THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Vivande Porta Via
415-346-4430
Cozy trattoria serves simple, satisfying Italian food and offers a well-stocked deli of house specialties to go.
Openings: Open daily
Features
- Dress code: Casual
- Kid-friendly
THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Vivande Porta Via Restaurant Review:
Noted cookbook author and TV chef Carlo Middione has been serving simple, satisfying Italian food on Fillmore Street since 1981. The name means to go, and there is indeed a well-stocked gastronomia up front that displays meats, cheeses and spit-roasted chickens as well as homemade pastas, sausages, salads and sweets. The back houses an expanded trattoria that offers traditional specialties such as pollo al mattone---chicken marinated in rosemary, sage and garlic and seared under weights---as well as Middione's paper-thin hand-cut fettuccine in comforting dishes like aglio e olio (garlic, olive oil and red pepper flakes) and pasta Romana (cream, butter and Parmesan). Deliciously fresh steamed clams or mussels make a perfect starter for the entrées, many of which come from Middione's family recipes. The signature fried oyster panino and the scrigno di venere---a beggar's purse of delicate pasta filled with spinach taglionini, pepper ham and peas---are particularly good, as is ex-49er Joe Montana's favorite, boscaiola, a sauté of house-made fennel sausage, potato, bell peppers, mushrooms, onions, wine and garlic. Cell phone junkies be warned: Middione has a strict no cell phone policy, and he's not afraid to enforce it.
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