Most of the time, I hit up North Beach for my Italian (or Flour + Water if I want something more extravagant). But one night, we happened to be in the area with a friend, and we decided to should swing in to give it a try. After that night, we knew it would be staying on the list of “return to” restaurants. So after a long day out, we ended up here at the end of the night for meal of Italian food.
They have a great wine list actually, with quite a few Italian wines. And several older wines, which is always something we gravitate toward on a wine list. And if you save room at the end of the meal, there’s a great grappa list on the menu (one of which we had to hunt down to have at home). On this night, we just went for an older Italian wine and decided to order the chicken live pate starter ($12). I had the Napoletana pizza with anchovies, capers and olives — a salt lover’s dream ($17) topped with an additional fried egg ($2), and my husband went with the roasted butternut squash tortelli ($17).
The pate arrived and it was presented beautifully. I was expecting to have to spread it myself, but it was piped out beautifully on some toasted focaccia with some shaved fennel and jam. It was a pretty good dish and definitely whet the appetite for the main course.
My pizza looked great, even though the egg was cooked separately and placed on top. I still dug in. It’s a pretty good pizza to be honest, although the crust seems to be lacking somewhat for me. The pasta, though, is definitely a winner. It’s a great homemade pasta and the butternut squash filling was really flavorful.
Cento Osteria was a pretty great random find, I have to say. It’s fairly easy to get into, and there’s usually some great service and some decent Italian food. It’s also open on the weekends, unlike a lot of things in the area, so it is nice that you can get in any night of the week. I’d definitely go back as it’s a lot closer than North Beach, but something about that area always lures me in.
Score: 4/5
Recommendation: Get the homemade pasta, it’s delicious! And add a great bottle of Italian wine.
Cento Osteria
100 Brannan Street
San Francisco, CA 94107
