Incanto

(Noe Valley)
1550 Church St.  
415-641-4500 Map it
www.incanto.biz

Dinner only
$$$
Italian
dine at the bar, good for groups, notable wine list, outdoor dining, private dining or party space, romantic

SCENE: Located on an idyllic corner in upper Noe Valley, Incanto draws serious but subdued food lovers to its warm dining room. The rustic wooden bar is the perfect place for sampling a flight from the restaurant’s impressive list of delightfully obscure Italian wines.

EATS: The daily-changing menu from Chris Cosentino—a chef who likes his offal—is a marriage of traditional Italian cuisine and a commitment to sustainability. A whole trout stuffed with handfuls of thyme tastes fresh from the river, while handkerchief pasta with a pork ragù transports you to an albergo in northern Italy. Squeamish eaters be forewarned: The house-made antipasto platter, which tends to feature items like headcheese, mortadella and a terrine of pork liver, beef heart and pigs’ blood, is not for the faint of heart.