Welcome to the second volume of Deep Eats! This month, we’ll take a break from Mexican food. Don’t worry, it will be a regular staple here. But variety is the spice of life, and I certainly don’t want to be accused of underseasoning.
At first I thought this would be all Italian food, but once I settled on which Tidbit I wanted to include I realized the theme for this month is actually the letter “B.” Fitting, I guess, to feature the second letter of the alphabet for the second installment of the newsletter.
Neither of the restaurants this month are true holes-in-the-wall — both sport around a thousand Yelp reviews — but both represent things that are surprisingly hard to come by in the Bay Area. Considering the number of East Coast transplants we have, particularly from New York, you’d expect plenty of places that cater to their culinary traditions. I mean, we even have good bagels now thanks to Boichik, whose commitment to nostalgia runs so deep that they serve coffee in Anthora cups. However, good Italian neighborhood bistros are surprisingly few and far between, and finding a legit slice of New York style pizza is nigh-impossible. These are two of my longtime favorites.