The Presidio's new restaurant serves pizza and pasta. But this is the surprising standout
Each week, critic MacKenzie Chung Fegan shares some of her favorite recent bites, the dishes and snacks and baked goods that didn't find their way into a full review. Want the list a few days earlier? Sign up for her free newsletter, Bite Curious.
Perhaps this is a holdover from living in New York for so long, but I'm always a little surprised when the best thing on the menu is a salad — especially at a restaurant that serves easy-to-love pizzas and pastas. But indeed, as good as the corn pizza was at the new Piccino Presidio, it was the shaved fennel and endive salad that commanded my full attention. I smelled the saffron vinaigrette before I tasted it. Gobs of soft feta, pickled sultanas, crunchy radishes and a smoky olive chermoula added interest to every bite.
In her article about Bernal Heights wine bar Komaaj, which specializes in Northern Iranian cuisine, my colleague Esther Mobley wrote about a dish of green olives dressed with pomegranate molasses, barberries and herbs that she popped like candy. We almost didn't order them, fools we are, but our server insisted, saying they were the best thing on the menu. I'm not sure she was correct — the sweet and sour chicken stew was wonderful as well — but they were a puckery addition to the mazze spread.
Komaaj Mazze Wine Bar. 20 29th St., San Francisco. komaaj.com
Here's a real corker of a deal: On weekends, Los Moles Hecho En Casa offers a top notch Mexican buffet for $25 at its San Rafael, Emeryville and El Cerrito locations. Because I always think it wise to approach a buffet with a game plan, I would recommend focusing on the seven housemade moles. The chocolatey mole poblano and mole Mama Luisa, red ocher in color and made with guajillo chiles, were my favorites of the bunch. There's also meltingly tender cabeza de res; menudo and pozole rojo; a salad bar with fruit and veg; and cafe de olla and cinnamon tea. Warm tortillas, freshly pressed at a kiosk right as you walk in the door, are delivered to every table. Micheladas ($10) are not included, but advisable.
Los Moles Hecho En Casa. 912 Lincoln Ave., San Rafael. losmoles.com
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