When people ask me what I miss most about New York, the answer pretty much solely correlates to food. There are a lot of things that are better out here in SF, but there’s some things that I’ve found particularly difficult to get my hands on. Specifically, I truly miss my weekly stops in at the old Italian meat and cheese shrines at Di Palo and Alleva in Little Italy. Their prosciutto, mozzarella, porchetta, meatballs, and other sliced meats rank as some of my favorite things to eat in all of New York and it sort of feels like I’ve lost a part of myself without them in my life.
Upon moving to SF, I learned the hard way that finding incredible versions of these simple Italian classics wasn’t nearly as easy as it was back east. Sure, SF has North Beach – its own unsatisfying version of Little Italy, but just like New York’s Little Italy, most of it is just touristy dreck. In SF, to find the good stuff, you’ve got attack the city with a little bit more of an informed approach. And that’s exactly what brought me to Lucca Delicatessen on this Sunday afternoon.
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