San Francisco Part 2: North Bay Italian: The Stinking Rose and Sotto Mare

The other quintessential San Franciscan food I wanted to try was Cioppino (chuh-PEE-noh). Its basically a seafood stew made with a tomato and wine broth, and perhaps a touch of pasta. North Bay is the Italian district of San Fran, with the Italian flag featured on every lamp post and Italian restaurants lining the streets. Cioppino, you may have anticipated, is the creation of Italian immigrants to San Francisco. So naturally I wanted to go here:

My friend assured me that Italians eat late, but alas, this particular joint closes at 9pm and we were just a little late. Since we were already in North Bay, we decided to stick with the Italian theme. I was led into a restaurant called The Stinking Rose, which is..... "a garlic restaurant". Okay. What does that entail? A shatload of garlic, that's what! Here was our appetizer, in which we dunked bread:

I'm not kidding when I say, we emitted garlic fumes for the next 24 hours after eating here. They call it The Stinking Rose for a reason! The next night, we went out for drinks with a couple who complained about our garlic emissions. And I'm not kidding when I say our companions ditched us early in the night, likely due to our unkindly odour. Well, it was tasty though, if you like garlic. Pretty much everyone likes garlic, so the concept works. Garlic, garlic, garlic....

The picture at the top of this post is my friend's Gorgonzola Gnocci, which, per usual, was rich and creamy (maybe a little extra garlicky). What did I order? Of course, I had to get something novel. Whilst researching cioppino, I had heard lots about "sand dabs". So I figured this was another food common in, at least the northern California area. Sure enough, Wikipedia tells me that "It is a popular game fish in California, and is regarded as a delicacy, though it is not as popular elsewhere". It is a flat fish only found in the Pacific ocean, which makes it enough of a novelty for this haddock-eater. I'm pretty sure they are typically fried in flour and butter, and you usually get several of them because they are small. At The Stinking Rose you can order them with several sauces and/or sides, and I went with the asparagus and tiny pasta side. 

Notice the extra garlic thrown on the plate? So much garlic... but as for the fish, it was cooked nicely, despite being a simple preparation. I actually prefer my seafood simple, and I enjoyed the fish skin and crispy exterior and the sweet moist fish. I would probably eat this again, without the oily garlicky appetizer. We also got a huge jug of beer for a good price.


So the next day we made our way back to Sotto Mare for lunch. My friend, I should have mentioned, is a hardcore vegetarian, while I am just a part-time vegetarian who will never give up seafood. This time she ordered a fettucini alfredo, i.e. boringness in my books. But I don't blame her, because we were in total seafood land and she was being a good host and taking me out for cioppino. What I didn't realize is that cioppino is expensive and large. One bowl is enough to feed two people, and it is not what I would call a "stew". I would call it a tiny bit of tomato broth with a shatload of shellfish and a little bit of pasta for $30. It could easily feed two. But I was one, and I did my best.

Well here it is, the real San Francisco treat! Trust me, there is a TON of seafood in there... clams, mussels, shrimp, scallops, crab, and I think squid... is squid always purple? Anyways, onwards to my ever important opinion! Leaving shellfish in their shells proves freshness, but it is a bitch to remove the shells, particularly when this is supposed to be a stew (at least they gave me a bib). Oh well, the crab was really nice, despite the effort. The scallops, shrimp, and squid were not in shells; scallop shells are too big to put in stew, squid doesn't have shells, and shrimp... I dunno! Usually shrimp is served with the tail on at least, but I don't mind having it removed. I wouldn't mind having all the shells removed because I am LAZY. Lobster? Pfft... pass the lobster rolls! But anyways, you can't go wrong with fresh shellfish, shell or no shell. The broth? Meh... I find it hard to be inspired by seafood in tomato broth. I am too much of a Maritimer... nevermind that Manhattan clam chowder with the red broth! But hey, it's personal preference. I'm not saying this wasn't good cioppino. It's the only bowl I've ever had! I'm just saying maybe it's not my style. But I'm glad I tried it anyway. 

The Stinking Rose
325 Columbus Ave.
San Francisco, CA


Sotto Mare
552 Green St.
San Francisco, CA