Coi chef-owner Daniel Patterson built a national reputation for his cutting-edge 11-course tasting menus, but at Il Cane Rosso, you’d never guess that he ever formed a foam. At both restaurants, he’s supremely committed to utilizing local and seasonal ingredients. He and partner Lauren Kiino enlisted chef Doug Borkowski to run day-to-day operations at Il Cane Rosso (“The Red Dog”), a very good spot at the Ferry Building.

The ever-changing menu is written on butcher paper and taped overhead, touting sandwiches, salads and rotisserie.

We started with an order of Crispy Butternut Squash Risotto Cakes $12.50), several squash-laced triangles doused in a pancetta and onion gravy that was loaded with just enough mildy bitter greenery to cut the dish’s richness.

Almost everything on the menu was enticing, but we limited the rest of our consumption to a trio of sandwiches. Each sandwich is served on Acme Bread, which is conveniently located around the corner.

If there’s a must-order item, it’s the Long and Bailey Porchetta ($9) sandwich with pepperonata, aioli and ancho cress. Unlike the traditional porchetta, which involves the pork loin and belly, Il Cane Rosso went an untraditional route, seasoning pork shoulder with fennel, orange zest, orange juice, sage and pepper, then cooking it on a spit for four hours until the outside turns to delicious bark while the interior remains juicy and tender. All Il Cane Rosso sandwiches are served on soft baguette from Acme Bread, which is conveniently located around the corner in San Francisco’s culinary Mecca.

Warm Soul Food Farm Egg Salad ($9) was so good that it’s a challenger to Pasadena’s Euro Pane Bakery for the egg salad crown. Il Cane Rosso’s version was luxurious and herbaceous, lavished with pungent bagna cauda butter and a melted drape of aged Provolone. This was a serious egg salad sandwich that achieved instant addiction status.

Cane Rosso Caponata ($9) was the only letdown, an open-faced sandwich slathered with serviceable but unspectacular white bean dip and topped with a tangy garden’s worth of celery, capers, pine nuts, tomatoes and black olive vinaigrette. We would have been better off with another order of porchetta or egg salad.

Il Cane Rosso’s mission statement dictates that customers are treated to the best of the season, so even though they delivered a solid representation of mid-fall, they won’t rest on their autumnal laurels. Trip number two will celebrate another season, and it will undoubtedly involve dinner. After 4:30 PM, they feature a three-course $25 menu that changes daily. Another reason to return: they keep bags of granoturco near the register, popcorn flavored with bacon and caramel.

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1 Comment

1. mattatouille, November 11, 2009:

   definitely liked this place. would return in a heartbeat. i loved the porchetta and the egg salad. two must-eat items.

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