We weren’t exactly short on Italian restaurants serving Neapolitan pizzas and housemade pastas. But chef Kaitlynn Bauman’s Norcina, which opened in August 2021, is a sunny, tiny slice of Marina real estate that doesn’t feel like other countless restaurants serving similar food. In the same neighborhood, there is already popular local chain Delarosa focused on Neapolitan pizza and antipasti, a similar pizza focus at new Napizza, intimate, old school, pasta-centric Roma Antica, and, of course, pioneering A16. And that’s just within the same couple of blocks.
Norcina has a more savvy wine list than its neighbors, except for the list from Italian wine sommelier queen Shelley Lindgren at A16, which is on another level. Norcina also offers spritz flights and six different spritz cocktails, although they’re a bit uneven (I’ll get into that in a minute).
Seating is uncomfortably on top of your neighbors inside, while the parklet is where you can spread out or dine with a table of more than two. But the interior, from white walls and green tiles around the Neapolitan pizza oven, to woven seats and lemons painted on the walls, brings the sunshine. Since no one was sandwiched into the tight window seats next to us, we were relatively “comfortable” (there is still little room to move), but the intimacy also brings European tiny cafe vibes while the convivial buzz feels like a party.
That’s where the connection with your neighbors ends. It’s cliche to rag on the “Marina crowd,” I know. But it can be hard not to when the crowd runs either heavily made up, wearing just-left-the-gym “fashion” (which should be for the gym and home only!) or skews heavily towards youthful, suburban Orange County-types (where I grew up half my youth and still have family, so I know the type well). When two young women walked in with what looked like their sweet grandpa, that was the one moment it felt like there was any “diversity” to the crowd outside of the hardworking staff. Staff are no-nonsense but know the menu well and are focused, especially amid swarming weekend crowds.
Chef Bauman has cooked at the likes of Cotogna, Greens and Presidio Social Club, running Norcina cafe and cafe Parlor 1255 prior to launching Norcina. Meaning “pig butcher” but feminine, Norcina heralds the female chef who sources pig and charcuterie from the great Olivier’s Butchery in SF’s Dogpatch ‘hood.
Trying the menu over a couple visits and via takeout, salads are fine way to start, especially when you get the house version of a chopped salad with little gems and slightly bitter treviso lettuces tossed with Genoa salami, provolone, pickled onion, pepperoncinis, cranberry beans, olives and caciocavallo and ricotta salata cheeses, or a butter lettuce salad dotted with tangerine, blood orange, avocado, spiced almonds, peas. The latter begged for a lighter, acidic dressing other than its Green Goddess creaminess, but was a happy combo of ingredients.
Given my adoration for a proper pasta en brodo (in broth), especially after my travels in Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region where rustic tortellini en brodo is art form, I had to try the brodo en sacchetti starter of three Italian soup dumplings in chicken broth, dusted in Parmesan, with a nicely bitter spinach. Unfortunately, the pastas were so al dente they were almost hard. But I sopped up the broth and greens. Via takeout, I had enjoyed a solid tagliatelle Bolognese with fried kale so was expecting better.
There are certainly more exquisite agnolottis in town (with better presentation — this version is kind of slopped onto the plate), but Norcina’s pea agnolotti fared better than the sacchetti. It was still a bit chewy, but tasted like spring with peas, ricotta and Parmesan, savory with prosciutto bits. Dense black pepper bucatini is uber-peppery in an earthy, gratifying way, inspired by classic Roman cacio e pepe, tossed in pecorino and Parmesan cheeses. It’s simple comfort, especially with a glass of lean, complex 2020 Sonntaler Schiava red wine from another of my adored Italy regions: Alto Adige.
Speaking of wine, whether a robust Lambrusco or savvy, playful 2019 Benvenuto Zibibbo orange wine from Calabria, there is something to please all here. The few beer choices include local gem Laughing Monk (during my latest visit, they poured their Pilsner German Style Lager, Belgian Style Blonde, Strawberry Rhubarb Sour). But about those spritzes: seeing the Amaro and Spritz books on Norcina’s shelves — plus Katie Parla’s Tasting Rome — (all three on my home shelf) inspired confidence in their research and vision.
But the spritzes we tried ran too sweet, even if flavor profiles were pleasing. Take the Hugo, named after a classic spritz cocktail, mixing lime and elderflower with a nice lime cordial tart and silkiness… until a sugary hit overwhelmed on the finish. The Lo-Fi (named after local Lo-Fi Gentian Amaro) is served with lime and fresh thyme but hits a touch abrasively on the thyme herbaceousness and sweetness, masking layers inherent in Lo-Fi aperitif. A few tweaks and these could be “on.” Plus, the spritz flight is a great idea and a draw they have over other Italian restaurants of this ilk.
Bauman’s Neapolitan pizza is sourdough leavened, and works well for delivery/takeout. Meaty faves include ZA’ Matriciana (bianco di napoli tomato, pancetta, mozzarella, red onion, Calabrian chiles, pecorino romano), but the pistacchio pie is the irresistible one. There are a few newcomers doing this same pizza well in town, including the aforementioned Napizza and the Castro’s Vico Cavone. Norcina’s version employs a lighter touch with mortadella, roasted garlic, taleggio cheese and buffalo mozzarella, all creamy and fluffy with pistacchio crema. It’s hard to resist.
The tableside s’mores feels a bit out of place for an Italian menu, even with graham pizzelli cookies, but it’s clearly popular as more than half the tables ordered it for dessert. My Sicilian roots and Jersey years pushed me towards the mini-cannoli trio of pistachio, coffee and chocolate-filled cannoli. They were just ok, lacking the nuance of the best cannoli (fluffy ricotta touched with orange flower water and/or zest), the shells delicately balanced between crispy and fresh. We took them home but had no interest in finishing them.
While I can’t see crossing town for Norcina given the wealth of superb pizza and pasta in our city, it is a win for the neighborhood. The cozy, cheery space is a model for how to make a space fun and engaging, down to the Sonos speaker booming out music inside the bathroom cabinet. It feels like a party, but you can also order their pizzas, pastas and wines via Toast if you don’t feel like braving those crowds or crossing town. I’m thinking about repeating that pistacchio pie.
// 3251 Pierce Street, www.norcina.com
