San Francisco Blog

This report on last night's dinner at Poggio (777 Bridgeway, Sausalito) just in from a chef friend and utterly trustworthy expert in all things Italian:

Get yourself over to Sausalito. This is an extraordinary meal. Plate-licking good, and perfect for this weather. The bollito was exemplary, the wines well-selected and cheap. Trust me, it's the real thing, complete with four salse and house made mostarda. Go! It's on through Saturday.

$19 for a gran bollito misto is a steal. At this writing, there are still some reservations available on opentable.com for both tonight and tomorrow. If those sell out, call the restaurant at (415) 332-7771 in case they don't put all their tables online. Here's the rest of the special menu:

Dungeness crab season is here, and although I love the sublime simplicity of boiled cracked crab with a crisp green salad, a yeasty, robust sourdough and beakers of Anchor Steam, I'm not averse to crabmeat enchiladas oozing with Monterey jack and salsa verde, Dungeness crab cakes spiked with scallions and touched with a subtle aioli, hot crab roasted in its shell with plenty of garlic, crab chowder fragrant with onions and bacon, crab hash with leeks, potatoes, peppers and a poached egg on top, and how about good old crabmeat cocktail layered with avocado and doused in a horseradish-y salsa? Best of all, though, may be cioppino.

As we mentioned some time ago, Rachael Ray spent some time in the Bay Area putting together a show for her latest series, Rachael's Vacation, which aired last week and will run again February 6 at 11 p.m., February 7 at 2:30 a.m., and February 15 at 2:30 p.m. on the Food Network.