Cotogna in San Francisco, CA

 

I loved this place!  Cotogna offers food with some interesting dishes that are not common to most Italian restaurants.  We started with non-alcoholic drinks - a gooseberry shrub and “chinotto” with wood-fired citrus, spices and juniper berries.  For our main courses, two of us had an amazing tortellini with sunchokes and roasted garlic.  This was wonderful.  The sunchoke has such a complex flavor with interesting nutty notes.  It was a perfect comfort food.  Our other friend had spaghetti with a meat ragu.  Excellent!

The waiter was very helpful, since one of our group didn’t eat dairy.  He pointed out all the dairy-free dishes and ones that could be made without dairy.  The whole staff was very friendly.  It felt like a neighborhood restaurant, but the decor was very elegant.  It is a big place and there is ample outdoor seating.

I would go back again and again.  I want to try everything!  It is in a good location - very close to City Lights bookstore and just a few blocks from Chinatown.