From the red sauce palaces of North Beach to the flood of modern Californian-Italian restaurants that have folded seasonal produce, meats and cheeses into pizzas and handmade pastas, Italian food is deeply entrenched in the Bay Area’s culinary history. In Oakland, Michele Belotti, born in Bergamo, Italy, and his team fill and fold tender agnolotti by hand at Belotti’s eponymous restaurant; in San Francisco’s Glen Park, Sharon Ardiana produces farm-to-table Neapolitan pizzas at Gialina, a restaurant modeled as a tribute to her family who came from Emilia-Romagna. Non-Italian Bay Area chefs and purveyors are just as enamoured with Italian ingredients, a fact that has given us numerous new wave pizzerias, charcuterie brands and homegrown wines with Italian grape varieties.
When I first put together this list in mid-2020, many restaurants were still in hibernation or just doing takeout and delivery. I’ve now updated it with in-person dining information and several noteworthy additions: A16, Bistro Don Giovanni, Cotogna, Diavola Pizzeria and Salumeria, Pazzo and Seven Hills.
Dining and Cooking