San Francisco Restaurant Week offers special menus across the city

Welcome back. It's a good week to try a new place to eat. San Francisco Restaurant Week is well underway. That means restaurants all across the city are offering special menus and pricing through the weekend. Three of those participating restaurants are 54 Mint, Montesacro, and Clementina, all owned by the Mint Group. And we are delighted to have Mattia Marcelli or Marcelli? Marcelli. Marcelli. There we go. Culinary Director of Mint Group and Viviana Devoto, the co-owner of the Mint Group. I'm I have a feeling these are Italian restaurants. Am I right? Yeah. Yeah 100% all right Viviana tell us about all three and how they are similar and how they're different and where they are in the city Sure, we have 54 Mint is in the SoMa district as well as a Monte Sacro we are specializing in Roman cuisine and We love to be part of San Francisco Restaurant Week for 54 Mint is our we're celebrating our 19 years celebration anniversary so yeah we will we love this tradition and it's so fun to connect through food very good and chef tell us Roman Italian what does that mean how is it different from other Italian I mean Italy is so small like if you think about it's more than California sure every region you travel you find totally different food like in Rome we have like supplì or gnocchi while you travel like 20 minutes north and like 20 minutes you don't have it anymore more like you have a totally different you know because of the weather yeah the demography the i know north and south are completely completely different north you you find more like butters uh braised meat and stuff while south is more like close to the seafood you know totally different like it's crazy well i love italian i could go north and south uh well at san francisco restaurant where you tell us about some of your specials and what you folks are doing right so we we brought some iconic dishes I see the lamb we make Mattia makes gnocchi every morning in the restaurant as well as tiramisu and he will tell you about the lamb okay yeah the lamb by the way you got up early and cooked this up for us just for us right I mean yes yes you did okay tell us about the uh it's one of my favorite dishes because when you it's called scottadito agnello scottadito scottadito meaning literally meaning burn your finger oh because when you grill it it's hot it's hot so you grab it from the bone like we either invite people at the restaurants like of course you can use fork and knife but like the way to eat is like you grab it from the bone oh yeah and then you eat it because yeah like a caveman you gotta do it right yeah use your napkin i i love lamb and that's the only way to eat it what what is it about lamb some people go oh no i'm not eating lamb. It does have a distinct flavor. I don't cook it a lot at home, but when I go out, if it's on the menu, I order it. It's either love it or not so much. It really depends even on the quality of the lamb, you know, how you marinate it, how you cook it, you know. It tastes a little bit different. Ours doesn't. Ours is like really tender, and it doesn't have that gamey flavor that people are afraid of. Montesacro is known for, I want to get this right, pinza? Pinza. Pinza, which is kind of like pizza, but different. Tell us the difference. I mean, pinza, the main difference is the flour used in the dough. Regular pizza is just wheat, while the pizza dough, it's soy, rice, and wheat. So it's a mix of them. So it's crunchier, it's lighter. We proofed the dough for 72 hours. So when you eat it, you eat it one by yourself. You don't feel bloated. It's really light and crispy. Oh, very good. And your gnocchi, potato? Potato gnocchi, yeah, yeah. Tell us how to make those, because that's one of my favorites. Okay, I can tell you one secret. Okay. The main secret is, you know, usually when you make gnocchi, you boil the potatoes. Right. We bake them. Ah. Because potato is a sponge, so it's going to absorb all the water. So the more water it's going to absorb, the more flour you're going to put to make the dough. Because otherwise it's going to be... So the more flour, the more heavy, the less potato flavor it is. This one, we bake it, peel it, and we make the dough. and our percentage of flour is really low. So when you eat the gnocchi, you don't feel like heavy. Where are you from in Italy? Roma. Roma. Oh, beautiful. Born and raised, yes. And Viviana, tell us, how's it been going? Restaurant Week opened a few days ago. Are people coming in? Yes, it's always a fun way to connect with new people, you know, because we have our regulars, we have families, you know, coming to the restaurant for years, but it's always a good way to bring new people and we scream authenticity. We want you to feel at home for one night without the jet lag, that's the main goal. We got music playing right now. I already feel like I'm in Italy. And we also have Jeremy Sue, and I think I'm about to be invaded by my anchors here who like Italian food. Got Sal, and there it goes. I think the lamb chop is leaving us. Looking for Ian. Molto bene. How is it? All right. Bellissimo. Ah, that's great. Did I say that right? So the restaurants at Monte Sacro, where is that located? Monte Sacro. Monte Sacro. Stevenson Street, where right off Market Street. And 16 Mint is? 16, it's between Mint Plaza, between Fifth and Mission. And Clementina. And Clementina is on Clement Street. Well, there you go. That makes sense. Ryan's just going to have his way here. I thought it was a cappuccino. I was ready to dust it. Tammy Sue. You should have put a little cinnamon on it. I was ready. You can put some cocoa powder on it. I might take one of these. Can I do that, Mateo? Yeah, do you? Yes. Okay. Well, go check it out. San Francisco Restaurant Week started on the 16th, goes through the 25th, and you're about to see the table get cleared here. Thank you for coming in. All the best to both of you. Enjoy. Thank you. Oh, my God. That is good. It's still warm. That's the good part.