Il Canne Rosso at the Ferry Building, SF

[jillyju]

I did a quick search and didn't find any posts that gave a detailed report on the food at Il Canne Rosso. Given that, I'd like to report that tonight I enjoyed a quick but transcendant dinner at the small store. I had the porcheta dinner which came with a small salad of micro greens dressed in a lemony dressing and a side of roasted Marquita Farm potatoes with whole cloves of roasted garlic.

For only $12.95 I was given a generous pile of the meat, with lots of crispy pieces of skin scattered on top and a juicy quality that I'm not sure I've ever experienced in a piece of pork. I don't know that I have ever had such delicious pork, anywhere. It was incredibly well-seasoned, every bite was tender, and the skin was a decadent, crispy, fatty delight. I couldn't finish the potatoes and brought most of them home. This is a great deal for the price--at a regular restaurant I could easily imagine being charged at least twice the price. I can't say much else except WOW.

[Nina]

At lunch today, I had a lovely brisket sandwich with tomato and parmesan, spinach salad, and a small bag of ....bacon caramel corn. For $3.50 it is as much bacon caramel corn as you would want, and pretty tasty.

[hhc]

Finally got to try the Marin Sun Farms Porchetta Sandwich $9 Fri evening - It's yummy if you like lots of tender pork, pickled cabbage, mizuna (some peppery greens) on warm toasted sourdough roll. It's pretty good size and I finished it all.

Mariquita Farm Cauliflower soup w/ kale & onion relish $6 - it was nice. Very creamy, but no taste of cauliflower for me.

Porchetta sandwich $9 + Cauliflower soup $ = $15 + 1.43 tax = $16.43. Credit cards taken.

FREE Filtered water if you want. Nice. Guy even refilled my water bottle w/ the filtered water from tap.

If you eat there they give you a number to put on your table & will deliver the food to you. Some tables along the side, I think some outside w/ view of the Bay Bridge.

Separate bathrooms next door.

To try next time:
Straus Dairy vanilla soft serve $4.5

[grayelf]

Is that the same soft serve they have at the second window at BiRite? If so it is mighty tasty...

[Mick Ruthven]

I had a mid-afternoon lunch there a few days ago and chose the beef brisket sandwich (with sautéed onions and some sort of aioli as I recall - $9). It had all the right stuff and I really wanted to like it, but I found it strangely lacking in flavor.

[lmnopm]

I had the porchetta sandwich today for lunch and enjoyed it. I didn't dissect it, but for me, the meat had the texture at times of of VN bacon, albeit meatier. The egg salad sandwich looked very good.

They also serve Blue Bottle french press, should one not want to wait next door.

[Melanie Wong]

Here's my photo of the porchetta sandwich,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/melaniew...

It was garnished with some sweet peppers. I didn't really like the combination and felt the roll was too crusty to be used in a sandwich. I agree that the meat is especially succulent and juicy. I had asked for a piece of the skin when I placed my order, but none made it onto my plate.

[Mick Ruthven]

Thanks for that report because going there might remove some of my disappointment in Mistral closing if it's been replaced by something at least as good, although of course different.

[vulber]

I don't really think $9 is that much for a sandwich given the top-notch ingredients and expensive location; and especially given that most people (including me) have no problem paying more for a sandwich at Tartine.

I'm not saying ICR is as good as Tartine, but it's still delicious and worth the money.

[Pei]

I agree that ICR is a good value for what you get. I just can't afford to make $10 lunches a habit. If I could, I would be there a lot more often. As it is, my friend and I liked it so much we thought we'd go back, share a sandwich, but bring some fruit or a salad from home fo fill up on. That would be a pretty nice, balanced meal.

Also, the people at ICR are really really nice. Just thought they deserved a shout out.

[Ruth Lafler]

Right. There's a difference between saying something is "too expensive" because the value isn't there, and saying it's "too expensive" because you can't afford it (or can't afford it on a regular basis).

[farmersdaughter]

I had a sandwich for lunch from Il Cane Rosso today. It was shredded apple and celery root served open-faced on a toasted baguette with melted Cabot clothbound cheddar cheese, some tender arugula and parsley. Delicious, even considering the $9 price tag. My only complaint was that I prefer parsley more finely chopped - they just sprinkled big leaves on top. And it was a little hard to eat with compostable silverware, but easily eaten out of hand if you don't mind getting dirty. I'll try Il Cane Rosso again occasionally, but it's too expensive to be in my regular lunchtime routine.

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Il Cane Rosso
1 Ferry Plaza, San Francisco, CA 94105

[susancinsf]

hubby and I had a late lunch here yesterday...even though he hasn't been eating much beef lately, he ordered a brisket sandwich, and it was gone before I could grab a bite. Yes, it was $9 but that is what I pay for a cruddy pre-made sandwich at the only place to eat within two miles of my office (ie college cafeteria,), so by my standards, especially with the view at Cane Rosso, it isn't that pricey. The sandwich came with nothing but pickles, but they were awfully good pickles ( hubby doesn't like pickles so those I got to taste).

I was a bit less hungry and had a kale and bacon soup, which was very tasty though not served truly hot, and a panzanella salad with arugula, tomatoes and basil. The salad was slightly overdressed to my taste, but the tomatoes, from Mariquita Farms, were among the best I've had all year, probably even better than the cherry tomatoes from my garden.

I do wish the selection of non-alcoholic drinks was better: no ice tea, and the only sodas were very pricy ones. I ended up ordering a glass of iced coffee; they made it with Blue bottle coffee, and I was given the entire contents of the press: two full glasses.

Will have to go back to try the porchetta....

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Il Cane Rosso
1 Ferry Plaza, San Francisco, CA 94105

[Melanie Wong]

Yes, those pickles were really good. But can't make up for not giving me any of the skin. Also, there was a piece of trussing string in the middle of my sandwich that I bit into.

[susancinsf]

I do agree that based on your pic, it didn't really appeal...not enough pork fat! :-)

[Melanie Wong]

For me it wasn't a matter of the fat issue. The meat itself had very good texture and succulence. But I found it very plain, composed to show off the flavor of the pork alone. My sandwich was underseasoned and didn't have the garlic and fennel pop that I associate with traditional porchetta. It didn't need to be traditional, but I would expect a twist to be equally flavorful or otherwise why mess with tradition. I felt this sandwich relied on the garnishes to add the interest. The crust on the toasted roll was too hard and cut into the roof of the mouth.

[lmnopm]

I didn't have that experience with the roll today - it looked like I would, but it wasn't as crusty as it looked. There was no underseasoning, but there wasn't any discernible fennel. YPMV

[Melanie Wong]

Funny how just a few years ago we were whining on this board about our unmet cravings for porchetta. Now it's everywhere, so many that I haven't been able to try them all yet.

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Il Cane Rosso
1 Ferry Plaza, San Francisco, CA 94105

[jillyju]

Thanks for the spelling help. That might explain why I didn't find much already posted about the place, and why I couldn't locate a place link. I would say this meal more than satisfied my porchetta cravings--for at least the next 24 hrs.

[Pei]

Thanks for posting. I had a really delicious pulled pork sandwich and thought Canne Rosso was a nice addition to the Ferry Building. $9 is a big precious for a sandwich, but a $13 porchetta dinner sounds great!