RESTAURANTS • FOUND Table
With a dining room of colorful banquettes, towering globe lamps, and floor-to-ceiling windows that look out onto Jackson Square’s skyscrapers, Bar Sprezzatura doesn’t feel like any other restaurant in San Francisco. Just getting here is an act of discovery: The entrance is tucked away at the end of a long garden terrace on the second floor of One Maritime Plaza.
Clearly, the secret’s out. At 530p on a recent Thursday, the wait for a table at the (year-old) restaurant stretched past the two-hour mark. The bar was also packed, but thankfully, it didn’t take long for two seats to shake loose. And really, the bar’s where you want to be, as it’s where co-owner Carlo Splendorini runs the show. A veteran of Michael Mina’s restaurant group, Splendorini is both skilled barman and great host, welcoming guests with gratis prosecco, fielding questions about the menu, and making plates disappear as soon as they’re empty.
Carlo’s cocktail list at Bar Sprezz — a place so good it’s already earned a nickname — is a mix of Italian classics and quirkier creations, including a $50 “vintage” Negroni and a martini made with white-truffle-infused vodka and truffle-stuffed olives. The big hit on my visit (and the drink seemingly on every table) was the “I Bought Myself Flowers,” a citrusy, gin-based concoction with mauve-colored foam. This is a strong contender for Drink of the Spring (possibly Drink of the Summer, too).
Dinner features an array of Italian small plates and a few pastas and entrees. The spring vegetable agnolotti, tuna carpaccio with preserved tomatoes, and stracciatella with pistachios were all light, bright, and pretty. But it was two heartier, monochromatic dishes that really blew us away: whipped salt cod on toast, and guanciale meatballs in a dark red ragu. It’s a unique thrill, enjoying the rustic flavors of Italian home-cooking in such a glamorous setting. –Greg Morabito
→ Bar Sprezzatura (Fidi) • One Maritime Plaza • Mon-Wed 11a-9p, Thu-Fri 11a-10p • Reserve.