I’ve always considered Heirloom Café a neighborhood gem, one that’s known by a loyal few who treasure the location, the look of it, the feel of it, of course the food, and perhaps most of all, owner Matt Straus, who doubles as a knowledgeable and approachable sommelier.
Since the lockdown, however, it seemed like Heirloom hadn’t quite figured out how to provide their food to the masses. Instead, they led with wine events – Heirloom has quite a wine cellar – via remote wine “tastings” with guest wine industry speakers, and also made all their bottles and cases available for purchase. Last week, however, they started making pizza. They installed a wood-fired pizza oven, lucky us!
These are damned fine pizzas, even if they were maybe more of the flatbread/flammkuchen variety, perhaps? A very thin, crispy crust, with a good amount of tenderness in the dough (not at all doughy) – delicate, but with a great chew. Good and cheesy, too. We got two: the first with fennel, sausage, broccoli rabe & figs, low-moisture mozz and a Vermont cheddar (wouldn’t have guessed this); and the second with chanterelles/morels, onions sauteed in sherry, bacon, mozz and “alpine” cheeses — a blend of Swiss/Italian Beracasa and Comte.
The pizzas had such distinct flavors. The sweet fig and bitter rabe were so very good together. We also ordered a field salad of chicory, baby arugula, parsley, flame raisins (seedless reds), almonds, parm regg, in a tart, lemony vinaigrette. Everything was outstanding. We ate half of each pizza and had a whole one leftover for snacking, plus quite a bit of salad greens for another meal. So, a deal, to boot! I didn’t get any of their wine, for which you can be sure I kicked myself, but we’ll be back. Don’t make that mistake.
I’m so glad they’re still standing. And flourishing – they’ve now added their famous Epoisses cheeseburger to the to-go menu, as well as chocolate pots de crème. Find their take-out menus for delivery or pick-up at https://www.heirloompizza.com/.
Heirloom Café
2500 Folsom St.
415-821-2500