Bar Bambino's Boxed Lunches Off to a So-So Start

J. Birdsall

The fennel-scented porchetta panino.

​The Mission's Bar Bambino (2931 16th St. at Mission) started offering boxed lunches last week -- a panino (generic Italian for "sandwich," not a melty cheesewich), side salad, dolce (a sweet), and Italian soda, for $12. On Friday, SFoodie placed a phone order, engineered a pick-up, and CarShared a route to Dolores Park, where we busted out a damp-grass picnic in flesh-baring heat.

J. Birdsall

Lunches have a kind of utilitarian cool.

​Granted, the kitchen was only a few days into panino-making, but the three we tasted -- while, sure, showed off prime ingredients in cool paper-and-string wrappings - left us less than satisfied. A panino with porchetta, onion relish, and grainy mustard showed off plus, tender meat suffused with fennel-seed perfume. A filling of tuna, capers, and lemon aioli, however, was shaggy and dry, frankly. And a sandwich layered with goat cheese, grilled zucchini, and whole basil leaves suffered from slightly oily veggies. All three came on the same floury ciabatta.

The salad of the day turned out to be a handful of mixed greens, with a side of aggressively tangy balsamic vinaigrette. The one untarnished delight: shortbread cookies peppered with cocoa nibs and flecks of dried cherry.

Will we give Bar Bambino another go? Sure, in a few weeks, when the kitchen gets the hang of things. Or not. By then, we should be in the grip of an October heat wave, and the flesh quotient in Dolores Park might make even a so-so picnic seem at least a little delicious.