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Today we start off the review festivities with Paul Reidinger, who takes the show to Tony's Pizza Napoletana, home of the champion dough tosser and his three fancy ovens. While at the North Beach pizzeria, Reidinger puts forth the case for opting for Tony's instead of the city's other myriad "chic pizza" joints:
[It] has an air of Neapolitan or Roman authenticity that goes far beyond the pies themselves and is really unmatched in this respect by any of the newer places, despite their commendable pizzas ... Tony's is relaxed enough in look and atmosphere, and intense enough about the food, to become an authentic experience in its own rightSome of the non-pizza items might skew a bit overpriced, thehe pizzas are the main show, and for the most part, they live up to the hype. Even though it's hard to compare margherita pizzas across the board (since technically, they're all supposed to be the same), Reidinger does say this about Gemignani's version: "I've never had a better one than Tony's."[SFBG]
John Birdsall handles the Weekly review this week, and he's got some very encouraging words for the Kabuki's strange little restaurant, Sundance Kitchen: "...manager Pat Da Silva and her cooks are producing Hawaiian plate-lunch dishes that are among the tastiest, most meticulously plated you're likely to encounter. Maybe anywhere." [SFW]
Pinch-hitting in the Thursday Datebook is Nicholas Boer, who has a deuce for Pleasant Hill's Sichuan Fortune House. It's a "simple-looking" Chinese restaurant, with service that is, well, pleasant. However, if you find yourself in Pleasant Hill, be advised that the Cantonese dishes are worth a skip. [Chron]
THE ELSEWHERE: The Sunday Bauer had two stars for Ironside, the CoCoTimes was unimpressed by Oakland's Bocanova, the EBX is at Berkeley comfort food spot Venus, the PressDem finds hotel food but great views at Bodega Bay's Bay View, the Marin IJ unearths Russian food at San Rafael's Golden Orb and Bar Bites hits up the Union Square Morton's.
