Pizzeria Delfina in Palo Alto

I said there’d be a pizza or two (or more) down this road and here we were at Pizzeria Delfina, though not in SF. because that place is always packed! But Palo Alto? Why go all the way down there? Glad you asked! Don’t know if I’ve relayed this story before but seems my birthday always seems to coincide with SF Pride and a little thing called DCI West. The SO was super big on drum corps and marching bands seeing as how he was an Illini alumni and went back to their homecoming every year.

This is one of those things where as a couple you go along and let your partner indulge in something that makes them super excited and happy. I came to enjoy going cause they got such a thrill out of it. The trade off here was since it always was around my birthday, I got to pick a spot to eat. The competition is at Stanford Stadium, thus Palo Alto and voila, why not hit up a spot you can’t get into easily in SF yet you can sort of just waltz into on a late Saturday afternoon, no problem.

I’d been to the restaurant Delfina years and years ago but for whatever reason, never made it around to their pizza place next door as it is walk-in only and tiny. The place seemed to hit the ground running and has been a popular fixture on 18th for years now. Weird I know considering we are pizzas of any kind fanatics.

One thing the Palo Alto location has going for it is a giant outdoor space to dine. Since this is June down south, it is hot out. They have real weather down there you know. A nice big covered space to protect from the sun. With the light breeze blowing through, it was quite pleasant.

Did I mention I also get to pick whatever we eat from the menu too? The joys of sitting through a four (or more) hour band competition people. Being summer, a nice cooling started looked refreshingly appealing which means, bring on the beet salad!

Red and golden beets, crumbled goat cheese, soft barley, flax seeds, black sesame seeds, pomegranate seeds, sesame seeds, salt and small drizzle of olive oil. Looked as pretty in person as it does in the picture. Cool, slightly sweet and small bits of crunchy made a nice bite. I am a sucker for beets and goat cheese and this seems to be one of those easily tossed together dishes you‘d have to work harder to mess up than to actually create. Pretty sure this was a seasonal thing they had going on and it worked on this warm day for the both of us. As did my crisp sauvignon blanc and their aperol spritz, a drink he got hooked on in Italy.

After the beets, I still can’t seem to leave my Southern taste buds too far behind, which made the idea of something deep fried sound good.

Like tempura battered and deep fried squash blossoms filled with ricotta cheese. Deep fried and with cheese? Yes! Though not the biggest of portion sizes, but enough for each of us to get two-ish. They weren’t overly greasy, had a neat little crunch and creaminess from the cheese. If you’d told me there was some squash in there on a blind tasting, I would have honestly missed it. After all, it is just a flower and frying it makes it more palatable to those who might not be on board eating a flower. It was interesting as a transition from the beets to the main course pizza and most likely another seasonal offering. Good, but can’t say you’d be missing much.

With pizza in the title, it is pizza we are really here for and they have a handful of choices in both red and white sauce choices. The SO was never a fan of white pizzas, very old school, so in this instance I decided to stick with one of the reds.

Housemade fennel sausage with red pepper, red onion and mozzarella on a wood fired crust. When the server set it down on the table my first thought was, it is kind of small. We both actually had that thought which either says a lot about the pizza, our eating habits or our expectations when ordering pizza at a place where everything comes in one size. It was smaller than the ones we had at Casey’s. Still, it was thin crust and the bottom and side crusts only had minimal char to them. I know some folks like that but, a little goes a long way.

My first thought when picking up a slice was, soggy tip syndrome. You can even tell from the pic there is more than a bit of liquid going on which really just amps up the sogginess. Plus, not much cheese going on there either. It’s a pizza and not a margherita so why so light on the mozzarella?! First bite not real impressive with the soft wet crust and all. I did like the sausage and the crust ring was appropriately light and crisp. Something I wish the whole crust could have been.

Here we sit with a pizza that’s got a few tasty parts but as a whole is a bit of a disappointment. Considering the place in the city has them lining up, I can’t exactly say this first experience at one of their satellite locations impresses me all that much. And yes, that Shania Twain song is running through my head right now. Also makes dubious about even giving the one in the city a try. I mean, there are so many pizza places in SF I already know I can get a great pie, why take a chance another chance.

Even though neither of us were fans of the pizza, there was still the beet salad and there will be some cake later as he did create grandma’s recipe and it is waiting for us in the fridge at home—after the band competition.

At the time I didn’t think much about not really enjoying the pizza or place as a whole, just kind of chalked it up to another oh well, mark this one off the list now. Reflecting back, I realize it was the last birthday dinner we had together which makes writing about it bittersweet for sure. What I will remember is attending the band competition with him and watching as he critiqued the missteps, applauded the trumpet solos (the instrument he played) and cheering loudly when the drum corps amazed with their intricate formations. The face of unbridled childish joy of music. Yes, I will relish fondly the day and the time we spent together, that I will hold onto. Though, still doesn’t make me like the pizza. It was soggy, wet and under cheesed and that I’m just gonna let go.