Bellanico
Despite its popularity, Oakland’s Bellanico retains a neighborly feel with comforting rustic California Italian cuisine and tiny interiors accented with blown glass pendants. Husband and wife owners Chris Shepherd and Elizabeth Frumusa (the duo behind Aperto in San Francisco’s Potrero Hill) named Bellancio for their two daughters, nicknamed Bella and Nico, and they recruited Chef de Cuisine Jonathan Luce, formerly of Pearl’s Oyster Bar. Expect such decadent dishes as risotto with black mission figs and gorgonzola, as well as wild-caught albacore.
