11 Mar St Vincent San Francisco

While in San Francisco for an Italian wine event, a meal at St. Vincent was apropos. After all, St. Vincent, named for the Patron Saint of Vintners, is owned by David Lynch who wrote the book Vino Italiano. With a great passion for Italian wine, David has put together an extraordinary wine list of Italian wines but also features wines from France, Spain and California and beyond. We ordered a bottle of the Cascina Luisin 2011 Dolcetto d’Alba “Bric Trifüla,” Piemonte, Italy. With delicious notes of blackberry and violets, this juicy medium-bodied Dolcetto was velvety on the palate. The bottle was a great value, costing only $36. And, even better, all of the wines at St. Vincent are available through their retail store. So, if you like a wine, buy a bottle and take it home for later. The space at St. Vincent is intimate with low lighting and dark wood furniture but the food is bright, colorful and full of flavor. Between Bites and Starters, there are so many small dishes to share that we didn’t make it to the Entrees. Manila Clam with olive oil, basil vinegar, pickled shallots was a bright, fresh dish to start the night. ($6) A unique combination, the Tuna Crudo was matched with merlin beets, yuzu, pomelo, parsley. The tuna was almost as dark in color as the beets. ($16) The Dungeness Crab caught my attention with the magic words “brown butter hollandaise”. Lots of meaty pieces of fresh crab sat on a pillow of decadence. ($6) The Beef Tartare sat on a bed of garlic aioli with shio koji, capers and crunchy chunks of radishes. This is the kind of dish where every last drop was licked off the plate. ($18) The crispy wild rice added an earthy and crunchy texture to the green and purple Charred Broccoli with potato and grain mustard cider jus. ($14) The Aromatic Spiced Chicken Wings were covered with sansho pepper, otherwise known as numbing spice. But, they weren’t too spicy and the dried lemon and mint added bright, refreshing notes. ($15) We finished with the meaty Pork Belly that sat on a bed of wilted spinach, maitake mushroom and warm sherry vinaigrette. ($16) On the next visit to St. Vincent, I look forward to exploring more wines on the list. St. Vincent 1270 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110