Piccino - Wine & Spirits Magazine

Restaurant Review

Piccino

by Luke Sykora • November 11, 2011

Once an unassuming neighborhood café, Piccino has become a Dogpatch neighborhood destination since moving to a new (and larger) space in late May. On sunny weekend afternoons, light floods through its raft of west-facing windows. In the center of the minimalist dining room, a long communal table holds a wooden bowl cradling bright lemons. This approachable, no-frills vibe extends to the kitchen, where Rachel Sillcocks turns out simple, satisfying Italian-inspired dishes presented with a minimum of fussiness. While the pizzas don’t quite share the dramatically bubbly, thoroughly charred crusts that seem to be de rigueur for the city’s popular pizza spots these days, Piccino’s crust is flavorful and chewy with a satisfying crunch; salads like the little gem and marinated cucumber salad enlivened with nutty fried capers and a juniper-infused dressing provide a lovely, understated starting point. Wayne Garci, husband of co-owner Sher Rogat, builds Piccino’s wine list mostly from selections he sells next door at his DIG wine shop—which explains the focus on artisanal French and Italian wines. Head for the fleshy yet rainwater-clean pinot nero bianco from Vercesi del Castellazzo in Lombardy, or spring for a bottle of the vibrant and sunny COS Frappato. Since Dogpatch is a bit out of the way, you may as well make an afternoon of it. Grab a cup of coffee at Piccino’s attached coffee stand, browse the shelves at DIG and, if kids are in the picture, walk two blocks east to Mr. and Mrs. Miscellaneous for ice cream cones.

1001 Minnesota St., San Francisco, California

Italian

415-824-4224

piccinocafe.com

Luke Sykora

Longtime senior editor at Wine & Spirits magazine, Luke now works for the Stanford Technology Ventures Program.

This story appears in the print issue of October 2011.
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TAGS California Italian New & Notable Restaurant San Francisco

David Paradela
Associate Editor

David joined Wine & Spirits in 2021 after immersing himself in the world of wine at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally from Boston, he graduated from Boston University with a degree in English and completed a master’s degree in Publishing and Writing from Emerson College in 2021. Prior to working at the magazine, he served as an editor and staff writer for the music blog Sound of Boston and worked in scientific publishing. Aside from wine, he loves basketball, arguing about Taylor Swift’s best album, and everything Greta Gerwig touches.

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Tastings Editor

Corey Warren moved to New York in 2015—fifteen years too late to join The Strokes—after earning a degree at Cornell in Comparative Literature. He started polishing glasses at Betony and threw himself into the restaurant world. Later, while a captain at Aquavit, he began working part time in the Wine & Spirits tasting department. Now, in addition to running tastings, he serves as critic for the wines of the Loire, Southern France, Argentina and South Africa. Corey likes almost anything bubbly, from Miller High Life, the Champagne of beers, to Champagne, the Champagne of Champagne, but he’ll drink anything once, and loves finding unique wines.

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Senior Correspondent

After graduating with a degree in journalism from the Universidad de Chile in Santiago, Patricio Tapia attended Bordeaux University in France, where he studied for a diploma in wine tasting and winemaking. Since then, he has visited wine regions around the world and authored several books, including his annual Descorchados, a Chilean wine guide; The Wines of Colchagua Valley; TodoVino and Wines for Great Occasions. Tapia is also the South American correspondent for The Oxford Companion to Wine, The World Atlas of Wine and Oz Clarke’s Pocket Wine Book. For the past three years, he’s been a host on the El Gourmet channel in South America. At Wine & Spirits, Tapia is the critic for the wines of Argentina, Chile and Spain, and regularly contributes articles on these regions.