The Mission's latest artisanal pizza joint, Flour + Water, is set to open for dinner May 15 at Harrison and 20th streets. As the space comes together, we're interested not only in the pizzas that will be cranked out of the imported Valoriani oven, but in the unique interior designed by Paxton Gate owner Sean Quigley. There's aged lumber, murals that recall Victorian-era scientific diagrams, and a curio cabinet full of bell jars and paper wasps' nests. Managing partner David Steele also likes the brass-futuristic aesthetic steampunk, and that's here too. They've used about 80 percent reclaimed or reused lumber in the project — most from pre-prohibition wine casks — which is good for the environment, but will also lend a slightly weathered look. (The printing-press lettering on the dulled brass reinforces that notion.)
But the food, by Thomas McNaughton will be modern enough: Wood-fired pizzas, house-made pastas, house-cured salumi, and mains such as pork cheek slow cooked with roasted sunchokes and erbett chard make up the everything-under-$20 menu. The wine list stays mainly in Italy, and includes selections from $20 to $60. The website is expected to go live on May 8, but you can check a draft of the menu below.
antipasti
• local crudo and beet salad with marinated fennel and citrus
• shaved asparagus and arugula salad with quail egg and pancetta-caper vinaigrette
• cannellini bean soup with flowering broccoli and chili oil
• little gem salad with fennel, avocado, radish and preserved lemon
• fritto of sweetbread, meyer lemon and spring onion with green garlic aioli
• seared sardines with salsa verde, radish and castleveltrano olives
• house salumi – daily selection served with pickled vegetables and grissini
pizza
• margherita – tomato, basil, fior di latte, extra virgin olive oil
• add buffala mozzarella
• carciofi – artichokes, new onion, pecorino, capers
• biancoverde – mozzarella, parmesan, ricotta, asparagus, watercress
• uovo – potato and farm egg with house pancetta, oregano
• prosciutto – tomato, mozzarella, arugula, prosciutto.
pasta
• tortelli of sweet pea and ricotta
• triangoli of roasted artichokes, nettles, caramelized onion
• chittara with wild mushrooms and peppercress
• corzzeti stampati with braised Monterey squid and fava beans
• bucatini with guanciale, tomatoes, red onions, pecorino and chiles
secondi
• pork cheek slow cooked with roasted sunchokes and erbett chard
• scorpion fish with borllati bean, artichoke and nettles
• young chicken alla mattone with watercress, potato and spring onion
contori
• chickpeas roasted in the wood oven with ricotta salada
• peas and their greens with prosciutto and parmesan
• wilted escarole with lemon, anchovy and capers
