From Sardinia, With Love - The Soulful Dishes of La Ciccia [Thoughts + Pics]

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Great report and so glad you liked it. That octopus and spaghetti are ridiculously good, nothing like it in la. The squid ink linguine is another winner.

Are they allowing pictures now?

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La Ciccia’s certainly not fancy, but given the level of the cooking and wine list, I wouldn’t call it humble.

Michelin is full of shit as far as Italian restaurants go.

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Hi @PorkyBelly,

Thank you SO much for the recommendations! :blush: We owe you a debt for prodding us to try these great dishes! :slight_smile:

Pics: I think so. I saw a note on the menu about kindly refraining from camera and laptop, etc. So we did. Then 2 tables around us busted out their cell phones and started taking pics and sharing emails (talking about the bar they were going to next).

Lorella seemed to know both tables and even stopped by (while they were taking pictures and looking at emails) and chatted it up with them.

So at that point I just took that as an implicit OK to take a few photos discreetly. :wink:

I’ll definitely get the Squid Ink Linguine next time (in addition to the Bottarga Spaghetti again! :slight_smile:.

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Thanks @robert. Sorry I should clarify that by “humble” I just mean the opposite of stuffy, arrogant / cocky servers or having “haute cuisine” vibe. I loved La Ciccia. :slight_smile:

What else do you recommend getting?

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Yeah, that bottarga is pretty amazing.

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Great report! I was there this weekend, too. Great meal - we stick with the pastas and seafood apps (excellent sweet prawns and Monterey Bay calamari), a good bottle of Capichera vermentino, and walk out very happy.

We liked the:

  • grilled calamari app
  • grilled sweet prawns app
  • baby octopus stew
  • squid ink fresh linguine
  • bottarga spaghetti
  • sea urchin fregula
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That whole meal looks AMAZING. :smiley:

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Hi @BradFord,

Thanks for your additional recs! :slight_smile: It really seems they really excel at seafood. I made a note to try those new dishes you mentioned. Thanks again. :slight_smile:

Yeah this is one of the crown jewels of SF dining, definitely at the top of the heap as far as quality and satisfaction goes and without pretentiousness.

The octopus stew is spectacular, so much that I once got an extra order to go (add some pasta for it at home).

The spaghetti bottarga is excellent with the right amount of spice (and so addicting).

They had a roasted cauliflower dish once, and it was supreme.

Their very affordable Sardinian wines are great, you can always get a recommendation from waitstaff, whether red or white. Any of their recommended Cannonau cannot go wrong (even by the glass).

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The only thing I didn’t recommend at La Ciccia were the pizzas, and they took those off the menu.

I favor the seafood dishes, but he does a great job with lamb, pork, and vegetables as well.

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robert, I’m trying to remember. Back in the olden days, was that space a pizza place? And not a very good one? Ah, yes, back when no one knew where Noe Valley was :smile:

Yes, it was called Verona Pizza. Good or bad I don’t know. I lived at 26th and Church and went by it plenty of times but never went there.

Love the article!

We were on Vicksburg between Jersey and 25th so had options on 24th Street, none all that great IIRC but I wasn’t a big fan of the pizza back in those days.

Yeah, we used to get delivery from Cybelle’s.

Ah, a name out of the past.

Only photo I got from a lovely meal with old friends last week: giant patagonian red shrimp.

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Hi @robert,

That looks delicious! How were they? :slight_smile:

Anybody (@beefnoguy, @BradFord) want to be my octopus stew and spaghetti bottarga eating proxy? I have a reservation this saturday 2/23 at 6pm for 2 available.

Thanks for the invite, sorry can’t make it!