Let’s welcome back an old family friend to the neighborhood. Pica Pica also has ceviches and sweet plantains, full-on plates of the arepas fillings (the Caribe, carne asada, a vegetarian and vegan combo, etc.) that come with rice and beans, as well as salads and desserts - yuca buñuelos! The other sauces were different versions of spicy/sweet. This was more than enough food, with plenty of leftovers. Guasacaca, an avocado sauce, came with everything, and went on everything. We started Pica Pica as a way to express our love of Venezuelan cookery that is why the menu evokes home cooking, artisanship and tradition. Perhaps it’s something that must be eaten just out of the fryer, as a friend counseled me. These unfortunately did not change my mind. For the life of me, I don’t get tostones, as I’ve only had ones that are tough and flavorless. The garlic was a tad bitter I’d get it without, next time. To gild the lily, we also ordered garlic fried yuca. Instead, we got the crispy chicken, which was pieces of fried chicken breast, and rather difficult to eat. Reviews on Pica Pica in San Francisco, CA - Pica Pica Arepa Kitchen, Arepas En Bici, Pica Pica Chicharron, Little Star Pizza, Off the Grid: Fort Mason. The dough was crispy, light and sweet, but I wish I’d tried this with a simpler filling. We also ordered a regular-sized cachapa, which is basically an arepa but made with fresh corn instead of corn flour. All tasty as well, bite-sized, so you can easily share a few. The BF wanted to try the empanadas, so we got a sampler of those, too: beef, chicken, and cheese. You know what you’re getting.The beef was great, with a slight sweetness from the plantain, but I liked the smokey shrimp best: plump whole crustaceans, with a crunchy lettuce and jicama salad. “It’s sexy, dark, and underground, and literally in a bank vault. “The space feels like a steakhouse,” Cole says. Italian restaurant catering, delivery and group dining available. Pica Pica Arepa Kitchen: Delicious and cozy - See 137 traveler reviews, 101 candid photos, and great deals for San Francisco, CA, at Tripadvisor. Co-founded by Telmo Faria, the chef behind Noe Valley Portuguese restaurant Uma. Plus, the Vault’s lux space, which is already tricked out with leather banquettes and private liquor lockers, was the perfect setting. Buca Italian Restaurant serves family style meals in an eclectic group friendly setting. (between 16th and 17th streets) in the Mission, the fresh addition is called Piri Pica. When Alfred’s, the oldest steakhouse in SF, permanently closed in 2020, it left a porterhouse-shaped hole in the neighborhood. “And the more we thought about it, to reopen the Vault as it was before just didn’t make sense.”īut diners are still craving comfort and date-night destinations, and there is a remarkable dearth of steakhouses downtown in the FiDi.

“What does the future of downtown hold?” Cole posed to his team. When it came time to reopen for indoor dining, owner Ryan Cole says the team had to face the cold hard facts that their previous crowd of office workers and convention goers wasn’t coming back, at least not in force, and perhaps not anytime soon. Starting And Sharing for many, pica pica can be translated as a 'little bit of this, a little bit of that'. Step downstairs into the Vault Steakhouse, which has a meaty new menu, starring tomahawk steaks and caviar tots. Now, the restaurant that started underground, then clawed above ground, is diving back down once more, and reopening as a different concept. Open for less than a year when pandemic hit, it rose to the crisis with one of the most ambitious outdoor dining setups in the city, surfacing above ground and taking over the entire plaza to debut the Vault Garden in summer 2020. Pica Pica Arepa Kitchen, San Francisco: See 139 unbiased reviews of Pica Pica Arepa Kitchen, rated 4.5 of 5 on Tripadvisor and ranked 371 of 5,268 restaurants in San Francisco.

When the Vault opened in spring 2019, it was a splashy power lunch and cocktail scene at the base of the 555 California skyscraper in the FiDi (or the former Bank of America Building, as this writer’s old man still calls it).

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