WIAW 1/2: Pizzeria Delfina + Radish, SF

Posted by Lauren

Hello everyone! I’m back at work today after a glorious holiday break. It’s strange going in to the office after so many days away, but I’m excited to get back to “normal.” My definition of normal includes regular exercise (I vacationed in Lazy Town), prepped lunches for the week, and WIAW participation!

Last WEDNESDAY (December 26th) I took the train up to San Francisco to hang out with my college roommates Kerry and Krizia. Kerry is a deal queen and found $1 bus rides from SoCal to San Francisco. As soon as I heard she was visiting, I sent both girls a list of restaurants in the Mission district I was eager to try….

We started the night off with some Red Hook ESBs and metal puzzles (the kind you have to untangle). Kerry won the puzzle solving contest, FYI.

We tossed the metal toys aside and hopped on the slow moving 49 bus…

A bajillion stops later, we were a few blocks from our destination!

Pizzeria Delfina

3611 18th Street, San Francisco 94110
Website – Yelp

This well-loved pizzeria gets packed and doesn’t take reservations. You get there and add your name to the list and wait outside with everyone else. Insider Tip: If you stand in the little alcove between Pizzeria Delfina and neighboring Delfina, you can drink legally. We did just that and ordered this bottle of wine while we waited 30 minutes for an inside table.

The wine wasn’t spectacular, but it did help us pass the time outside. We struggled for about 15 minutes trying to think of Cam’s partner’s name on Modern Family, guessing every name under the sun. After a Google search, I will never forget that the correct name is Mitchell.

The inside of Pizzeria Delfina is intimate but very unique, with tall ceilings, a hip mural and bright white tiles. I sat facing the dizzying mural of SF, which winds from the Bay Bridge to the streets of outer SF neighborhoods to the Financial District to the Golden Gate Bridge and out to the SF Bay. Super fly.

Their pizzas represent a marriage of Neapolitan and New York styles, with the main focus on local, seasonal ingredients. In fact, half the menu is printed and permanent, and the other half has dotted lines with handwritten options that change from day to day.

We ordered the Margherita pizza – tomato, fior di latte mazzarella, basil – with Hen of the Woods mushrooms. We all really enjoyed this pizza, but nobody was oohing and aahing over it.

Since meatballs are still my favorite restaurant food, we selected the Neopolitan Meatballs in Sugo (impermanent menu item, folks). These were baseball-sized and extremely juicy/moist/tender/[insert awkward adjective here]. Loved!

Krizia and I convinced Kerry to split the Brussels Sprouts with Ricotta Crostino (and that b-sprouts aren’t the completely icky food she remembers from her childhood). Another solid pick, but a bit unnecessary at that point since the pizza and meatballs were quite filling!

After dinner we stopped by two bars. Absinthe gets two thumbs up.

Great live music and intriguing soju cocktails…

Beatuy Bar gets one thumb down. Even the photo booth couldn’t make up for the… uh… everything. HA! We still had fun though :)

Friday morning I returned to the city, this time for brunch!

The three of us went back to the Mission neighborhood, but we had Kerry’s boyfriend, Matt, join us!

Radish

3465 19th Street, San Francisco 94110
Website - Yelp

This time, Kerry picked the place. She found a spot offering bottomless mimosas on a weekday. Matt and I picked the blood orange variety, while Krizia and Kerry went for the original. They tasted the same to me.

We slowwwwwly ate our breakfasts and refilled the mimosa pitchers 3 or 4 times?

My breakfast: Migas - scramble of egg, onion, bell pepper, cheddar cheese, and tortilla strips. Served with avocado, pickled jalapenos, corn tortillas, and hash (or fruit or greens).

I totally loved my breakfast, but honestly everything that came out of the kitchen looked amazing. For example, Krizia’s Biscuit Benny – two poached eggs, ham, and hollandaise on a house-made biscuit. Thanks for sharing a few bites with me :)

Restaurants like Pizzeria Delfina and Radish make me want to move to the Mission right away. You wouldn’t guess it from walking around the “colorful” streets, but there are SO MANY fancy restaurants to try. Plus, it’s the taqueria capital of Northern California – the best of both worlds.

I’d also like to note that after mimosas, there were some shenanigans. Kyle took the train up to SF and met us around 2 PM. We dropped Kerry and Matt off at the bus station around 5 PM, and then Kyle, his roommate Darrin, Krizia, and I went to Thirsty Bear in SoMa for a few brews.

Those pictures didn’t turn out well. This post is already too long. Sorry!

Question: What’s your favorite meal to go out for? Breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, dessert, 4th meal?

-Lauren