My Kitchen Diary: Delfina

Delfina is a gem of a place in the Mission district in San Francisco. I made a visit for dinner last week to catch up with a local friend. Here is a pic of the place from their website.

It's a bit of funny story actually...

It starts with my love of Tartine Bakery. I try to get a chocolate eclair every time I visit. It's a must because it's sooo good. Back in October, I had the same plan...stop by Tartine before my departure flight. I had stayed over the weekend after a business trip. My sis and my bestie came in as well, and we made a trip to Sonoma. Anyways, we all went eagerly to Tartine and bought a butt load of goodies for the plane ride. We were super hungry and wanted to grab a lunch too. Tartine is packed and no where to sit, so we go to the next door pizza place that looked great. We got a table outside and proceeded to order our pizzas and salads. While waiting for our food, I decided I want to take a bite out of my chocolate eclair. So, I take it out of the bag and ready to take a bite...but wait...who comes to our table but a snooty, pseudo intelligent, tall stick figure of a woman. I get scolded like a child that I can't bring in outside food to their restaurant. I'm like what? I'm just taking a bite! We already ordered our food I tell her but she said no. I say...we are already outside because that is where we are sitting! Still no. I put the eclair back in the box. We sit just waiting for our pizza order but I am fuming! How dare she? There is no way, I will not enjoy that pizza or lunch there. I tell my sis and bestie that I need leave. They can eat if they want but I'm not! They agree...so we get up. I tell her to *%$@#!&. No I didn't. :) I just said we will take our business elsewhere. I left a $2 tip because we had water. My sis and bestie said why but it was a point...and it wasn't our waitress' fault. We ended up back Tartine, waited for a table, got croque monsieurs, cookies, and ate the damn good eclair.

Back to the story, my friend said she tried this great new restaurant over the weekend and wanted to eat there again, it was a place called Delfina. Got great reviews, 2010 best restaurant. I was game! I thought the name it sounded familiar but knew I hadn't been there before. We left her place, plugged address into the GPS and it takes us to Mission district, looks familiar, I see Tartine. I point it out to Heather because she's not been there and I've been raving. We park finally and walk to the address. We get there...well...it's next door to Tartine Bakery. :) It was the same pizza place but the restaurant part of the place. I looked around, no snooty tall stick figure of a woman. Actually they were really nice, I loved the vibe of the place, hustling and bustling. Great place. Food was amazing!

Blood Orange Avocado Fennel Salad