I’m always interested when new places open up in my neighborhood, and when I heard about Rosemary and Pine, it quickly moved toward the top of my list. It was brought to us by the lovely group that has Niku Steakhouse, and since their burger is one of my favorites in the city, I had very high expectations. While they do have some meat dishes on the menu, they also have a selection of pasta and American-style small plates for dinner. The lunch menu swaps the pasta for pizza, but keeps a selection of starters, mains and sides for you to enjoy.
We came here for dinner one night after spending the day in Napa, so we were ready to keep relaxing and stick with the wine. They have several bottles at different price points, and we chose an Atlas Mountain AVA to enjoy with dinner as it’s one of our favorite wine producing regions in the valley. We then started our meal with some stuffed peppers that were heavenly, and some great devilled eggs with chicken skin on top. The eggs were a bit hit or miss on the seasoning, but they were a great mouthful of food. The bread with their homemade butter was also really delicious and left me wanting more!
For main courses, we decided on some pasta dishes that really caught our attention. One was a corn agnolotti, which is basically a Mexican street corn as a pasta with all the flavors that you would expect from that dish. And It was by far the best savory dish we ate. The corn was amazing and all the flavors really melded together. The other pasta dish was pasta ribbons with mortadella meatballs, pesto, tomatoes and mozzarella. It was a nice autumn dish with seasonal produce, but I was really jealous I didn’t just order the corn pasta as well.
Finally, we decided on the Basque cheesecake for dessert, and the other half told me it was the best dessert he had had in quite some time! (Which is very high praise.) It is topped with Manchego cheese and jam, so it really added a nice salty and sweet element to the dish. It really was an inventive and amazing treat for after dinner.
Rosemary & Pine has a great selection of modern California food on the menu. There is a fantastic fusion of flavors and cultures, and everything we had was very enjoyable. Pair the food with great wine, and there really is a winning restaurant here. The service was also stellar, and I see myself heading back here for many more enjoyable nights (and perhaps brunches) to come.
Score: 4.5/5
Recommendation: Give anything a try, but really go for the Basque cheesecake at the end!
Rosemary and Pine
1725 Alameda St.
San Francisco, CA 94103
