Supper Club: Enchanting April at Incanto

Last week Dique and I attended April's Supper Club gathering at a little Italian place in Noe Valley. The woman who coordinated the dinner really wanted us to go to Contigo which sounded delicious, but unfortunately the restaurant had "an emergency" and weren't able to take us. We hoped it wasn't a kitchen fire or something and joked that someone called in a private party request that was bigger than the seven of us. Fingers crossed it was the latter.

Sidenote: that's the thing about Supper Club, depending on the day we could have as few as five people, or as many as fifteen. Usually we end up right around 8-10 people, which is just enough to feel like a party, but keep the volume level and the bill relatively low.

Dique and I had heard about Incanto not more than two weeks prior when we spoke to some friends about neighborhood delights. These friends consistently find good restaurants - often by the time the Chronicle's Top 100 comes out, they've already dined at 75% of them (and that's only because the other 25% aren't in San Francisco Proper, but are in the North, East or South Bay Area). Raving about the food, the decor, the service - they said we'd love it, that it was authentically Italian.

Well. We must have caught it on an off night, because it felt pretentious, stuffy and stiff -- three traits that I don't classify as Italian - non per niente! Don't get me wrong, we enjoyed what we ordered, but the service was overbearing and the food, while good, was too gussied up. It was like they were trying to put a French spin on otherwise simple Italian food which rendered a meal of tasty fussiness.

That's the short story. Here's the long one:

It was a blustery evening in Noe Valley and we were all eager to get in, get seated and get a glass of wine. It was Monday, at eight o'clock, the restaurant was a quarter full and our table was ready - naturally I was confused when my friends said we couldn't be seated until our whole party had arrived. Really? Because I see a whole bunch of empty seats. Normally I'm perfectly content to wait at the bar, have a drink and relax while the stragglers arrive. But that's because the place is packed, not because it's policy.

Eventually we convinced them that we'd ALL BE HERE, PROMISE and they sat us. We eagerly accepted the menus and the one dish we'd all heard about: the sweetbreads. Sweetbreads are a house specialty and always mixed into the menu somehow. Here's their most recent sample menu, pulled from their website:

Sample Dinner Menu

Starters
House-marinated olives $4

Artichoke soup, mint & croutons $6

Spring lettuces, soft herbs, croutons & Zinfandel $7.5

Little gem lettuce, cherries, cherry-balsamic & Blu del Moncenisio $8.5

Shaved porcini, nepitella, lemon & Parmigiano $14

Grilled apricots, rucola & pistachios $9

Marinated local sardines, celery, citrus & radish $10.5

Surry ham, Brooks cherries & pickled peaches $11

Grilled beef heart & warm marinated mushrooms $12

"Pea brain": calf's brain, peas & tarragon $13

Antipasto platter (for two) of Boccalone artisan salumi, roasted garlic& marinated vegetables $20

Pastas
Handkerchief pasta with rustic pork ragù $16Mint malfatti with beef brasato $16/$10

Spaghettini, Sardinian cured tuna heart, egg yolk & parsley $16/$10

Trofie with ramp pesto, morels & potatoes $16/$10

Baccalà ravioli, garlic, lemon & parsley $17/$11

Entrees
Sweet pea, mascarpone & lemon risotto $17

Boccalone sausage, smoked escolar, ruby crescent potato& horseradish crème fraîche $20

Whole sanddabs, asparagus & oyster-sorrel cream $20

Local lingcod, nduja, clams & chickpeas $21

Braised pork shoulder, radishes, fava beans & grilled red onion $23

Pastramied Cornish game hen, braised little gems, pickled ramps & rye $22

Veal breast, sweetbreads, multi-grain polenta & pickled green walnut salsa $25

"Leg of Beast": Beef shank, with sides, served family-style for 6-8 persons (one week's notice please)

Sides
Summer squash, garlic & basil $5

Charred shitakes & scallions $5

Plate of Frantoio Olivestri DOP Umbria extra-virgin olive oil $3

Desserts & Cheeses
Bay leaf panna cotta, berries, saba & amaretti $8

Flourless chocolate cake, malted vanilla-strawberry ice cream $8

Cream soda float & double-chocolate chip cookies $8

Preserved plum granita with rhubarb compote $7.5

Raspberry sorbetto $7.5

Selection of Italian cheeses served with accompaniments:
$7 each or plate of three for $15

So... the leg of beast sounds interesting, too bad we didn't call a week ago and order it. Dique and I have decided that we will go back with friends, for the beast's leg because that just sounds too barbaric not to try. Otherwise, we ordered the olives, and man, they give you a LOT of olives. If you're one of those people constantly craving salt, go here, eat olives and be in bliss. I will say that the portions at Incanto are Italian-esque, slightly more than enough while still being half the size of anything at the Olive Garden.

I had a pork chop with fava beans, carrots and a chutney - it was definitely tasty, though the chutney was a bit over-powering so by the end of the dish it's all I could taste. I will say that now I want to cook with favas because I've seen them in multiple menus and am intrigued. Dique ordered pasta, mint "malfatti" which translates to "poorly made". Basically it's a simple pasta dough that's been cut at odd shapes/sizes. Lots of mint had been blended into the dough and the flavor was good and strong. The pasta was accompanied with a lamb ragu. Lamb + Mint + Pasta = English/Italian food? Dunno, Dique liked it, so that's what counts. Our friend Charles ordered the sweetbreads, which Dique tried and said were tasty, if you can get your head around what you're eating.

For dessert, Dique delighted in the float and cookies, which seems to be a regular and is a perfect dessert in my book. Nostalgia AND Yumminess? Yes Please. I couldn't resist beet ice cream (mmmmm beets) and flourless chocolate cake. Beet ice cream is one I'll be trying soon at home, it's sweet and such a beautiful deep pink color. Even Dique, who has yet to appreciate the beet as much as I do, thought it was a good kind of interesting.

As for the overbearing service, it was just a little awkward: we were a group of nine people at table against a wall next to another table for two. This means there was a lot of "reach across" in order to serve the other side of the table. We suggested they just leave the pitchers of (sparkling AND still, at no additional charge) water on the table, but they weren't keen on that idea, so I felt like we were constantly talking above or below arms. I'm normally not that picky about service, as long as the person is pleasant and doesn't call me fat, I'm cool. But I tend to appreciate servers who wait to be summoned instead of hovering, but I guess that's the faux-Italian in me. I love how you don't get the check until you've asked for it in Italy, but that's because I love lingering.

In the end, it was a really good night. The food could have been dressed-down a bit whilst maintaining ample style, the servers could have simmered, but all in all - we ate, drank and were merry. And that's what Supper Club is all about, anyway.