there, while extremely friendly, do not know how to properly slice and serve the various salumi. I purchased some Fra'Mani product last week, and it was very poorly and unevenly sliced.

Regarding Boccalone, I want to like it but find the product to be a bit underwhelming. Frequently one will find excessive sinew or air pockets in the salumi. That said, I also understand that the artisinal nature of much of this product lends itself to a bit of inconsistency.

For what its worth, I would say that the Fra'mani product is probably best and most consistent at this time.

[lexdevil]

Regarding Boccalone, I agree w/ you on their various salami, but I think their Mortadella, Lonza, Pancetta Piana, Lardo, and Guanciale are the best in the area. Totally consistent as well, and I've eaten a lot of them!

[daveena]

Have you had the Pepato, sliced paper thin? It's interesting - sliced a little more thickly, it tastes like an average good salami. Paper-thin, it's ultra-silky on the tongue, and has distinctive winey notes that I love. I haven't been blown away by the other salamis that I've tried, but I really really love the Pepato.

[lexdevil]

I like it the best of their salami, and I totally agree with you on slicing it very thin. I think its finer grind avoids some of the issues that can plague their other varieties (random areas with a truly astounding concentration of fat, for one).

[farmersdaughter]

That's troubling about the DeLessio on Broderick not properly training their people on how to slice salumi. I have experienced the same thing with one of the workers at Mastrelli's in the Ferry Building. I purchased some prosciutto there and it was so poorly sliced that it was unusable - just a lot of rags. There is really no way to check the package there at the store to see if they did it right, and I wasn't watching the guy who botched the slicing while he sliced it. I will definitely not buy from them again, or if I do, I will not let this particular person do the slicing.

[poulet_roti]

Yes, it is amusing that the clerks at these places will rave about their product but I rather doubt they know what they are raving about. I imagine if they did, they would also know how to handle the product. Rags is a good description of what I got that time at DeLessio's. Like somebody else said, Molinari knows how to slice properly as does Lucca Ravioli on Valencia - and they know how to slice properly and with speed. Not to harp on this too much, but proper presentation of this is part of the deal.

[sugartoof]

I think it's just a case of knowing how to use a deli slicer at this point. Knowing the cuts of meat and how you're supposed to slice it seems mandatory, but then people have strange personal preferences, or just don't know better. If they're doing a lot of slicing, and the person doesn't reset the machine after each meat, then you can end up with a mess.

I bet we could all get into a heated debate over the proper thickness of an italian salami slice, for example.

[sugartoof]

Well if you're trying to taste an entire line of product then I guess Canyon Market is limiting.... but I think they have a well "curated" selection that suggests someone actually sampled the meats and picked what they thought was a superior product. You won't find 20 coppas, and 32 salamis there. I appreciate that, especially with the artisan products which are usually a let down anyway.

[lovebitessf]

Agreed. Very well curated. Everything they offer is good. And they know how to slice properly. Also, their Italian sandwhich (don't rember exactly what they call it) with Columbus coppa, Molinari, provolone, peperocini, basalmic viniagrette on ciabatta is delicicious. $6.50