The ideal food items of the 7 days from our Bay Region restaurant critic

Canned scallops at Alimentari Aurora

The concept at the rear of Dario Barbone’s tinned fish omakase is straightforward: Choose a can from the Italian grocer’s wall, and Barbone will costume it up for you for an upcharge of $13. Visualize the type of thoughtless snack you could make from a can of fish and a Ritz cracker, but blessed with a sprinkle of fairy godmother magic.

On a recent pay a visit to, I selected a four-ounce can of scallops in tomato and pepper sauce ($16.25) from Spanish producer Ramón Peña Barbone spruced it up even though I sat on the picket parklet outside the house. Finally, he introduced a tray with two extensive slices of baguette that supported, boatlike, the sweet and tender scallops, an orange ball pit sprinkle of Indian masala boondi, and grassy slices of jalapeño. Each and every bite gave me a distinctive picture, a flash of some new position: a bonfire on a warm beach front a taqueria in a fishing village a competition the place piquant treats are served out of paper cones.

Alimentari Aurora. 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Sunday. 1415 18th St., San Francisco. www.alimentariaurora.com

Ribollita at Otra

At Anna and Nick Cobarruvias’ month-outdated restaurant in Haight-Ashbury, you can locate new wave Mexican dishes like roasted carrot tostadas and hamachi collar with tomatillo salsa — dishes that refer back to regular Mexican cooking even though integrating modern components and tactics. Even nevertheless I realized that going into my initial pay a visit to, I was nevertheless stunned that the stand-out dish of the night time wasn’t a tostada or huarache, but Nick Cobarruvias’ consider on Italian ribollita ($22).

Creamy gigante beans huddle like tranquil hippopotami in a murky, epazote-laced braising liquid with tender pieces of chayote squash, a poached egg and kale. Just about every spoonful is like having one move nearer to a fireplace, fingers outstretched toward the flames. It’s motivated by the chef’s aunt’s dwelling cooking, and this pot of beans revels in his memory of her.

Otra. 5-10 p.m. everyday. 682 Haight St., San Francisco. otrasf.com

Hash brown sandwich at Newkirk’s

Considering that 2017, Newkirk’s has been slinging East Coastline-type sandwiches from its perch across the avenue from San Francisco Standard Medical center. If you look into a mirror and say, “Bacon, egg and cheese,” a few situations, you will summon me, so it is no surprise that I’d finally make my way below.

The hash brown sandwich ($11.50) stuffs the written content of a diner breakfast plate into a sliced French roll: cracker-crisp smoked bacon, two fried eggs, and griddle-cooked hash browns topped with American cheese. Piquant and tart pickled cherry peppers refresh the palate and make the sandwich feel a minimal a lot less gut-busting. It is the type of issue I used to inhale right after — sigh — hitting the clubs in Manhattan as an at-hazard youth.

Newkirk’s. 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Tuesday-Friday 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday. 1002 Potrero Ave., San Francisco. 415-962-7695 or www.newkirkssf.com

Soleil Ho is The San Francisco Chronicle’s cafe critic. Electronic mail: [email protected] Twitter: @hooleil