BEGGING FOR FOOD

NOT EVERY BITE was perfect. Not every wine pairing worked. But even now, two weeks later, I'm still thinking about the marathon Italian-style meal I enjoyed at A 16 in San Francisco. Although Nate Appleman isn't exactly at the helm now that he's a celeb and also owns SPQR in SF, I was more than happy to meet up with the trio of women in charge. And I have to say that this is the kind of restaurant that I wish was located around the corner from my home.
Not a bit fussy or upscale, A 16 is what I'd call pure Italian. Good food. Dishes of all sizes, all types, and all of them nutritous flavor bombs. Bitter greens, white bean puree, sardines topped with citrus and fennel salad, escarole salad topped with radishes that look like itty bitty pieces of watermelon. 
The best part? Our sommelier Shelley Lindgren served up such an interesting and varied range of Italian wines from so many different regiouns that I gained a new appreciation for the country's vast wine offerings. I tasted wine from Lapio, from Sardinia, Sicily, Trentino, Puglia.
Among the many take-aways from this dinner is that I love small plates; many tastes of several things is so much more fun than a giant plate of something you are not sure you will like. The other is that authentic Italian food needs authentic Italian wine.They just belong together. There's a crisp, volcanic kind of flavor to the whites, a dry crunch to the pink sparklers, and a fruity, play-well-with-others quality about the reds. Italian wines are not made to stand alone. They want, need, and literally beg you to eat food alongside. Who can complain about that?