Staying in San Francisco, here is a quick write-up of the dinner we had after a hike through Muir Woods after a visit to Rancho Gordo in Napa after lunch at 606 in Chinatown. San Francisco has no shortage of strong options for pizza and if you ask people in the know for short lists of recommendations you’ll likely get lists with quite a bit of variation on them. Del Popolo, where we ate, is unlikely to show up on many of those lists. Why did we eat there anyway? Well, it’s primary virtue as far as we were concerned is that it is located a hop, skip and jump from our hotel on the edge of Union Square and it would be a quick walk there and back after what was scheduled to be a long day. That part of the promise was kept. The pizza was not bad either. Here are some details.

Del Popolo, located on Bush between Taylor and Mason, specializes in Neapolitan-style pizza. After our brief sojourn in Naples last summer, we are big fans of the Neapolitan style and this was another point in Del Popolo’s favour. The restaurant is divided into two large sections: an indoor dining room that is anchored by a large wood-burning pizza oven and outdoor seating on a patio off the lower level. We had reserved a table on the patio and had a large one to ourselves. Reservations do seem like a good idea. It’s not a small place by any means but it was quite busy even on a Thursday evening.

What did we eat? We started with a few smaller plates. An order each of their Olive Oil Foccacia; Burrata, served with frisee, nectarine and pistachios (which we asked for on the side); and their Eggplant Parmesan. The burrata plate was nice; the eggplant was underwhelming; the focaccia was just about whelming (especially at $6 for a not-over large piece of bread). The pizzas were thankfully better. On our server’s advice we got four of them for the four of us: the Margherita, the Salsiccia, the Salami Piccante, and the King Trumpet Mushroom. The crusts were predictably, and understandably, well short of of Naples (we ate at Attilio and Starita) but the toppings were well done. The boys enjoyed the Salsiccia in particular and the missus and I were partial to the King Trumpet Mushroom.

To close, a couple of desserts: the Strawberry Sorbet (nicely sized with three scoops) and the Housemade Cheesecake. Both were tasty enough.

For a look at the restaurant, the menu and what we ate, launch the slideshow below. Scroll down to see how much it all cost and to see what’s coming next.

Service was fine. All of the above plus a glass of orange wine came to just about $197 before tip and just about $233 after. Considering that this was just $5 or so less than our fabulous dinner at Copra the previous night, I think it’s fair to say that it was quite overpriced for what it was. For that reason and also on the basis that there’s probably much better pizza to be had in San Francisco, I would not recommend it.

Alright, only one more restaurant report to come from San Francisco. That will take us back to dim sum, albeit to a new location. I hope to get that out next Thursday. Before that, I’ll have a report on a lovely dinner at our Twin Cities favourite, Alma, that was eaten at the very end of August. That’ll be on Tuesday.