Incanto

Friday night, birthday dindin for another friend at Incanto. Incanto is in Noe Valley which is one of the neighborhood in San Francisco that i've heard of alot but never had the need to go there. I'm glad i did go to this dinner party because there's quite a few cute restaurants, antique shops and furniture stores... that i'd like to have a peek.

there were four of us and we've arrived 15 minutes early and got seated rightaway. the restaurant decor is definitely rustic - an attempt to recreate the rustic italian country... the stone walls and pillars were a bit much for me, i feel the decorator(s) were trying a bit too hard???...

the staff were friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. the crowd here on this friday night was more family oriented and casually dressed.

on with the food... the water (on the house) came in still and sparkling which is very nice, i like options. the bread plate came with tapenade and three different kinds of bread - italian rustic, foccacia and bread sticks. i like that too, more options. all the bread and tapenade were good, i didn't try the foccacia. my friend ordered a flights (in tasting portions), i was sick in the belly so i skipped the alcohol that night (and for a while...). she liked them all - the white was light and fruity, the red was woodsy, and the second red was a bit stronger, she said.

for the appetizers, we ordered three dishes to share - the tripe, the artichoke salad with lemon mint dressing topped with some hard cheese (i forgot), and antipasto sampling plate which has salami, mortadella, country pate, roasted garlic, sauteed baby broccoli... i did not try the tripe, it did not look appetizing to me and i never like tripe anyway - this was the birthday girl's choice. the artichoke salad was simple and good with a hint of bergamot in the dressing. the antipasto was good, except for the pate - it was very dry. i never had italian pate before, may be it supposed to taste like that???

then came the entrees, the birthday girl had the hankerchief pasta with pork ragu, the wine girl had the spear fish with chickpea, the little japanese girl had the sausage with onion and polenta, and i ordered the roasted pork shoulder with polenta. i did not try other's entrees since i try to eat less these days. i heard that all were good. my pork shoulder was good, reminded me of the pork dish i had at Range but that one was far more tasty. the favorite part of my dish was the polenta - super smooth, creamy and buttery... the food presentation is very rustic, it goes with the restaurant theme.

i was not going to order dessert but i did, we all did since we were all going to walk home from there ( a good one hour walk). the birthday girl has the lemon sorbet, i had a taste, very light and refreshing. the wine girl had the carrot cake with carrot orange sorbet. i did not taste the cake, she didn't like it as much, it's kind of like fruit cake, she said. i like the carrot orange sorbet, very interesting, the carrot flavor was definitely a refreshing surprise, i like it alot. the japanese girl had the pannacotta with strawberry, the restaurant signature dessert, said the waiter. i didn't taste and she liked it ok. i had the flourless chocolate cake with pink peppercorn ice cream and it was good! everyone had a taste of my dessert and it was voted the best one. the cake was velvety smooth and soft, almost like truffle. the icecream has a spicey peppery aftertaste, interesting, definitely the best dish of the whole meal for me. i would definitely try to make this cake at home.

one interesting note, the head chef here was on the "Iron Chef" competition, he didn't win but good publicity anyhow.

http://www.incanto.biz/index.html