Over the three day weekend a couple of weeks ago, Carlos and I went out on a date night on Sunday night to Farina in the Mission. It was nice because it wasn’t crazy busy like I suspect it is on a Friday or Saturday night at Farina. There are so many fabulous places to eat in the Mission, but we always dread parking over there, so if a restaurant has valet parking, it’s a huge plus!
We started with the Foccacia di Recco con tartufo nero. It is stracchino cheese (similar qualities to sour cream) melted between two layers of thin dough with shaved black truffles. This dish is Ligurian specialty and Farina was first to serve it in it’s authentic form here in the US.
Mark Bittman said about Farina, “I have not had a pasta dish here that wasn’t perfectly cooked and well worth eating.” We ordered the two pastas dishes which were outrageously fresh and delicious. I ordered the Mandilli di seta al pesto ligure di mandorie (handmade handkerchief pasta with Genovese basil and almond pesto). Carlos had the Genovese Pansotti filled with meat.
Both Carlos and I agreed that the food was delicious but the prices were definitely on the pricier side. The pastas run about $24-$28 and the meat/fish dishes run $34-$46. Everything seemed to be priced $10 more than it should be (even for San Francisco). It was still quite a treat!
An extra perk was that Conan O’Brien walked in with his family and went upstairs to a private room. They have also added a roof deck that looks amazing that is scheduled to open in the next month.
Of course, afterwards we had to walk the half block over to Tartine Bakery and Bi-Rite Market to pick up a couple of goodies for the next day.
Melissa
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