Eat Here Now is a first look at some of the newest, hottest restaurants around – the ones we think are worth visiting. We dine once, serve forth our thoughts, and let you take it from there.
“It’s like dinner and a show,” says Kaili Hill of the chef’s counter at Bosco, a new Cal-Italian restaurant from the Absinthe Group. Yes, the dining room is handsome, with hand-blown Vistosi glass pendants and fluted tan leather banquettes. But the open kitchen, set dead-center in the dining room, is what you’re here for. Which makes the chef’s counter — a monolithic block of Italian Calacatta Viola marble — the best seat in the house.
In full view, chefs maneuver at each station, rolling out fresh dough for paccheri and bucatini or finishing a smoked chicken on a crackling wood-fired grill, the kitchen’s centerpiece. Few restaurants these days make such grand statements.
The sweeping, 5,000-square-foot, 200-seat restaurant is the latest venture from the family-owned and -operated group that brought the city classics like Comstock Saloon in North Beach and Absinthe Brasserie & Bar in Hayes Valley. However, “new” is not quite the word to describe Bosco. It’s located in the Airbnb headquarters, in the space where the group’s popular Spanish restaurant Bellota packed them in back in 2016 — when SoMa was busier and the offices upstairs buzzed with full-time staff who’d stream down for post-work dinners.
Kaili Hill and Ryan McIlwaith.
But for Hill and co-executive chef Ryan McIlwaith, Bosco feels like a beginning. Since their fateful meeting at the defunct Hayes Valley restaurant Barcino, the culinary duo and life partners have opened the counter-service Arbor in Hayes Valley, Alora on the waterfront, and, now, Bosco. McIlwaith, who had helmed the elegant Bellota, says they wanted something more rustic and approachable this time around. “That’s why we have, you know, pastas priced at $22 and other dishes in that range.”
Bosco might be huge, but on a weeknight, when the room isn’t full, the vibe is calm, almost meditative. The service is old-school and attentive: Napkins are folded the second you step away, water appears without a word, dishes are served properly from the left. It’s refreshingly detail-driven and a testament to the ’90s sensibility that the parent group lives by.
Another throwback is the menu. Although it’s an expression of seasonality, it’s made up mostly of simply delicious things to eat. The panzanella ($20), made with a mix of roasted acorn, honeynut, and red kuri squashes, is a fall-forward riff on the classic Tuscan bread salad. With shaved pear, Brussels sprouts, sourdough croutons, and whipped ricotta, it’s creamy, crunchy, and tart, with ruby pops of pomegranate seeds.
Don’t miss Hill’s sourdough focaccia ($8), a product of her pandemic-era experimentation and 4-year-old sourdough starter. Without the deep dimples that define traditional focaccia, it’s more reminiscent of a loaf of bread, but the fluffy interior and golden crust topped with herb oil make it just as satisfying. The octopus carpaccio ($24) — perhaps taking a page from Dalida’s signature mosaic of octopus and sujuk — is topped with caper-raisin puree, citrus chile, and pickled red onion, delivering a bright, agrodolce punch.
Then there’s the house-made pasta, including gnocchi alla vodka with smoked mozzarella ($25) and chicken-and-chive tortellini ($26) in chicken brodo. For the definition of decadence, order the osso buco agnolotti ($27), filled with braised beef shank and bone marrow, lifted by the sweetness of shallots and the tart brightness of sundried tomato. It’s a dish that might demand a post-dinner exhale — and maybe a nap.
As much as everyone is going to want pasta (if lemon spaghetti is on the menu, don’t miss it), the entrees are where you get a taste of the wood-fired grill. Brined, smoked, and grilled half-chicken ($36) is served with salsa verde and burnt lemon jus; grilled swordfish ($38) is on a bed of olive-oil-crushed potatoes with seaweed butter and topped by a light mix of greens and salmoriglio, a bright, herby dressing.
If you’re lucky, by the time dessert arrives, the dining room will be filled. This is when the energy in the sweeping space feels right. It’s a perfect place, in fact, to book a large holiday party. And with a 24-seat bar, it’s also ideal for an impromptu drink from Bosco’s expansive cocktail menu, which was put together by bar manager Ammiel Holder. A basil artichoke cocktail ($18), with house-made basil syrup and Cynar, an artichoke amaro, might sound like an odd pairing but makes for a delicious savory twist.
Desserts at many restaurants are an afterthought these days. Not so at Bosco, where the luxuriously creamy ginger panna cotta ($15) is paired with cold, crunchy apple-cider granita, sweet quince, crispy cinnamon meringue, and dollops of caramel sauce. It’s a reminder that while Bosco might not be breaking boundaries, it is restaurant run by seasoned professionals.
Dining and Cooking