A tough reservation to snag ever since it opened in 2018 in San Francisco’s Western Addition neighborhood, Che Fico remains a destination for chef David Nayfeld’s inspired pastas and unique take on pizzas with sourdough crust done in certified Neapolitan style.
I wrote of the restaurant being reborn in pandemic, then in November 2023, their gorgeous Menlo Park location opened, along with Che Fico Mercato, a market, wine shop and gelateria. Now there is a fourth entrant — and third restaurant — in the growing Che Fico family. Nayfeld and Matt Brewer of Back Home Hospitality opened Che Fico Pizzeria in Thrive City October last year; part of a growing web of new restaurants surrounding the Chase Center.
The aesthetic and atmosphere
Nayfeld’s passion for pizza and the Golden State Warriors meld in this spacious new pizza-centric restaurant, gazing directly over the Bay. The huge space is totally different from the colorful, dramatic second floor original or likewise striking Peninsula location. While this new stadium-side location has signature Che Fico tiles and colorful fig leaf wallpaper inside, it’s all about those sweeping waterside views.
Designer Jon de la Cruz of DLC-ID goes with coastal Italian influences and a massive outdoor bar area that can be fully open air or zipped up with window-lined covering when it’s chilly. Large screen TVs are always a pet peeve for me outside of sports bars, but with direct ties to the sporting events going on a few feet away, TVs are forgivable. Given weekday lunch hours and game day early hours on weekends, the pizzeria is easily about that view. With expansive spaces to eat outdoors around Thrive City, a walk-up window serves slices and gelato to-go but dining-in is the way to take in the view with drinks.
The food
Let’s get back to Nayfeld’s pizza, this being the one pizza outpost amid growing concepts in Thrive City, including brand new Kayah by Burma Love and the upcoming SF location of Alameda’s cult-hot Indonesian-Texas BBQ joint, Fikscue Craft Barbecue.
“Che Fico-style” pizza melds Nayfeld’s Naples pizza technique, cooked in a Neapolitan wood-burning oven, with his visionary, naturally fermented sourdough crust, hand-pulled cheese and a snowy dusting of fresh-grated parmesan (check out how he makes the crust on Goop). He honed this recipe for five years, while his tomato, Calabrian chili, thinly-shaved pineapple and red onion pizza has been copied — but unequaled — ever since. The sourdough starter is controversial for pizza purists… and oh, so San Francisco. It comes out puffy and blackened, as perfect Neapolitan pies do, with real parmesan shaved on the crust. 24 and 36 months-aged Parmigiano Reggiano is the real deal, which at the Divis Che Fico is generously shaved over many dishes. This is the good stuff, y’all. The kind of Parmigiano that costs a fortune and tastes like heaven.
Che Fico Pizzeria offers nine different 14-inch and 20-inch pizzas, a larger selection than either original restaurant, most only available only at this location. The winning newcomer is the vodka sauce pie, lush with San Marzano tomatoes, Calabrian chili bomba, cream, basil and ricotta. It’s tart, creamy and utterly gratifies my Sicilian NJ side.
The new aspect here compared to the other two Che Ficos is five different sandwiches. Previously the sandos have only been available at the Menlo Park Mercato. At the pizzeria, there’s a marinara-drenched chicken parmigiana sandwich and a muffuletta, which I haven’t tried yet but it will be impossible to top the best-ever muff at Sandy’s in the Upper Haight. I tried Che Fico’s parmigian sando and the I-talian sub, a sesame roll packed with sopressata, capicola, onion, lettuce, mayo, olive oil and vinegar, offering crisp, meaty contrast to red sauce-laden pizzas.
Among the starters, look for Nayfeld’s beloved suppli, Southern Italian carnaroli rice-stuffed croquettes oozing fontina cheese. There are new joys like rosemary garlic knots, castelvetrano olives stuffed with Italian sausage or perfected fried calamari dipped in lemon aioli. Che Fico’s spot-on chopped salad is here, alonsgide new salads like bomba shrimp with kale, romaine, cherry tomato, cucumber, fried corn and avocado in a tomatillo dressing, or heirloom tomato and mizuna salad dressed in sesame seeds, golden balsamic and roasted garlic aioli.
Cocktails and dessert
Cocktails veer more simple than the other Che Ficos, with POG (pomegranate, orange and guava juice, a Hawaiian staple) foam atop a Mai Tai twist, also available as a non-alcoholic (NA) cocktail. I’m partial to the Northern Califoolya Smash, a vegetal, green mix of tequila, genepy, lime, Douglas fir eau de vie, juniper and mint.
There are four local beers on draft, including their own house golden ale “pizza beer.” The all-Italian wine list by wine director Jason Alexander is the drink highlight here, short but well-curated, focused on small, sustainably farmed winemakers, along with a “secret” list of rarities from Barolo to Sicily. On offer is everything from sparkling Le Marchesine Franciacorta to chilled red Weingut Ebner from Italy’s northern Germanic-Italian Sudtirol region.
For dessert, a menu of seasonally changing gelato soft serve with toppings like maldon salt and extra virgin olive oil, salted caramel, rainbow sprinkles or crispy chocolate balls is all you need. Especially when it’s tart coconut lime sorbetto and strawberry gelato, as it was on my visit. Together as “swirl,” it was a vacation-worthy refresher appropriate for this new pizzeria’s Bayside setting. Thankfully, SF — a city that never fails to eat well in any corner — proves that game food can be fun and unpretentious yet still gourmand.
// 1 Warriors Way, Ste. 300; www.cheficopizzeria.com
Virginia Miller is a San Francisco-based food & drink writer.
The Bold Italic is a non-profit media organization, and we publish first-person perspectives about San Francisco and the Bay Area. Donate to us today.
