Foodie Digest

I spend too much time reading about, and then anticipating, new restaurants in my neighborhood. The latest arrival, Zero Zero has been one of the most hyped places to open recently. So hyped that I felt obligated to check it out the first week, alright, the first night, it opened.

On opening night we just went by for dessert. The place was still buzzing a little before 10, and the pizzas that went past us looked good. Instead of pizza we had the only dessert choice — a soft serve ice cream. While it’s the only dessert it’s not that limited; you design your own ice cream creation choosing from:

• strauss organic vanilla, chocolate or a swirl
• choice of base (if you want one) such as brownies, olive oil cake and more
• choice of toppings, such as pie crumbles
• more toppings, like butterscotch, hot fudge, nuts
• and the best topping of all, olive oil and sea salt.

The first time we went I got a simple vanilla with olive oil and sea salt. He had a simple vanilla with pie crumbles and strawberries in balsamic. The olive oil with sea salt topping is amazing. We still talk about it. We’ve gone back and had it again. And of course, when we went back we had pizza.

So after a week or so we went back to try dinner here. We actually tried once in between but there was too long a wait. We went instead on a weeknight and were seated within 20 minutes. We ordered (and were disappointed by):

• Hiramasa crudo with jalapeno and basil tobiko: This would have been good but the flavors overpowered the fish. And the overwhelming flavor? Salt. Too much salt.
• Padron peppers: I love these peppers. Being seasonal they are all the rage at restaurants around SF these days. Almost always served roasted and simple, these were fine but not that memorable.
• Meat plate: This was utterly underwhelming. It came with an apricot jam (that our server described as strawberry-rhubarb). The meats were all fairly flavorless so they weren’t tasty on their own, and there wasn’t enough bread/jam to help make up for it.
• Castro pizza: this pizza comes with sausage, sopresatta, tomato sauce, mozarella and basil. The sausage in this pizza was way too salty and overpowered the entire pizza. That wasn’t difficult to do because the crust was a bit limp and there wasn’t enough sauce. I’m a big fan of char on pizza but this felt almost overcharred (and yet not crispy). The cheese was good, but not enough to save the pizza. We didn’t finish it. It might have been because we were saving room for ice cream but I think it’s because it wasn’t that good.

So overall? We were really underwhelmed with all the food except ice cream. Which is fine because this place is very trendy, full of lots of people and they only take reservations for larger groups. Luckily, we remembered another italian place in the hood that makes pizza. A few nights later, we dined at Zuppa.

It’s a Friday night and we walk in around 8. Waited only a few minutes for a table (but they do take reservations for small parties).

Up for another go round, we order a sausage pizza and a meat plate, along with 2 pasta dishes. And man, did this food deliver.

• pizza: the sausage pizza comes with an arugula-like green. Perfect amount of sauce to sausage to cheese ratio. We demolished this pizza.
• meat plate: we limited ourselves to three meats instead of going for the extra large plate. They were all fabulous (well, we did get to choose). The meats here stand on their own; they don’t need bread or jam.
• ricotta stuffed pasta with prosciutto and cherry tomatoes. Really nice flavors and the stuff pasta was perfectly sized.
• summer truffle pasta with mushrooms. again, perfectly prepared.