Italian food

By Virginia Miller

My Sicilian side can tend to dominate. That intense passion for the things I love, bordering on an obsessive impulse to research, study and dig deep, includes food. This was only fueled by homecooked pastas and sauces from my Italian mama and grandfather growing up on both coasts. Add in my crucial teen years in New Jersey after we moved across the nation from SoCal and my hankering for red sauce, American-Sicilian food was solidied in Jersey and NYC’s deep Sicilian culture.

Here, I dig into two spots, one new, one old. The new pizza destination in Berkeley turns out pies from Sicilian to NY-inspired, and the latter is an over 80-year-old San Francisco red sauce American-Italian institution always worth keeping on your dining rotation.

Pizzeria da Laura, Berkeley

Pizzeria da Laura opened March 2023 in a split-level space in downtown Berkeley. I’ve appreciated chef Laura Meyer’s pizza mastery for years at San Francisco’s Chicago and Detroit pizza haven, Capo’s — still the best in the nation for all Chicago and Detroit styles. I wrote a tribute to Capo’s on their 10th anniversary, talking of how the nation’s pizza master, Tony Gemignani, had catapulted the careers of many pizzaiolos, including Meyer. Like Tony, she went on to win multiple world pizza championships in Italy in her own right.

So it makes sense Meyer would eventually open her own place. Smartly, she opened across the Bay as Tony’s pizza restaurants reign supreme in SF. On my spring visit, the heat was intense with little airflow but for a fan and the lighting a bit harsh upstairs in Pizzeria da Laura’s buzzy-casual space. But sweet servers were in good cheer as massive pizzas rolled out. There are meatballs, arancini, salads, fried calzones and five different pastas, including a tomato-heavy (vs. meat) tribute to Meyer’s dad’s ragu. But you’re here for the pizza.

There are 11 pizzas in four forms and you can thankfully choose any topping: rectangular Sicilian, Detroit square, crispy Grandma-style and New York, which doesn’t resemble anything I grew up with in NYC/NJ, but is more like a thicker Neapolitan yet with different style dough.

Toppings like Ray J are hard to resist: thin and thick pepperoni, fermented honey, burrata, basil, tomato, mozzarella, Parmigiano Reggiano. But the standout of the three pizzas I tried was Meyer’s award-winning La Regina: soppresseta and prosciutto over tomato, mozzarella, Parmigiano Reggiano and extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), generously doused with arugula for fresh-meaty contrast.

Master sommelier Morgan Harris of New Deal Hospitality consulted on and curated a wine list heavy on women-run wineries, Italian grape varieties from California and much from Italy. While there were only two no-proof/non-alcoholic cocktails on the menu on my visit, Christopher Presutti, also of New Deal and formerly Saison, consulted on the cocktail side, focusing on straightforward Italian apéritifs and low-ABV cocktails.

An ideal walk-up side of the restaurant for takeout orders multiplies the numbers who can fill up on Laura’s comforting pizzas each day. While I’m grateful we have Tony’s pizza kingdom in my home of SF, Berkeley gained with Laura’s restaurant. It’s a red sauce haven, to be sure, but after legendary deep dish Zachary’s Pizza since 1983, it’s also immediately offering some of the East Bay’s best pizzas.

// 2049 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley; www.pizzeriadalaura.com

Original Joe’s North Beach

San Francisco’s Original Joe’s (OJ’s) off North Beach’s idyllic Washington Square Park dates back to 1937 when it moved from the original Tenderloin location, which closed in 2007 due to a fire. Though impossible to replicate the original locale’s divey ’70’s charm, North Beach OJ’s feels as if it has been there the same 80+ years. Roomy red leather booths, a bustling bar room, a counter facing a kitchen under a retro sign highlighting food specials and an all-ages, locals and tourists crowd make Original Joe’s North Beach a fun lunch or night out. I reviewed their sister restaurant in Daly City, Original Joe’s Westlake, with its own separately rich history in the Bay Area.

Blessedly, OJ’s North Beach recently relaunched weekday lunches on Thursdays and Fridays (they already do lunch/brunch on weekends). Pulling up in a giant red booth on a weekday with my partner Dan (“The Renaissance Man”) and a couple martinis feels like pre-pandemic decadence and innocence restored. Or like Jersey Christmas Eves when my family would celebrate my December 25th birthday over a feast of chopped salad, garlic bread and chicken parm before Christmas Day festivities drowned out any thought of birthdays. All of those dishes, and more, are here.

My SF side is deeply satiated by a generous, heaping crab cocktail, featuring our queen Dungeness crab. My Jersey-Sicilian side delights in the capery-lemon hit of classic veal piccata, or filet of sole piccata, if you prefer to forgo baby cow. Same goes for Joe’s heaping, irresistible lasagna or eggplant parmigiana. Joe’s Italian chopped salad is one of my quickest transports East to my NJ days with chopped romaine doused in Italian dressing, with garbanzo beans, olives, cherry tomatoes, silvers of salami, provolone, fennel and the necessary pepperoncini. The salad is brighter — and almost as satisfying — than heavier, loaded versions I used to fill up on back in Jersey.

Sautéed sweetbreads and calf’s liver dishes are yesteryear classics it’s good to see back on the menu at Joe’s. I’ve savored a rare Christmas Eve here pre-pandemic filling up on pastas and veal sweetbreads with friends. Their cocktails aren’t exactly “craft,” but they are amped up from past days and classsics are still strongest here vs. house drinks. Desserts are hefty, oversauced, old school richness. Not my cup of tea, but life’s blood for some, from Joe’s doused sundae to warm cinnamon-sugar dusted bombolini (italian doughnuts). I go in for an affogato (espresso and ice cream) with biscotti to dip in and leave blissful.

This isn’t a gourmand’s destination. Nor is it modernized. Thank God. Joe’s does classic red sauce well. And blissfully keeps it classic. The service likewise has a steady, friendly, old world vibe that feels comfortable to bring all ages to. In fact, amid our very global, expats-from-everywhere population and tech culture, this is the kind of place where you’ll meet elderly, families and SF natives intermingling with tourists. Joe’s feels familial, in keeping with its deep SF history, but I’ve also had cozy date nights and feasts with friends. And now, once again, weekday lunch escapes are back on. Joe’s transports to decades past… but with refreshed ingredients.

// 601 Union Street, www.originaljoes.com/north-beach

Virginia Miller is a San Francisco-based food & drink writer.

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