Bauer "Feels the Essence" of Sardinia at La Ciccia, Unterman Has Miracle Pizza at Cupola, and More

Bauerissimo has three stars for the food at La Ciccia and a 2.5 star rating overall. The Sardinain menu has "character that can be tasted on every plate, whether it's the spaghetti with cured mullet roe ($17) or the fregula with sea urchin and cured tuna heart ($16). Ingredients are rustic, spicing is bold...No other place I know so captures the spirit of the region that inspired it. With each dish you can almost feel the essence of the culture, even if you've never been to the country. For a chef, that's the highest compliment I can imagine." [Chron]

The shocker of the day is Patty Unterman's review of Cupola Pizzeria in the Westfield. "This unnoticed, cavelike space at the top of an escalator currently ranks as one of my favorite eateries in the Bay Area. Really." She even has a meal "in which every dish was perfect:" with "a play on panzanella," pizza margherita, "fork-tender pork," and "house-made spumoni." And the carne pizza? "Spare but balanced, and huge in flavor, this pizza was a miracle." Now she's off to the clothing stores for "some larger pants for fall." [Examiner]

Josh Sens has an uncharacteristically gushy review of Boxing Room in Hayes Valley, where he says "the menu is a portal to the soulful South." He doles out praise for a "thick and complex gumbo," the "bright red and roux-thickened" étouffée, and jambalaya. The only bad moments come when he goes overboard on the fried foods: "If only a server had saved me from myself." But it's all good: "The well-crafted cuisine, imported from a region that, for all its fame, is underrepresented in San Francisco restaurants, shines against a bright California backdrop. Even if you’ve suffered through a mournful workday, you leave Boxing Room in lighter spirits, a jazzy spring and rhythm in your step." [San Francisco Magazine]

The Big Kauff tries Red Tavern, the Outer Richmond's "first Russian restaurant to open in years," and he find "there's an awful lot of red" in the decor. The borscht is "quite good," potato vareniki "are much duller than the dumplings at the venerable Katia's Russian Tea Room," the cured fish is "good quality." "After two solid dinners that left me enthusiastic about the place and a third, punishingly mediocre one, I'd have to conclude that the food zigzags from the good to the odd, but the meal is rarely boring." [SF Weekly]

[Photo: Chron/Kurt Rogers ]