A is for Antica Trattoria by Bonnie Hoag....

I have been looking forward to starting the Gluttony Club for a long time. I love strong flavors, adventurous dishes and I'm still relatively new to San Francisco; this is a perfect way to explore the city, the food and get to know friends better. However, I'm also a vegetarian, which often limits my options. I think it is safe to say that I'm the pickiest eater of this group, but I don't think vegetarian food is difficult to make in a new or exciting way. So, I will be interested to see what creativity this city's restaurants have to offer! When we decided Antica Trattoria in Russian Hill would be our first dining destination, I knew it would be easy to find a good dish, I just hoped there would be something surprising as well.

The restaurant doesn't have a high end, ritzy feel - it's more of a quaint neighborhood Italian eatery where you wonder if everyone there is family. They quickly served the table vegetable crudités with dip, which is a nice change of pace from the typical appetite-filling bread. In between a spirited table conversation of zombies and reality TV, we learned of their $20 and $25 prix-fixe meal options - for $20 you could choose salad, one of the pastas and either a glass of house wine or dessert; for $25 the salad, an entrée meal and either a glass of house wine or dessert. I selected the $20 prix fixe option. here is how the meal played out.

Beverages - we ordered bottles of various wines for the table:
Prosecco to start, a 2006 Ridge Zinfandel with our meal, and a split of Muscat served with desserts. The wine selection was pleasantly wide enough to satisfy our entire group. We did not, however, try the house wine.

Food:
The salad was, unfortunately, nothing special - iceberg lettuce and an Italian dressing; the Gnocchi was nice - sautéed with olive oil and braised broccolini and theperfect portion size; for dessert I followed the advice of our waitress and chose the Budino Antica (raspberry, red currant, apricot and cherry bread pudding). I'm not usually wild about strong mixture of cooked fruit, but the combination was excellent. Not too sweet or tart.

While the restaurant didn't really offer anything surprising, this is a comforting and affordable restaurant that I could see returning to often. plus, in this city, the $20 option is quite a find!