A16 Awards

A16 Restaurant Review:

This Marina hot-spot specializing in Campanian cuisine turns out some of the Bay Area’s best Neapolitan-style pizza, sporting thin, bubbly, crispy, chewy crusts. The salsiccia --- featuring fragrant fennel sausage, bitter rapini, and large toasted garlic flakes --- sings with flavor; a blend of chilies and olive oil on the side (as to not over-soak the crust) lets diners spice pies to their hearts' desire. Another specialty is house-cured salumi, including long ribbons of year-aged prosciutto, plated like pappardelle, and met with persimmons for sweetness, hazelnuts for salt and pomegranates for zing. Pasta dishes on a frequently changing menu include squid-ink tonnarelli and ricotta gnocchi. Rusticity shines in such dishes as richly balsamic, velvety duck meatballs, stewed in house-made mosto. Boasting 40 wines by the glass, owner-sommelier Shelley Lindgren’s vast wine list highlighting southern Italian varietals is an integral part of the experience. Sit out back for extra romance or at the long counter for close contact with A16's busy open kitchen. Sweet lovers: Prioritize the moist rum cake topped with spiced quince, or the creamy salted budino. Note: Former chef Christopher Thompson has departed the restaurant, and chef Rocky Maselli has moved over from A16 Rockridge, which focuses on seafood, to helm the flagship.