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Fresh grilled calamari

Boy, it was even better than my first time! I was greeted with such warmth by Lorella and our server from before, Petra. We had five appetizers: the baby octopus stew again (AMAZING!), grilled calamari (tender, lovely, but outshone by everything else), the special tripe with porcini mushrooms in a tomato sauce (this was by far the star of the night - cooked PERFECTLY, great texture, incredible flavor, just one of those "oh my gosh, how is it possible that anything can taste this good??" moments), crostini, grilled sardines (also well done, but a little one-note and not my favorite). We also had five pastas: fregua with cured tuna heart and ricotta (very very rich, but delicious), the spaghetti with bottarga (just as amazing as last time), linguini with mixed seafood (a classic, but done SO WELL), the special rigatoni with goat and lamb ragu (so flavorful and delicious - you really got the particular flavor of goat meat which I loved), and I got a special off-menu pasta which is the spaghetti from the bottarga with chili and extra virgin olive oil but with cured tuna heart - it was just fantastic! Everything was just outstanding. Then we ordered the semifreddo which was again so unique and delicious, the trio of gelati, and then they sent out the saffron and ricotta cake on the house and it was out of this world. They told us that it is flourless. It actually tasted like a ricotta cheesecake. It was surrounded by toasted, slivered almonds and a delicious honey. What a meal this was! Massimiliano came out and talked with us and Lorella was so kind and along with Petra, took such good care of us. This is the kind of place I will return to every time I come to SF.

We tied up in a little bay in the middle of nowhere (no roads in or out). Not quite the middle of nowhere I guess since a restaurant has a little jetty it lets you tie up to in exchange for buying dinner at the restaurant. Not a bad deal for a good night sleep not worrying about the holding. We went over for dinner, and I managed to test my extremely poor Arabic with one of the "waiters" (no they don't speak Arabic in Turkey - but many Turkish speak it - and this guy had a very Arabic name so I took a punt). BEST calamari I have ever had.. hands down. Gorgeous.. beautiful crunchy light batter... perfectly cooked.. soooo tender.. yum yum yum. In the morning you wake up to water so clear you can easily see right to the bottom (10m).