No pic of the lamb neck?
How much was the collar? Looks awesome.
good catch… fixed. collars was right around 30 i believe.
Must say, decided to go to Chi Spacca tonight based on this thread.
No hamachi collars on the menu, and no goat…but worse than that, I just don’t get the place. I suppose we over-ordered, but at the price point of $170/person just on food, I would want to feel like I am eating extraordinary things. In contrast, things just taste fine here.
Maybe it just greatly depends what you order. The closest to a great dish was the anchovy toast with butter. An absurdly decadent, salty, buttery toast that pushes the palate right up to its limits, and somehow works wonderfully. Funnily enough, this was a dish we were randomly given for free.
The toast with ciauscolo was ok, the bread was incredible, but not entirely sure about the ciauscolo itself. I am not sure if it was served too cold and should’ve been more spreadable, or not. I guess it was fine, fairly classical in terms of the juniper flavors at least.
The pickles were top notch, with pickled persimmons perhaps being the most interesting thing in the entire meal.
The focaccia di recco was good, but sort of limp, a bit oversalted in some parts, no salt in others. Overall tasty enough I suppose.
Asador potatoes were fine, flavorful enough, but perhaps should’ve been more crispy versus chewy at the edges? Eh, how wrong can you go with lardo and rosemary? Good enough.
The fideos a la Catalana were an uncharacteristic dish. The carabineros on top of them was perfection, and overall it was a solid dish, but thinking about fideos I’ve had recently, such as at Cala in SF, the aioli just wasn’t flavorful enough to make the whole dish pop it seemed like. Certainly a solid dish, but would’ve been nice if they could’ve included 2 carabineros for $42, maybe asking too much, though.
The real failure was the Flannery beef bistecca fiorentina, which just didn’t really work at all. The waitress kind of solid it as an interesting version that the restaurant was particularly excited about. It seemed cooked straightforwardly, but my dining companion said it tasted like beef from Walmart cooked by expert chefs… and even with the aging it was true, there were gristly, inedible veins of fat in every piece, and the flavor didn’t seem to be anything particularly noteworthy. My friend and I often go out and have steak together, and compared two our last two steaks at Felix and Rosaline, we both agreed that despite this being the most expensive one, it was by far the worst steak we’ve had recently.
Service is quite good. The ambiance of the place is wonderful. The food is about a 7/10 overall, but the prices are 9/10 levels.
I can’t see myself craving anything we had really, and I actively regret purchasing the bistecca. It feels like the standards that the pricing sets for the place just aren’t quite being met by the food. Too bad given how pleasant the staff and ambiance are. Also, the ease of walking in without a reservation. 
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Good to have you back.
Any thoughts about food?
I don’t get this place either @FoodDreams . Everything is way too rich. And I am not one to normally complain about rich, fatty foods. In my experience there, it was difficult to enjoy anything past the appetizers.
Very true. Aside from other issues, it truly feels like you are supposed to order either mains or apps, not both. But at least they’re good at packing stuff to go, I guess.
The meal for four I ordered a few weeks ago was:
- focaccia di Recco
- squash blossoms
- parsnips with smoked burrata
- grilled octopus with chickpeas
- roasted radishes
- lamb sausage
- tomahawk chop
- chanterelles
- butterscotch budino
- cranberry sorbetto
- banana cream slab
We had room for dessert because I ordered only one of the rich, starchy dishes. Food cost before tax and tip was $266 or $66.50 a person, which was more than reasonable for the quality, quantity, and variety.
This is the way we order there too. Those are the dishes that leave us very happy. +the amberjack collars if they’re on…
What would you order if you went with less than 4 people?
That’s well done. Some people like to go there and get the focaccia + marrow pie + a steak, which I think is too much. In fact, next time I’m going to skip the focaccia. Stick with salad, cauliflower, squash blossoms, tomahawk or a steak, and only one dessert.
I went once a few months back on the recommendation of this board and found every single dish to be insanely over salted. I am not sensitive to salt at all, and have a heavy hand with it myself when I cook, but this was next level. I have to imagine it was a one-off since people on this board with far more refined palates than myself seem to love Chi Spacca, but I’ve stuck with the Osteria and Pizzeria since then.
I probably won’t go to Chi Spacca again with fewer than four people. Too many appealing dishes are portioned for large groups.
That said, this subset of my last meal there would have worked for two:
- squash blossoms
- grilled octopus with chickpeas
- roasted radishes
- lamb sausage
- chanterelles
- butterscotch budino
Plus maybe one more of the under-$40 meat dishes.
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