Restaurant review: Perbacco, San Francisco

Perbacco, a stylish restaurant that opened in 2006 in San Francisco’s financial district, is an Italian with a twist: its chef, Staffan Terje, is Swedish and provides compelling evidence that cuisine no longer recognises boundaries or nationalities – he specialises in Piemontese cooking, and his food is sensational.

Terje is known for the quality of his pastas, and rightly so. His most acclaimed dish, agnolotti filled with vitellone and savoy cabbage and dressed in a sugo d’arrosto (a sauce made from the drippings of a roast) was addictively good – a rich, soulful pasta. Tagliatelle served with a pork sugo and porcini mushrooms, didn’t quite reach the same heights – how could it? – but was outstanding.

There was no letdown with the mains. A Petrale sole dusted with semolina and served with a fennel passatina, shaved radish and fennel salad and blood orange butter was delicious. The fish was perfectly cooked, and while the preparation had the ring of contrivance, it worked beautifully. Even better, though, was the spezzatino – beef stew, Italian-style, on a bed of polenta. The meat couldn’t have been more tender or have packed more flavour, the vegetables were flawlessly turned out, and the combination of rich red wine sauce and polenta caused me to contemplate licking the plate (I yielded to decorum and refrained). It was a beef stew that put to shame what often passes for boeuf bourguignon in Burgundy these days – and it was served at an Italian in San Francisco by a Swedish chef. The palate rejoices, the mind reels.

Perbacco emphasises cheeses over desserts and offers a superb selection of both imported and domestic varieties. But the waitress was insistent: the apple bread pudding was not to be forsaken. Served with a rosemary custard sauce, vanilla cream, and moscato-poached white raisins, it was another high note in a meal comprised only of high notes.

Perbacco, 230 California Street, San Francisco, CA 94111. Pastas from $16-$18; mains from $14-$21 (lunch) and $18-$26 (dinner), www.perbaccosf.com