Over the years, I’ve been a bit surprised by the number of locals — and even food writers — I know who have never been to Acquerello. Not only is it a two Michelin-starred, Italian San Francisco treasure since 1989, chef/co-owner Suzette Gresham remains one of our great national chefs. She’s a dedicated powerhouse who has turned out stunning food for decades with humility and humor. Of the many chefs’ panel discussions I led during the height of the pandemic for the Golden Gate Restaurant Association (GGRA), her insights were among the most memorable and meaningful.
Acquerello co-owner Giancarlo Paterlini — and his stellar team of sommeliers — has curated one of the most extensive Italian wine selections in the nation. I go when I can over the past 20 years, and back in 2012 I called Acquerello “San Francisco’s great underrated fine dining destination.”
Historically, it is the restaurant that most reminded me of Michelin-starred dining in Italy, from impeccable service to the old school space, straddling the balance of traditional and forward-thinking.
That’s plenty of preamble, but it’s important to explain why I would jump — and so should you — when hearing the Acquerello team opened a more casual restaurant. Their Polk Street 1760 restaurant was one I appreciated from day one. Despite what for me was a bit of a bland interior, it was home to gratifying food and Gianpaolo Paterlini’s (Giancarlo’s sommelier son) impeccable wine list. It also solidified the career and cocktails of SF bartending great Christopher Longoria before he went on to run the bar at Che Fico.
In December 2021, 1760 was reborn as Sorella, meaning “sister” in Italian. Cocktails and cicchetti (Venetian snacks) center the bar, while antipasti/appetizers, pastas, secondi/entrees, and a robust drink selection inform the overall menu. The space is sleeker, even a bit brighter than 1760 with a playful Sorella neon sign. The Italian menu was created by Suzette and Giancarlo, Acquerello chef de cuisine Seth Turiansky and Sorella chef Denise St. Onge (formerly of Greens). General manager Sean Talley oversees the team and service, with Gianpaolo over the wine list. Female-run cocktail consultancy Manhattan Zodiac (Yana Nogid and Katya Skye) created the cocktail menu.
On a clear, mild January night, husband Dan and I settled into a Sorella banquette. B.C. Canada kusshi oysters ensured a briny start, enlivened with sea bean mignonette and finger limes’ caviar-like spheres. An accompanying glass of lively Contadi Castaldi Franciacorta Brut was from my favorite region for sparkling wine in all Italy: Franciacorta. Warm house potato leek focaccia laid a good base and we were ready to dive fully in.
Dan calls me predictable only when it comes to a couple of things, crudo being one of them. I chalk it up to my yin-yang passion for Italy and Japan: crudo, the sashimi of Italy, accented with different ingredients, is something I have a hard time resisting on any menu. Sorella’s initial kingfish crudo marked with burnt orange gelée, red onions and fried orange zest in silky Sicilian olive oil did not disappoint. It tasted like winter in NorCal and the motherland of Sicily, two places with not dissimilar climates.
But the winter chicory salad almost topped the crudo. Certainly lush burrata — the highest level of mozzarella — helped. But it was the contrasting play of grapefruit, walnuts and pink peppercorn that gave it all the angles a superlative salad needs: peppery to crunchy, sweet to acidic. Still, appetizer/antipasti kudos may have to go first to warm Parmesan budino, essentially flan-esque savory pudding, laced with sunchokes, hazelnuts, and brown butter, topped with truffles. C’mon. The good news is, all three were fab and totally different from each other.
Wines from around Italy satisfied, especially the clean complexity of a 2019 Mitja Sirk Venezia Giulia Bianco from one of the greatest wine regions in the world, Friuli. The house signature cocktail, Sorella’s Sour, isn’t groundbreaking so much as easy-drinking, pleasing. A twist on a basic Whiskey Sour with rye whiskey and lemon, it’s given nuance from sage syrup, bitters, Averna Amaro and an undetectable whisper of creme de violet.
Arguably, the starters were as excellent as the pastas, but the pastas feel like the heart of the menu. Less common pasta joys abound, including a seasonal special of Dungeness crab crespelle, rolled crepe-like around crab and celery root, creamy and umami-forward in Fort Bragg sea urchin and caviar. Swiss chard malfatti are green, veggie “dumplings” of sorts contrasted with gorgonzola, speck and black pepper.
But the pasta I’d go back for is dry-aged beef timballo, creamy with comtè cheese and a vivid tomato sauce making the whole dish sing. For those of you who know that Stanley Tucci and Campbell Scott-directed Big Night (1996) is one of the greatest food movies of all time, you’ll never forget the timpano scene. They cook a layered melange of pasta, meat, egg inside a giant shell of pasta — it’s the stuff food dreams (and food orgasms) are made of. It’s impossible to watch the film even on a full stomach and not feel lustily hungry, especially when the timpano arrives.
I’m not saying this timballo is timpano rising from the screen. But a slice of layered lasagna-esque pasta and meat in a pool of pitch-perfect tomato sauce did bring Big Night’s timpano immediately to mind. It also reminded me of Japanese-French mille crêpe cake with the pasta’s stacked, thin layers. It’s as crave-worthy as a great lasagna.
My timballo coma didn’t make the striped bass, flaky with crispy skin, in a fennel, manila clams, orange soffritto and potato brodo (broth) any less gratifying — but it did mean I couldn’t finish the fish. An organic, biodynamic 2020 Trediberri Nebbiolo from Italy’s Langhe region complimented pastas with earthy tannins, while additional drink offerings include the likes of Italian beers like Baladin ‘Nora’ Spiced Ale (a brewery I loved visiting in Rome years back) or Lurisia Il Nostro Chinotto soda (a longtime fave and nice non-alcoholic option offering slightly bitter complexities).
Wrapping up the meal, an olive oil torta is a moist cake brightly tart with blood orange Aperol sorbet, lemon curd, pistachios and citrus. Gelati and sorbetti lover that I am, after a big feast, it’s often all I want for dessert. A scoop of Acquerello’s amaretti biscotti gelato does the trick — and begs for a partner of espresso to wrap the night.
Giancarlo took care of us with his always classy warmth and consummate professionalism, moving around the room of diners ranging from couples to families. Amid San Francisco’s slew of Italian excellence at all levels — and continuing rush of new Italian openings, from Penny Roma to Fiorella Sunset — we weren’t suffering for more Italian restaurants. But with its casual quality and “whole package” sensibilities, Sorella is a win for the neighborhood — and the city.
// 1760 Polk Street, https://sorellasf.com
