Bao Necci in San Francisco, California: Restaurant Review

The bakery formerly known as Danilo is one of the few remaining slices of the old North Beach, when it was a real Italian working-class neighborhood. Of course, the prices are more in line with what the neighborhood is now, but the quality is definitely there to back it up.

This place is a true family owned operation. Owned and operated by a family from Lucca, Italy, it has been in North Beach for most of the past century - their baking ovens are among the oldest known working ovens remaining in the United States. Not all of the Italian places in North Beach are really that authentic, but this is one you can be sure is the real deal. Italian transplants to the neighborhood make this a regular gathering place and you'll hear the musical language flying about in the air on most mornings and afternoons when you visit. This is also one of the few area businesses that started before the great 1906 earthquake, survived it, then continued operations to this day.

For breakfast the focus is mainly on coffee and pastry, although they now serve a three-egg omelet with potatoes and foccacia. While the subject of focaccia is up, they have probably the best in the whole city, and it's worth a trip here just to snag a fresh loaf to bring home. They offer Miscela D'oro Italian coffee as well as cookies, chocolate and custard croissants, many different flavors of biscotti, cornetti (cream horns), zepole (a doughnut-like pastry filled with cremes and jellies) and crostata (a sort of small pie with fruit filling.)

For a quick lunch they offer pizza by the slice for about three bucks, and if you want a sit-down lunch you can split a whole artisan pie for around sixteen dollars. Specialty pizzas of the house are the Monte Bianco, Margherita, Napoli, Stagioni, Cappriciosa, Contadina, Porcini Arugola and Proscuitto Arucala. They also have calzones.

If you want a heftier lunch or a dinner, they also serve lasagna, caprese salad, antipasto, lasagna, eggplant parmesan, fagioli and roasted pork and turkey, with soup and of course various breads on the side.

Prices on coffee are actually good here given the quality and the expensive neighborhood, and they're competitive in everything else with all the area restaurants and bakeries, many of which charge more than this for inferior product and don't offer the great service or warm environment this place does. Definitely a great stop for good coffee, foccacia, panini, sweets and a solid meal that's well made but not too expensive. Don't miss out on it.

BaoNecci
516 Green St
San Francisco, CA 94133
# 415-989-1806
http://www.baonecci.com/