So happy we stumbled upon this place after and otherwise long and disappointing weekend.
I came to San Francisco this weekend already knowing UPN was closed for vacation and Pizza Hacker was not going to be out, but I figured I was in the nations second best pizza town and all would be good. We got in saturday afternoon, and after the first of many horrible experiences on the local mass transit left us deserted in the middle of a questionable neighborhood we finally made it to Tony's. They told us it would be an hour, and took our number, perfect. We went across the street and got a coffee. 2 hours later we still hand't heard from them so, we balled and figured to go bake at a less peak time. Sunday was consumed by the football game. Monday I Tony's was closed. Not Tony's for us. That's ok we were going to hit Del Popolo today at the scheduled stop, so due to our bad luck I decided to double check, and what a shock their schedule had changed and they were now doing a private event today. Another strike out. I began searching for the pizza that could salvage my trip. I looked at Zero Zero and saw a Valoriani oven. I looked at Flour and Water and saw a similar oven situation. I wasn't in San Fran to eat pizza out of a precast oven I can get in Detroit! I googled up Stefano Ferrara San Francisco and after a bit of digging I found one, at a Place called Cupola, in a mall of all places. Yelp reviews were mixed, but I find they tend to be for Neapolitan places, so I checked the local newspapers reviews: "Among the best in the Bay area"...ok there is promise.
After spending the day up at the wharf we decided we would ride the historic cable cars back to the center of town. After the 1.5 hour wait to get on we made it half way when the car stopped, and we were told the cable had broken, but a shuttle would be there for us in 45 minutes. Pretty much sums up the trip. We walked a few blocks, and caught a bus that dropped us right next to Cupola, it was meant to be.
4 floors up I was greeted by a beautiful black tiled Stefano oven. My party got a seat, I went to the oven. I began talking with one of the cooks who then summoned the head chef. What a great guy! We talked about everything from the oven to his dough. I liked what I heard and was starting to get excited.
I went back to the table and shortly after out pies arrived. They were great, lots of flavor and well executed. Then the chef I had been speaking with brought us another pizza he wanted us to try, what class! It was the Carne topped with lots of sausage and cured meat, and it was too great.
Deep in a pizza coma, and feeling relief from the fact we finally found pizza in this pizza city, I thanked our gracious host and had one last chat before leaving.
