- Produce salesman John Sbragia
loved his high school job
so much that he made it his career.
His old school Italian spot has
been around for a long, long time.
It's where the locals go to enjoy
some great home-cooked Italian meals.
In the Parkside neighborhood
of San Francisco,
step into Gold Mirror Italian Restaurant.
- [Man] I'm gonna need two ribeyes!
(upbeat music)
- Gold Mirror Restaurant was started
by my father, Giuseppe Di Grande, in 1969.
It was originally a jazz
club on Fillmore Street.
My father Giuseppe brought
my brother and I both
to the Gold Mirror at a young age,
teaching us the family business.
My name's Roberto Di Grande.
- I'm Domenico Di Grande.
- And we're at the Gold Mirror Restaurant.
We've worked here since we
were about 15 years old,
learning all the family recipes.
- These are both veal piccata, correct?
- My brother and I, we've been working
so long together that we
know each other's moves.
Growing up in the kitchen with my dad,
my dad always had the whip right near by,
so if we ever made a mistake, bam!
We'd both get lashed.
- Fire two veal piccatas!
- [Domenico] That's what
taught us to be good cooks.
- The best thing about it
is, my dad once told me,
"I'll give you guys a ladder.
"It's your job to climb it."
- We source all our food,
we bring in fresh fish, fresh veal.
- [Roberto] My mother and
father were both from Sicily,
both from a fishing town, so
they grew up on fresh seafood.
If you come to the restaurant
and walk down the hall
towards the bathrooms, you'll find Goldie,
which is a painting that
is done from the back.
Now Goldie is holding a gold mirror,
and she is looking at her reflection.
Time, effort, hard work,
sweat, it pays off.
What I love about our customers
is that they're family.
Walking through these doors is
like walking into our house.
- [All] Bon appetite.
- Now John, how often do
you go to your restaurant?
(sighs)
(laughing)
- [Leslie] A lot.
- Now that you have blown my cover,
because my wife wonders why
I don't eat dinner at home.
Thank you, Leslie.
- [Leslie] You're welcome!
- I go at least three
to four times a week.
- You don't!
- [John] I love it.
- [Leslie] I mean, if you're
eating there that much,
there must be a multitude of dishes.
- [John] There is, I usually
do an appetizer with calamari.
They just do it in a little
olive oil and garlic,
and it's just tender and it's crispy, ah!
Delicious.
And then the Caesar salad, I mean,
it's enough for two people.
The dressing, it's not too heavy.
Sometimes I go over the
top and do a Caesar salad
with a piece of salmon,
and they do it just right.
Remember, this restaurant's
been here since 1969.
- [Leslie] That's right, owned by
the same family since 1969.
- [John] The Di Grande family.
- [Leslie] Yeah, that's right.
- [John] Which is incredible,
because Dom and Roberto
in the kitchen, they're in there cooking,
where the father sits at the
bar, has a cup of coffee.
- [Leslie] So this place has history.
- [John] It has so much history.
- [Leslie] So much San Francisco history.
- And what I love about
it is, there's not many
old-fashioned Italian
restaurants in the city anymore.
- That's fair.
- And it's like walking
back in time, isn't it?
When you get to.
- It is, I thought the decor was a little.
It reminded me of Medieval Times?
I mean, walking back a thousand years,
but I didn't expect that.
But it was truly a busy place.
You could tell there's
tons of families there.
We had the stuffed avocado
with the Dungeness crab in it.
- [Leslie] Which is one
of their signature dishes.
- [John] Yes, it is.
- [Gabe] Which actually was really good.
And the sauce that was drenched over it
was almost like a shrimp
Louie, except with avocado.
- [Leslie] Piled high with crab.
- Piled high, it went really fast.
It was too small, actually.
- Wanted another one, huh?
- Yeah, well, there was
a few of us that had it,
so we were, like, doing this.
- We started with escargot,
which I'd never had before.
And it was a new, interesting experience.
I really liked it, it was
buttery, it was garlicky.
- [Leslie] Right.
- We went with a group
of four, my husband and I
with another couple, and we pretty much
ordered the entire menu.
But my favorite thing was actually
the fettuccine alla Romana,
which was phenomenal,
probably the best
fettuccine I've ever had.
It was creamy, it was
delicate, not too salty,
it was rich without being overwhelming,
which I really, really enjoyed.
- So you've got a couple
of go-tos, I'm sure.
- I do have the go-tos.
The cannelloni is incredible,
with a red and white sauce.
It's light, so you get two pieces
on the plate and you want five pieces.
You know what I mean?
So the lasagna is homemade.
Sheets of noodles, homemade ricotta,
with their homemade sauce,
which they won't tell me what it is.
When you put a fork in the
lasagna, it's like butter.
It just goes through softly.
- So I've got to go back for that.
- Oh, my, the lasagna's
the number one thing there,
and cannelloni!
- [Gabe] We had the calamari
steak, that I thought was,
it was bathed, it was like
in a bath of this sauce
that I want to say was a caper
sauce, which is olive oil,
butter, just rich, cooked perfectly.
- Kristen, what else did you have?
From pasta, you moved on.
- I did. I had the petrale sole,
and a good friend had
the Chilean sea bass.
I loved her sea bass, it was--
- [Gabe] I missed the sea bass.
- [Kristen] I think it
was the fish of the day.
- [Gabe] Oh, well, there you go.
- [Kristen] Yeah, so it was
very good, hers was delicious.
My petrale sole was not as good.
Sorry, John.
- Sure.
- He didn't make it, that's all right.
- True, very true.
(laughter)
- It lacked a little bit of flavor,
it didn't have much salt, it seemed like
a large plate of just fish, with butter.
But it had a side dish
of rice and vegetables,
and the rice was amazing.
It was really fluffy, and very flavorful,
so I really enjoyed that.
- [Leslie] Gabe, what
did you have to drink?
- A martini.
(laughing)
- Gin or vodka?
- Gin.
- [Leslie] Of course.
- [Gabe] Any restaurant
that has a bar in it,
I'm pretty happy with, and
that bar was happening.
I mean, it was almost like a club.
- [John] Yeah.
- [Gabe] And that's the
vibe of the place, isn't it?
You can tell, people knew
people there, you know?
- [John] Yeah.
- Desserts?
- Oh, tiramisu.
- Desserts?
- Desserts.
- Tiramisu, my favorite,
that's why I've put on 30 pounds.
It's the tiramisu.
(laughing)
- The cheesecake was heavenly.
It was a crustless cheesecake.
It was so smooth, not too sweet.
The four of us were basically
fighting over this cheesecake.
It was amazing.
- And what about service?
You had mentioned a little bit of service.
- The service was, well,
we were seated immediately,
and very attentive at
first, he got us our wine,
our drinks, and then he disappeared
and he was gone for a good,
I would say, 10 minutes.
So I had to get up and go look for him.
But once I got him, he came back.
- Once you dragged him
back, he was yours forever.
- It was a little rushed, but
the joint was pretty hopping.
I mean, it was a Saturday night.
Maybe Saturday night's
not the best night to go.
- [John] It's packed on Saturdays.
- [Gabe] For a new guy.
Yeah, it was packed.
- All right, this is your
spot, give us a quick summary.
- Great restaurant, local neighborhood,
been there since 1969,
I recommend it highly.
- All right, and Gabe?
- It was solid Italian food, old school.
Would I go back, yeah sure, why not?
- Okay, Kristen?
- Gold Mirror, great
neighborhood Italian restaurant.
Fun, friendly, good food.
- All right, if you would like to try
Gold Mirror Italian
Restaurant, it's located
on Taraval Street at 18th
Avenue in San Francisco.
The telephone number is 415-564-0401.
It's open weekdays for lunch,
and every day for dinner,
reservations are recommended,
and the average tab
for dinner without drinks is around $45.
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