Sunday, January 30th - Gialina Pizzeria - Glen Park/Noe Valley - Crusty Goodness!

Gialina's Antipasto Platter

I have been a bit lapse on the updates.  We had some great dinners after the souffle and ate out in Seattle last week but vacation did not give me the energy in catch up I thought it would.  I blame the altitude. :^P  ..maybe the hot tub.  I'll start with SFO before Seattle.

We had our annual ski trip with D's grad school buddies this week.  We rotate between Whistler and Tahoe, normally.  We nearly tried Japan to make it closer to VM for once but we made the suggestion too late for good flight costs.  Even though it was unseasonably warm for this time of year in the Bay Area and Tahoe, it worked out oddly well because D and I were able to visit my sisters and get our Sunshine injection for the winter.  This Vitamin D hit is vital for survival in Vancouver for East Coasters (My sister V,  has repeatedly asked me to correct this to read Vitamin D as Vitamin E is making her scientific eyes hurt.  Whislt I know that sun deprived people or those with an addiction to 60SPF, suffer from Vitamin D deficiency, equally too, do we need Vitamin E for healthy skin and I did not think it was the end of the world. She reminded me again last night on the phone to change it so here I am. I think she needs to get out of her lab in Palo Alto and get some Vitamin D :^D)  We discovered this in the first years here when January saw 30 days of rain and 45 days without 'sunshine'.

Gialina's Wild Nettle and Pancetta Pizza

Our first night in San Fran, V my sister and her man, P came in from Menlo and we went out in O's, my other sister's, hood. V and O had tried this new popular pizza place a few weeks earlier.  They raved about the crust which was written up in the chronicle as being the reason to visit.  I normally prefer thin crust and if faced with a gorgeous pizza that I want to finish, will forego the crust.  This crust had the texture and flavour of a nice Italian loaf.  You couldn't leave it behind!

Gialina's Dates with Gorgonzola

Funny thing is my sister V is the tiniest of us all.  She's 5' nothing and a lean marathon runner.  She's the one that suggested we all get our own pizza's.   I looked over at a neighbouring table at the 15" pies and thought, well, maybe my eyes are wrong if V thinks she can finish it.

Gialina's Polenta and Italian Cauliflower

We started with a few starters to share which in retrospect, should have reduced our pizza order.  Our server was very nice but I would have greatly appreciated him telling us we ordered 1 or 2 too many pies.  Oh well.  We started with some Polenta with Cauliflower, right up my alley.  The Polenta with smooth, not too heavy.  Very nice!  The carnivores shared an Anti Pasto platter which is a good starter for 4-5 people.  And finally, one of my favourites which I will definitely try at home was the Dates stuffed with Gorgonzola on baby greens.  Delicious!!

Gialina's Atomica Pizza

Then came the pizza madness, V ordered the Atomica, a simple Red za.  P and D both ordered the Wild Nettles and Pancetta.  P is super lean as well but there is something about or tall, skinny friends from Europe.  They are all born with hollow legs.  He could probably have ploughed through two.  He's quite funny though, if he's not eaten he's very quite like an unwould toy. 

Gialina's Italian Sausage Pizza

I ordered the Pesto with Chard and Olives.  I added Anchovies but with the Olives it was way too salty.  Actually don't think it was the Anchovies.  I think there may have been too many olives.  O and A shared a Sweet Italian Sausage pie.  There was alot of slice swapping and in the end we hand an entire pizza for O to take home for work.

Gialina's Pesto Goat Cheese and Swiss Chard Pizza

I would definitely recommend you go but go early because there are no reservations and it seats maybe 40.  The great thing is you do not feel hurried or rushed despite the queue outside :^D.  I think next time I'd add my anchovies to the Butternut Squash pizza.  The server had told me it's on the sweet side so maybe that would have worked better.

Cost: $$-$$$
Ambiance: Casual, chic cafeteria
Service: Attentive, friendly but not overbearing
Crust: Thick but not bready

Gialina
2842 Diamond St
San Francisco, CA
94131
http://www.gialina.com/
(415) 239-8500

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