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In the Mint Plaza, right across the Blue Bottle Cafe mothership, this café provides outdoor dining opportunities - plus some limited indoor seating upstairs and a homier cellar below. Alberto Avalle, a founder of New York's Il Buco, partnered with others to open this authentic Italian spot in SF - and they get it down to the prosciutti and salami hanging in the cellar below. They hired a Sicilian chef, and it shows in the menu - but less so in the coffee (i.e., no Miscela d'Oro). Using a two-group Elektra machine at the bar and Caffè Umbria beans, they pull generous espresso shots with a bare, thin layer of medium brown crema. The cup still has a substantive mouthfeel and aroma, although the flavor is skewed heavily towards more of the over-roasted end of the spectrum: toasted wood, resins, and pepper. Served in decorative OperaNova cups by a sparse staff you have to gang-tackle to get their attention.
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