Inside S.F.’s New Rustic Jewish-Italian-Californian Neighborhood Gem

在他以前的帖子中 -11个麦迪逊公园in New York,乔·罗布钦（JoëlRobuchon）在米高梅拉斯维加斯– chef David Nayfeld spent his workdays crafting fine-dining dishes to the exacting standards demanded by each kitchen.

His newSan Francisco小酒馆，Che Fico在开幕前车身车间的NOPA neighborhood last night, is a complete departure: relaxed and welcoming, it speaks to his love of rustic, Italian cooking and fresh seasonal ingredients from Bay Area farmers markets.

据Nayfeld所知，它还提供了第一个在美国餐厅出现的犹太 - 意大利菜单。

S.F.说：“在过去的几年中，考虑开设这家餐厅，我想找到可以与之联系的东西 - 关于我，我的人民和我的遗产的东西。”本地人与前EMP同事，James Beard获奖的糕点厨师Angela Pinkerton，索诺玛县本地人Matt Brewer（以前是L20在芝加哥）和前面粉 +水厨师埃文Allumbaugh上the concept.

While dishes such as Carciofi alla Giudia, deep-fried artichoke, have transitioned from Roman classic to mainstream fare, theCucina Ebraica– the Italian Jewish kitchen – has remained a little under the radar for anyone not in the community, even Nayfeld.

His parents were Jewish refugees who fled Communist Russia in the 1980s to Rome, where they were able to eat what they enjoyed, free of rationing and censorship. Once settled in America – where Nayfeld was born – Cucina Ebraica was a culinary cornerstone of their new community, but it wasn’t until he was an adult that Nayfeld undertook some more in-depth study of the cooking that spoke to his childhood.

He spent hours drinking espresso with Joyce Goldstein, who literally wrote the book on Cucina Ebraica. On prolonged trips to Rome, he dug deep into millennia-old traditions of usingscarti di mercato（“浪费市场”）切割肉类以及廉价的鱼类，例如凤尾鱼和沙丁鱼，干果，蔬菜废料和意大利乳清干酪。

“ Cucina Ebraica确实向我讲述了我的整个烹饪精神：第三级剪裁，内脏以及许多蔬菜烹饪和大口味。找到与情感联系的事物很有趣。”他解释说。

At present, this dedicated menu at Che Fico – a name which translates literally to “What a fig,” an Italian expression of enthusiasm and admiration along the lines of “oh, how cool” – includes a chicken heart and gizzard salad with peas, pickles, aioli, cerignola olives, and confit marble potatoes soaked in a chicken fat vinaigrette inspired by a dish he’d eaten at home. Supplí, cheese-stuffed fried rice balls, are a long-time street-food favorite; a spicy ceci (chickpea) and pomodoro stew is served with an egg from partner Matt Brewer’s Sonoma County family ranch for a Californian touch.

The remainder of the single-page menu – which emphasizes utilization of the whole animal and quality seasonal produce, regardless of how it looks – is brief, but ambitious, and Nayfeld admits he’s out to break every rule in the book.

首先，Nayfeld获得了烹饪那不勒斯披萨的认证辅助Verace Pizza Napoletanabut his archetypal, highly textured “San Francisco Margherita DOC” – a dish and a denomination of origin of his own invention – goes against everything his mentor披萨taught him: crafted with West Coast flour and produce, it’s a sourdough pie, baked deliciously crunchy so that you can slice and share it without it getting soggy.

另一个伟大的分裂者：他发酵的辣椒，红洋葱和菠萝派（Gasp）。纳菲尔德对顽固的传统主义者会出现乐观。甚至Che Fico的葡萄酒总监亚搏电竞意大利弗朗西斯卡·曼尼斯（Francesca Maniace）也承诺她从不在菠萝上放在比萨饼上的餐厅工作，也愿意伸展到“很好”。

“我的人生目标是打破尽可能多的规则。我真的不会对别人的想法感到不安，如果我认为某些东西超级美味和奇妙，那就是我想要的。”妈妈曾经在美国的那个早期制作 - 意大利面煮了20分钟，并用番茄酱完成了。

Thankfully, that didn’t make the cut on Che Fico’s pasta menu, where thetagliatelle al ragu是fatto a mano(hand-made using knives and rolling pins) and the fava-leaf-pesto-hazelnut-dottedmafaldini是Fatta A Machina在Casa（由机器，内部制造），并相应地标记。

(Nayfeld thinks the restaurant industry has been slack at communicating what is hand-made and what is house-made by machine and wants to keep his clients noodled in as to how much love and labor they’re getting.)

Soon, Nayfeld plans to buy in dried pasta from artisanal producers, partly to change diners’ perception that dried pasta is somehow substandard and partly because it’s a great product.

“Some of the best Italian chefs in the world use dried pasta because it's delicious; 99 percent of people in Italy eat dried pasta, 99 percent of the time,” he explains.

Secondi以家庭风格的菜肴，分享大小的部分包括慢烤的羊腿，烤土豆和羊肉滴；以及一半或全木燃鸡，带有农业果，辣椒，葱和奶油玉米粥。

由于拱顶天花板，天窗和地板到天花板的窗户，餐厅的设置，轻便且通风，都感觉很朴素，尤其是对于Nayfeld而言。

DLC ID Designer Jon de la Cruz – who also conceived interiors at SF eatery Leo’s Oyster Bar – has used striking black, white, orange and red chevron floor tiling and custom fig-print wallpaper to frame raw wood tables and red leather booths for an old-school-Italian-meets-Modern California aesthetic.

Adriano Celentano的Vintage专辑封面的定制浴室墙壁拼贴是Nayfelds有史以来的第一位流行歌手。

他的妈妈住了几个街区，这个社区对他的高中朋友来说是一个熟悉的聚会场所，因此他可以期望在大多数夜晚看到一张熟悉的面孔。

“When your mom can come by with a friend, or you get to make a bowl of pasta for your friend that you've known since the third grade…There's a connection there that's relevant to me," he explains.

Even if you’re dining elsewhere, bar director Christopher Longoria's herb-and-spice-forward cocktail program is worth a pit stop, either for an aperitvo with bergamot-forward Italicus Rosolio, Seedlip’s Spice 94, Jardesca California Aperitiva and soda; or post-dinner digestivo of cold-brew coffee, montenego and absinthe pick-me-up.

别针kerton’s home-made gelati – which appears in dessert signatures like bittersweet chocolate budino with salted caramel gelato, olive oil, salt and pepper walnuts; and olive oil cake with malted yogurt gelato – is, somewhat dangerously, available to go.

And while the restaurant won’t start offering its house-made salumi for at least another month – last week, the team processed 1200 lbs of pig that will gradually turn into mortadella, prosciutto, bresaola and other salty treats – for now you’re welcome to pop by to peek past the marble chef’s counter, wood-fired grill and pizza oven (nicknamed Loretta after the sourdough starter, which is, confusingly, also named Loretta) into the red-lacquered-walled room to see what’s curing.

When he looks at the restaurant, Nayfeld says the last four years of preparation pale in comparison to his excitement about cooking here with the team every day.

“At the end of the day, Che Fico is the restaurant we want to spend time in. When guests come into the restaurant I want to make them super happy and make them super comfortable. And every time somebody walks in and I see their eyes widen, it makes me realize that everything we did was exactly right.”

Che Fico, 838 Divisadero Street, San Francisco, is open for dinner Tuesday – Thursday, 5.30 p.m. – 11 p.m. and Friday & Saturday, 5.30 p.m. – 1 a.m. (415) 416-6959; www.chefico.com