“Lucca Ravioli” How can you NOT love a place with a name like that?

One more reason I know I could be perfectly happy living in San Francisco: Lucca Ravioli Company.  This place is a local institution for a reason.
Walking into Lucca Ravioli is like walking back in time 30 or 40 years- right into a Francis Ford Coppola movie.  The guys behind the counter are smiling and handsome with their crisp white butchers’ hats and aprons.  The place smells like simmering minestrone soup- you can practically hear it bubbling away.  The floor is warped and slanting, which only adds to the overall charm of the place- as if it has been rooted here so long the building itself has started to become part of the hilly San Francisco landscape.   They also have an amazing wine selection: Italy-focused, eclectic and reasonable priced.

I could spend days in here- the sights and smells in a place like this are home to me.  This is the real Italian-American experience.  I feel safe here, swaddled in hanging salumi and buffered by aisles of imported Italian dry goods.  I think of my grandparents and their love of stuffed shells smothered in red sauce.  It makes me smile.