Farina, The Mission District
November 9, 2007

There's a lot to like about this restaurant — the gorgeous interior, delicious foccacia, excellent wine list, homemade pastas. But you know what I love about this restaurant? The desserts.

Farina's focus is Ligurian cuisine. While there are plenty of meat options on the menu, I would stick with the pastas. In particular: Anything with the fresh pesto sauce. But just be sure to save room for the deep-fried sweet milk and panna cotta. The former comes to the table looking like a pair of sugar-coated donuts. But inside, is a smooth and creamy pudding. And the panna cotta is the prettiest panna cotta I've ever seen! And with its strawberry glaze on top, tasted so good, too.

Although the restaurant was plenty busy during my recent visit, the service was still great. Farina is extremely loud, so I'm amazed any of the servers can correctly hear their orders!

Farina
3560 18th St
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 565-0360