The Other Critics

Michael Bauer Revives Pizza Friday (Sort of); Unterman Adores Golden Gate Dim Sum

The pizza at Ragazza.
The pizza at Ragazza. Photo: Michael Bauer

Michael Bauer unleashes another of his favorite-dish blog posts, and among this week’s hits were a Green Goddess salad at El Paseo; the focaccia di Ricco at Farina (“Stracchino cheese is placed between two thin layers of dough so the foccacia comes out of the hot oven golden and blistered with melting cheese the consistency of heavy cream.”); and a fennel sausage pizza at Ragazza, which is apparently much improved since the place opened. “It always takes a while for the staff and the pizza to warm to the oven,” he writes, “But on my last visit the pizza was the best it has been, with blisters the size of golf balls.” [Between Meals/Scoop]

Always a fan of our city’s non-English-speaking culinary corners, especially of the East Asian variety, Patty U. tells of a couple of trips to Golden Gate Dim Sum Seafood Restaurant (1829 Clement Street at 19th), which serves Guangdong Cantonese cuisine. She writes, “The gruff, non-ingratiating service here seems like a Mao-era holdover, though the two dining rooms are actually cheerful and cozy,” and she insists on bringing along Cantonese-speaking dinner guests so she can order off the wall menu. Her efforts are rewarded with non-dim-sum dishes like “No. 8, succulent boneless pork neck stir fried with sliced jalapeños, onions and fermented black beans ($8.50) — a spicy, salty, irresistible combination,” and “that homey Cantonese dish of steamed ground pork seasoned with salted fish,” a version of which she says is excellent here. [Examiner]

Michael Bauer Revives Pizza Friday (Sort of); Unterman Adores Golden Gate Dim