By Joe Bonadio

After over six years of frustratingly slow, stop-and-start recovery, it seems like everyone in the city suddenly has the same words on their lips: San Francisco is back. And it’s certainly long overdue. The city has been looking splendid for a long time now, literally years—but the rest of the world is finally catching on. Super Bowl weekend brought crowds from all over, and SF was up to the challenge: the city was squeaky clean, the weather achingly perfect. Travelers, many visiting from red states, all remarked on just how beautiful our city by the bay was. Honestly, it’s hard to imagine a better advertisement for a renewed San Francisco.

Things are turning, and you can feel it in the air: there’s a sense of optimism and possibility out there, a feeling that we’ve been missing for a while. And just in case you need some third-party confirmation for all of this, San Francisco was just named the happiest city in America, and one of the 50 happiest in the world.

But what about the city’s longstanding reputation as a dining Mecca, you ask? Remarkably, despite all the chaos in the F&B space since 2020, it appears to be alive and well. Just a few weeks ago, Travel & Leisure Magazine named San Francisco the culinary capital of the USA, beating out our perpetual rival, New York City.

Without a doubt, it’s an exciting time to be in San Francisco. North Beach’s Rosario Priolini made a big bet on the city’s recovery a little over two years ago when he opened Bocconcino, his very first restaurant. Priolini had been in the hospitality business for over two decades, including a long stint at Bistro Don Giovanni, one of Napa’s most well regarded Italian restaurants. But he had always wanted to create his own restaurant: to cook in the daytime, and to serve the people at night. As the charismatic chef emphasized when I interviewed him last August, “this is my dream.”

Since then Bocconcino has only gained traction, and it has become a staple in North Beach, a neighborhood long known for its Italian food. It recently broke the top 10 San Francisco Italian restaurants on Yelp, no mean feat for an eatery that isn’t yet three years old. And if Bocconcino’s kitchen keeps turning out the dazzling pastas and secondi that SF diners have come to expect, it’s a trend that’s likely to continue.

Last week I sat down with Priolini to talk about his thriving business, and the constantly transforming city that we live in. Lightly edited for length and clarity, our conversation is below.

Joe Bonadio (JB): It’s good to see you, Rosario.

Rosario Priolini (RP): Always good to see you, Joe.

JB: Tell me, how’s business? I’m guessing with all this great weather…

RP: It’s very good, yes. I can’t complain.

JB: Do you feel like you’ve been seeing a change in the city?

RP: Oh, yeah. A lot.  It’s almost like before the COVID times. 

JB: Nice. That’s exactly what we’ve all been waiting for. You’ve been here for just over two years now, right?

RP: Yes. Two years and four months.

JB: Okay. Is it different now that you’re a little bit more established, more a real part of the neighborhood? 

RP: Oh, yeah! And not only neighborhood. The hotels are noticing us, and we get a lot of customers from the hotels now. We’ve got people coming from all different parts of the city now. Plus the neighborhood, people have been saying nice things about us. And we live in a beautiful neighborhood, people love coming here.

JB: Those views are good, man…

RP: That’s right. So it’s good, it’s good. Everybody is coming in now, North Beach and Telegraph Hill.

JB: So it’s steady. 

RP: Yeah. Steady. 

JB: Rosario, do you find your approach to the menu changes as time goes by? I’m curious, being that this is your first restaurant. 

RP: No, not so much. I try to make the food better every day, but mostly I focus on making three new specials every two days. That keeps it fresh and new.

JB: You’ve become known for your unusual pasta dishes. My question is, being a pretty active home chef, where do you find the inspiration to cook something new every day? 

RP: Where do I get the inspiration? I think a lot about the specials—a lot. You know, making new combinations. I think of the period from ’85 to ’95, and remember a beautiful plate from then, you know, and try to make something like that… 

JB: Why ’85 to ’95? 

RP: It was a time when the food was more Toscano, more consistent, you know? And with my specials, I work to make them like that, but for this time, for now. And for me, innovation is often like a fusion between the old school and new school, and I try to make it something special. It’s a lot of working. Try, try, try, and when I’m sure the plate is good, I put it on the floor. 

JB: And it’s typically something that nobody else is doing. 

RP: Well you know, this is my passion. I spend all my time thinking about a dish. I think and I think, and when it’s ready in my mind, I make it. 

JB: As a diner here in the city, what do you consider to be the ultimate night out? What kind of experience do you look for when you dine out?

RP: You know, I try to not go to Italian restaurants too often. And with my family, I like to go Asian sometimes. You know, Chinese food, Korean. I mean, sometimes Italian, but not too often. I like to mix it up, to have something else. 

JB: I’m the same way. Do you ever find that different types of cuisine give you inspiration for your food? 

RP: No, no, no. This is Italian, so it’s totally different. But I will say, I do like it when I go to a quality restaurant and I can see the chef working, and the plates are precise. With any cuisine. Because if it’s good food, there’s no discrimination. 

JB: You know, that’s a perfect answer. Thank you, Rosario.

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Bocconcino
516 Green Street
San Francisco, CA 94133
(415) 932-6189
bocconcinosf.com