The Bay Area has no shortage of amazing Italian spots. We wanted to highlight our top 3 favorites that are all special in how they source, prepare and share their food with the Bay Area community.
Pizzeria Delfina
There’s amazing, and then there’s Annie Stoll. Co-founder and owner of Delfina Restaurant Group in San Francisco, CA, Annie has created and managed an amazing business alongside her husband Craig for the past 22 years. They have perfected their recipes, offering a variety of pizzas like Margherita, Salsiccia, Funghi, and even a 4 Formaggi. Pizzeria Delfina brings delicious Neapolitan-inspired and New York-style pizza to the Bay Area.
As deserved, Delfina has been nominated for multiple James Beard Awards including Outstanding Restaurant in 2009 and 2010, and Best Chef in 2005, 2007, with an exceptional win for Best Chef: Pacific in 2008. They have also been featured in SF Eater, SF Gate, The Mercury News, Menu Stories & many other news outlets.
Starting the Delfina empire was quite a journey for Annie and Craig. “On our first date we talked about opening a restaurant together. And literally then a year later we opened Delfina. So we just bought a business plan for dummies and we put together a business plan,” Annie said. The atmosphere in their restaurants is made to be comfortable and natural, both for their customers and employees, “I hired… servers and I said, ‘I want you to wear what you want, I want the personality to show. Back then, that was never heard of to have servers wearing what they wanted… So we kind of had a reputation for this super genuine, warm second-home at Delfina.”
Made with only the best local ingredients, Pizzeria Delfina is a perfect fit for Locale. Annie and Craig have created something great together and Locale is lucky to have a passionate company with shared values. Delfina continues to succeed in providing their guests with the best quality of service, carefully considered ingredients and handmade food, making their restaurant experience unforgettable.
Bayview Pasta
If you haven’t had the chance to try Bayview Pasta, this is your sign. Founder Joshua Felciano’s passion for producing hand-milled flour is shown through his particularly special Bayview pastas. His fascinating hand made, fresh, craft pasta is produced with whole, non-GMO wheat berries sourced from reputable west coast farms. The mill is kept at a low temperature to retain amino acids and nutrients to make their pasta healthier than many and much easier to digest. The pastas offered include unique variations and styles like their Herbed Fettuccine, Bucatini, Rigatoni, and Squid Ink Spaghettoni.
Bayview recently earned a spot as a finalist in the Good Food awards of 2021 in the “Grains” category. They have also been featured in SF Made, Hoodline, and is now available in multiple grocery stores and restaurants across San Francisco.
Felancio works to maintain the highest quality and production possible for his products, “We really want to highlight these heritage grains that are grown on the west coast… There is a reason why they are growing it this way in this region, just like you would wine.” He has a precise process of choosing the sources for his ingredients, “What’s their story, and how can it fit into Bayview? We’ve tailored slowly over the years a pasta product that has the integrity of a semolina pasta that’s so texturally focused, but also adds flavor without it being too gritty.”
Bayview Pasta is a strong competitor to other handmade pastas on the market thanks to their careful attention to detail, custom hand made products, and the carefully placed milled dates on all of their pasta products. They solely use locally sourced ingredients, including pesticide free wheat berries, setting them apart from their competitors. The sustainable practices of Bayview Pasta fit perfectly with our mission and emphasis on using locally grown, healthy ingredients while continuing to support local businesses.
Centonove
Centonove is the epitome of a little restaurant in Italy, offering authentic Italian cuisine and a uniquely designed café that embodies owners Andrea and Pasquale Romano’s shared love of Italian food, wine and culture. They have created a very welcoming environment that represents Italian hospitality and dining, offering a unique spin on classic dishes like Gnocchi Pomodoro E Basilico, Agnolotti Del Plin, and Tagliatelle Bolognese.
Centonove has received a substantial amount of support and appreciation from its local community over the years of its opening. In 2015 Centonove was recognized with the Coveted Wine Spectator Award of Excellence for the wide variety of wines they offer. The restaurant was featured in the Food & Wine section of The San Jose Mercury News as well as Happy Cow, a website catering to people looking for restaurants with vegan options. Andrea has also been featured on the JRM Web Marketing podcast, discussing how she kept Centonove afloat during Covid and how people can continue to support local businesses during the pandemic.
Both Andrea and Pasquale are passionate about bringing a piece of their Italian heritage to their customers, “My husband and I are both Italian so in opening Centonove, we wanted to bring some authentic Italian food to the area.” With that, they put an emphasis on making their employees as happy as their customers, in hopes to exemplify a true Italian restaurant, “We try to treat everybody like family. We want our employees to know they are in a safe space. The best quality our employees can have is wanting to give the customers the best experience they can.”
Centonove's dishes are nothing less than extraordinary. Ingredients are all locally produced in California and are guaranteed fresh and high quality. Andrea mentioned that they “follow the seasonal availability of things to keep everything on the menu as fresh as possible.” Their own executive chef, who is from Na Pali, has complete autonomy for the food supply so he truly has a keen eye on what’s a good ingredient for Italian food. He works closely with Andrea and recently they have been moving towards keeping a blend of more plant-based and vegetarian-based dishes to provide more options to their customers. “We want to make sure we’ve got a well balanced menu that’s good for everybody,” Andrea said.
The Bay Area offers so many amazing businesses, yet they are all hours away from each other. The distance feels especially far when you are craving a couple of your favorite places, and it's nearly impossible to get to all of them in one day. Thankfully with Locale, we found a convenient way for people to get all of the best local businesses across the Bay Area in one simple delivery. Save your gas, time, and money and start ordering Locale!