"Perbacco is one of the rare old-school Italian spots that isn’t in North Beach. And it has a lot of the tell-tale signs of the genre: white tablecloths, tie-clad servers, and no music—but the food is anything but red sauce spaghetti and meatballs. Cal-Ital takes on pasta are why you’re here. Get the pillowy gnocchi topped with a tangy tomato sugo and the Dungeness spaghetti that’s tart, spicy, and briny all at once. It’s a good choice when you have family visiting from out of town or for a small group dinner before hopping on BART or Muni to extend the night with drinks elsewhere." - patrick wong, julia chen 1, lani conway