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North Beach Italian done right
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Menu highlights at Joey & Eddie’s include Spaghetti & Meatballs.
SAN FRANCISCO (Map, News) - For years, North Beach has been waiting for an inexpensive family-style Italian dinner house like Joey & Eddie’s.
Joseph Manzare, the chef behind Globe, Zuppa and Tres Agaves, recently took over a sold and redecorated Moose’s, changed the name and just started cooking.
His idea is so old-school it feels new — big platters of hearty Italian-American standards that easily feed four, but cost only the price of a single serving. All the dishes are completely accessible and fun, just what everyone secretly wants when they go out for Italian (except maybe real Italians, but even they have a soft spot for the Italian-American vernacular).
The expansive dining room now has a burgundy color scheme, dark wood chairs and tables, and ceiling fans, all lit by bordello-style striped and fringed lamps.
Tables in a patio-like tiled area by windowed French doors look out to the greenery of Washington Square Park across the street.
The big bar at the entryway keeps drinkers and Giants watchers separate from diners. Just as at the old Moose’s, plenty of locals still use this as their watering hole.
Most start with Caesar salad ($12), torn romaine in creamy, lemony dressing, without anchovy undertone but plenty of grated Parmesan.
Even better is the Joey & Eddie Salad ($16), a mountain of torn iceberg, crisp and juicy, with finely cut strips of salami, pickled Italian peppers and provolone in a lively red wine vinaigrette.
A gigantic baked, stuffed artichoke ($14) tastes like Thanksgiving, with its soft, sage-scented bread stuffing wet with brown gravy. Use the artichoke leaves to scoop it all up.
Joey & Eddie’s makes a mean spaghetti and meatballs ($18), my favorite pasta here. The huge meatballs are moist, light and perfectly seasoned. They crown a hill of al dente spaghetti smothered in sweet, chunky tomato sauce.
In comparison, linguine and clams ($19) paled; the large clams in their shells were mushy, the white wine sauce not reduced, and the flavors a little flat.
One problem with ordering spaghetti and meatballs is that it’s too similar to my other favorite dish: pork braciole, pork ribs, meatballs and sausage in tomato gravy ($27), essentially the spaghetti redux without the spaghetti but with a big pile of meats that taste terrific with the sweet tomato sauce.
With this, have a plate of sautéed escarole with toasted garlic slices ($8). The broccoli rabe ($9) was too stalky, not in season.
Veal saltimbocca ($27), many thinly pounded slices of sautéed veal highly seasoned with salt and sage in a reduced marsala sauce, worked nicely with the spaghetti and meatballs. It was recommended by a dilemma solving waiter — the best kind.
Espresso-soaked tiramisu ($12), plenty for four, took care of coffee as well as a dessert. Dense Italian-style cheesecake ($12) tasted more like New York to me, but somehow every bit disappeared.
The bar makes fine Manhattans and a wine list, heavy on Italian bottles, has a pinot nero from the Alto Adige (2006 Suditroler Blauburgunder, $50) that drinks like a charming burgundy.
At $25 per person for food, this restaurant is a gift to families, kids on a budget and groups of locals and tourists alike who want to eat hearty and comfortably with real amenities.
Finally, I have a place in North Beach that I can recommend to everybody.
Patricia Unterman is author of the “San Francisco Food Lovers’ Pocket Guide” and a newsletter, “Unterman on Food.” Contact her at pattiu@concentric.net.
Joey & Eddie’s
Location: 1652 Stockton St., San Francisco
Contact: (415) 989-7800; www.joeyandeddies.com
Hours: 5:30 to 11 p.m. Sunday-Thursday; 5:30 p.m. to midnight Friday-Saturday; 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Sunday
Price range: $14 to $17 for family-style portions of starters; $14 to $17 for pasta, meat and fish
Recommended dishes: Joey & Eddie Salad, Caesar salad, spaghetti and meatballs, pork braciole, pork ribs, meatballs and sausage in tomato gravy, veal saltimboca, tiramisu
Credit cards: MasterCard, Visa, American Express, Discover
Reservations: Accepted
Comments from Examiner Readers
3:39 PM MST on Thu., Aug. 7, 2008 re: "Beef: It’s what’s for dinner"
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5:57 PM MST on Wed., Aug. 6, 2008
re: "Delicious dosas rule at Udupi"
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1:21 PM MST on Thu., Jul. 3, 2008
re: "North Beach Italian done right"
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8:08 PM MST on Tue., Jun. 24, 2008
re: "Lichee Garden knows family-style cooking"
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2:34 PM MST on Tue., Jun. 24, 2008
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12:06 PM MST on Sat., Jun. 21, 2008
re: "Lichee Garden knows family-style cooking"
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re: "Lichee Garden knows family-style cooking"
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8:33 PM MST on Thu., Jun. 19, 2008
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4:58 PM MST on Thu., Jun. 5, 2008
re: "Perfect pizza is at the ‘Place’ on Noriega"
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12:14 PM MST on Thu., May. 15, 2008
re: "A slice of the Middle East"
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3:01 PM MST on Thu., May. 8, 2008
re: "Take Mom out to the ballgame at AT&T Park"
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7:50 AM MST on Wed., Apr. 2, 2008
re: "Namu’s intricate flavors entice your palate"
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10:51 PM MST on Tue., Apr. 1, 2008
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3:58 PM MST on Thu., Mar. 27, 2008
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4:55 PM MST on Sun., Mar. 16, 2008
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12:28 PM MST on Thu., Feb. 21, 2008
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Examiner Reader said:
There's also Anh Hong in Berkeley, Ca. The best place I've ever went to. People there are so friendly. If you ever want to have a birthday dinner or just dinner with friends & families this would be the #1 place to have it. It's a fun place to enjoy with people you love!!!!!!!
5 agree | 1 disagree
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Yoga Mommies From Hell said:
"Postnatal yoga moms with SUV-sized strollers" and their dim-bulb, investment banker/software technician husbands are slowly colonizing and ruining this city. I'm really, really tired of their desperate attempts to remain hip after they've reproduced their odious selves in miniature, and named them Dakota, Paris or some other ridiculous monniker (yeah, that's for you, sf gate mommy files nimrod). One of them was pushing her way to the start line at the AIDS walk with scant regard for anyone in her path. We put her right in her place, and her self-entitled pleas for help from other walkers were completely ignored, signalling once again that San Franciscans are over the cult of the urban mommy. Please, please move to the suburbs where you belong.
2 agree | 2 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Joey and Eddie's -- I've only been there for dessert, but it was sooo bad. Pistachio panna cotta and cannolis. Huge portions, but way, way WAY too sweet. Total lack of subtlety in the flavor. I think they must order pre-packaged desserts? I don't know, but the dessert was so bad that it scared me off of trying any of the food (although I love this chef from his recent days at Pesceria!).
6 agree | 8 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
let's move to another restaurant already. It's not like there is a shortage in this city.
9 agree | 8 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Lichee Garden is by far the best Chinese restaurant I've had in town. Immigrating here from Hong Kong four years ago, I often miss out on the "authentic" Chinese food except at LG, where you can never go wrong with any dishes. I suggest you to try all Unterman's recommendations (as those are the common orders I make), and try the salt and pepper crab (the best fried crab I've ever had). I go to LG about twice a week with my family, and always enjoy the atmosphere and service from Annie. Always ask for what the chef's recommendation of the day is, and always be willing to try new dishes. The House Sparerib is classic with the perfect sweet and sour sauce. And trust me, LG does not use the same sauce for everything (that's what House of Nanking does). Just order a variety of dishes (like Unterman). I always leave LG with a smile.
11 agree | 11 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
ugh - think Untermann has lost her tastebuds. This is just another in a long line of reviews where she seems to have eaten at the restaurant on the one day it sparkled. More likely, they know who she is and pull out all the stops. I've eaten there two or three times when in North Beach, and never been impressed...sticky floors, aged linens on tables (with original spots, I think) and nothing special on the menu you can't find in a million other Chinese restaurants. You want good Chinese food around Chinatown? Head to Great Eastern - they can even get me to eat the chicken feet appetizer, their food is THAT good!
10 agree | 9 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Gee would you have said a table full of Asians, African Americans, Pacific Islanders, or just is a "table full of caucasions" not offensive? Imagine - "I revisited with a table full of Africans..."
8 agree | 7 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Lichee Garden has sticky chairs and floors. Their food taste the same no matter what it is. They seem to use the same sauce for all their entrees.I equate their food to McDonald's. For authentic tasty chinese food, go to Great Eastern or R&G lounge.
10 agree | 6 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
i misss their dim sum from tea times??
7 agree | 6 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
I will have to try the pizza place but from the picture the crust does not look thin it looks california thin.
6 agree | 6 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
layaly have the best middle_eastren food in the bay.there food is delicious and have consistant recepie. what you taste today you'll taste tommorrow. it's a winner. I love the hookah lounge, they sereve very good hookahs & have very unique Tobacco Flavors. the hookah lonuge opens at 8pm -12am & 8pm - 2:00(fri & sat)on the weekends.i recommend this place cause it's a winner
12 agree | 7 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
My mother would beat me like a rented mule if I took her to a baseball game for Mother's Day.
9 agree | 9 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
I visited Namu on a trip to San Fran a year back when the restaurant had just opened. The space is minimal and hip, and the food fantastic - the black cod was superb!
10 agree | 10 disagree
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Francis Kim said:
actually namu never closes early. the restaurant that always closes early was written right next to the namu article. I believe everyone is getting confused. And on thursday, friday, and saturday they stay open till 1am!!!! that is awesome.
10 agree | 10 disagree
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M.S. Jackson said:
Ms. Unterman's laughable dialectic suggests she is feeding on some of the large sausages at the Soul Food joint and getting more than her fill!
10 agree | 10 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
I suspect they close before the posted closing time to save on staff costs on nights when the amount of business does not cover expenses. I give them another six months.
10 agree | 15 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Go early in the evening because they'll close early if the mood stikes them. Even if you have a reservation.
39 agree | 57 disagree
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