There are an estimated 4,000 restaurants in San Francisco collectively serving up tens of thousands of dishes. For Gazetteer SF, food enthusiast and man-about-town Omar Mamoon is recommending the best ones. This is Order Up.
It happens too often: I’ll walk by a restaurant that piques my curiosity, make a mental note that I should give it a shot, then just as soon forget about it. A few weeks later, I see the same restaurant, and the cycle repeats.
I can’t count the number of times I’ve passed by Florio Bar & Cafe, a classic Italian and French neighborhood spot at 1915 Fillmore St., but I finally visited the other day and I’m so glad I did. The place is a vibe, as the kids say.
I’d always been drawn to its charm: the brown burgundy wooden exterior and red-striped awning, café curtains giving small voyeuristic glimpses into the dimly lit dining room with its warm cream-colored lighting and checkered marbled floor. Florio reminds me of old-school bistros in Paris.
But what finally got me to dine at Florio was when I found out that Doug Biederbeck, owner of Jackson Square supper club Bix, was behind the restaurant, a fact I learned only after reporting for my martini trail a few months ago. (It’s a tough job, I know, but someone’s got to sip it.) It’s hardly a secret, but Florio isn’t exactly trending in my Instagram algorithm these days.
Originally opened in 1998, a decade after its older brother Bix, Florio is significantly smaller and more intimate at just sixty seats packed onto only one floor. Conceptually, it’s like a French bistro meets Italian trattoria.
“I have a deep love for bistros and trattorias. That’s the kind of dining I like,” Biederbeck told me. “I couldn’t decide which I love more so I combined.”
What that means: escargot and Steak Frites and Poulet Rôti on the menu alongside arancini and ossobuco.
On one hand, I could see critics saying, “pick a lane,” but I’d argue it’s kind of awesome, especially for the neighborhood. Can’t decide whether you’re feeling French or Italian? You don’t have to.
The only reason it works is because both cuisines are so well done. And while a meal at Florio won’t change your life (let’s be real, when was the last time a meatball actually changed your life?), dining there may fill your soul.
What got me was the fresh pappardelle with white Bolognese, a dish that’s a bit lighter than the red rendition, yet equally comforting.
Originally put on the menu in the early days by chef Rick Hackett, a Chez Panisse alum who owns Bocanova in Oakland, the Bolognese bianco evolved and is currently riffed on by Florio’s current chef, Naizar Mubarak, who just so happened to work at Bocanova before joining Florio in 2018.
Mubarak’s version uses a blend of ground beef chuck for body mixed with homemade pork fennel sausage for flavor and fat. It gets cooked down in a sofrito of finely diced onion, carrot, and celery, along with a touch of tomato paste for umami. White wine, whole milk, and chicken stock are added to the mix, which simmers for hours before being finished with heavy cream and parmesan cheese. The whole thing gets tossed together with a silky fresh homemade pappardelle, then finished with grana Padano and a few leaves of fresh oregano that help lighten and lift the load.
It’s rich and rib-sticking and I couldn’t stop eating it. My only regret was not getting to Florio sooner to experience it.
Let this act as a lesson: The restaurant you’ve passed by a dozen times and have been meaning to try? Give it a shot. It might be great.
