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March 20, 2011

Happy Anniversary Dinner @ A16

5 years!

We celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary on Friday! Where does the time go?? 5 YEARS?! WHAT?! My parents watched Cooper while we had an amazing dinner at A16 in San Francisco. I ate a little too much…and I think I might have had too much dairy, but damn it was sooooo good!

OK let’s get started! Prepare your eyes for a LOT of food. Loosen your belt too!

This is A16. It’s an Italian restaurant known for their amazing pizzas & exceptional wine list. Their description: “The cuisine of Campania and the wood fired pizzas of Naples brought to San Francisco’s Marina Neighborhood.” They have a fantastic/rustic Southern Italian menu and their cookbook is absolutely stunning. The restaurant is a charming & welcoming space that’s beautifully decorated with artwork of Kelly Tunstall. (I was kind of obsessed with her work when I was in college!)

All of the tables in the restaurant are topped with clean brown paper. Last time I was there, my mom drew something on the table while we were waiting for our pizza. We always end up making our own art work with all of the oil spills. On Friday night, the table next to us was set up for a kid’s birthday party. There was a super cute kid’s drawing in the center just waiting for the birthday girl. Impressive! I was surprised to see how many children were there, but I guess that’s because we went on the early side. I think we’ll take Cooper for lunch next time. He’s going to love the pizza!

kid's table

My dad gave us this fantastic bottle of wine to take with us!  It went so well with the food. Thanks Dad!

wiiiiiine

Burrata. A MUST. We can’t NOT order it when we go. Creamy goodness topped with an amazing green/fragrant olive oil. Burrata is a combo of fresh mozzarella and cream…with a harder outer shell. It’s my favorite and it’s a staple at the restaurant.

a must. A MUST.

With the burrata, we ordered a side of roasted sunchokes. WITH CAPERS!

#12 on my 31 comes before 32 list is—-Try a dish with capers and like it!

I DID!!!!!!

sunchokes!

Yup. That’s my plate. I ate about 8 capers. Aren’t you proud?

first course

Here’s the FIRST pizza we ordered. I say first because we had to send this one back because it wasn’t cooked enough. The dough was so wet that you couldn’t tell the difference between the cheese & dough in the center of the pizza. Drats! Although I always feel weird about sending food back, I’m totally glad we did.

we had to send this back

They made it right!! It was totally worth the extra wait because the crust was crunchy and PERFECT. This was also the first time I had egg on a pizza and it won’t be the last! I was able to dip my crust in it! They pair their pizzas with a spicy chili oil. It’s SPICY!! It burns your lips so be careful. That didn’t stop me…

they got it right

And here comes dessert….we went with something “simple.”

dessert

Something chocolaty….

pretty good

And something citrusy. Here’s the star of the show!! Vanilla and orange gelato that tasted just like spring & orange blossoms. Although it wasn’t as creamy as the chocolate gelato, the flavor knocked the chocolate gelato out of the park!

beyond good!

The cookies & biscotti were paired with a dessert wine (I’ll have to ask Casey what it was). I took sips of the wine after bites of the vanilla & orange gelato and it was swoon-worthy. Such a good way to end dinner!

of course!

Another exceptional meal at A16. Next time I think I’ll go lighter on the dairy!

Thank you for the past 5 years, honey! You are my favorite person to eat with. Happy Anniversary!

  • Redmenace

    Wow. What a wonderful post. Everything looks delicious. I could easily eat your pics. I love hearing about my old hometown too. I’m noting this one for our next visit! Happy Anniversary!!!!

  • Kathy - Panini Happy

    Happy anniversary! And what a fabulous way to celebrate. I’ve heard so much about A16, I definitely want to try it when I’m in SF this fall. We’ve got our 5-year in May, have already been bugging my husband about fun reservations. 🙂

    • Tracy

      You should definitely go!! They do a fantastic lunch & they have a really great patio that’s “outside”

  • Nikki

    Our anniversaries are a week apart! Happy anniversary. This place looks great. Happy 5 years to both of us. (and our hubbys of course seeing as it’s not “us” like you and me. whatevs you get it. Woot for 5)

  • cindy

    that pizza looks amazing! i will definitely have to go to A16 next time i’m there.

    congrats on your anniversary! this year will be my (our) 1st. yay for 5!!

  • HannahJ

    My mouth is WATERING….MUST. GET. FOOD. NOW:)
    What a na amazing meal…I wish there was aplace like that on this coast!

    I tried your asian cool-slaw the other day-and it was fabulous- I made some sweet potato enchiladas with it that I posted on my blog (I put a link to your blog when recommending the excellant slaw:) thanks!

  • Vanessa

    Congrats on your anniversary! That restaurant looks amazing.. I love capers so I totally want that sunchoke dish!

  • vineelasiva

    Happy Anniversary Tracy its very nice to see photos that u had nice time.

  • Krissy @ Make It Naked

    Oh A16 – you make me want to move coasts. Congrats on 5 years!

  • Dana

    Happy anniversary! 5 years is a biggie and I’m glad you guys got to celebrate with a favorite. I would LOVE to try that place. The pizza looks to die for. Better than Delancey??

  • Nicole

    Happy anniversary 🙂 The whole meal is something I would order. Each and every dish-yum! From your pictures, it is the kind of place where I like to eat. Modern/casual with high-quality food. I hate sending food back and very rarely do, but when the dough is uncooked it is just gross. Sounds like a wonderful time.

  • Kasey

    Happy anniversary! I love A16 – keep meaning to get back there!

  • jonnascotts

    Happy Anniversary to you Tracy, thats a delicious plan. I would love to note it down for my anniversary. Thanks for the Dinner @ A16.

  • Della_hidayat

    I used to live in San Francisco for couple years and i missed out this restaurant ! everything looks delicious, i love your comments on each photos , so cute ! lol . what type of font is that ?

  • 31 comes before 32 RESULTS! › shutterbean

    […] Try a dish with capers and like it! […]

  • Bacon & Egg Breakfast Pizza › shutterbean

    […] It" trend and pizza is no exception! The first pizza we ordered with egg on top was at A16 for our anniversary dinner. To our dismay, we had to send it back because the pizza was undercooked while the egg was sheer […]

  • If You're Going to San Francisco..... - Shutterbean

    […] Italian so we usually crave Italian when we're hanging out.  The burrata is amazing– like butter! I wrote a post about A16 many many moons ago. Be sure to check out SPQR too as it's a fabulous place to get brunch- and […]

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