Charlie Hallowell's restaurant is so popular that last year he opened another equally good but less ambitious pizza parlor: Boot and Shoe Service. Still, his original remains a Bay Area touchstone for great pizza. The wood-fired pizzas are certainly the star, but he creates excellent antipasti, pasta and a main course such as braised pork with cannellini beans, turnips and fried green onions. Pizzaiolo started life nearly 140 years ago as a hardware store, and the original scarred wood floors and brick walls remain. This year Hallowell opened for light breakfast featuring coffee, tea and pastries.

 
Specialties: Neapolitan-style pizza; squid pizza with house-made aioli; regularly changing main courses such as bollito misto or fried chicken; panna cotta.

Hours

Dinner 5:30-10 p.m. Monday-Saturday

Cuisines

• California
• Italian
• Pizza

Features

• Corkage ($15)
• Credit Cards: Accepted
• Disabled Access
• Full Bar
• High Chairs
• Private Dining Room (Semiprivate room for 20)
• Parking: Easy
• Parking: Free Lot (nearby)
• Parking: Street
• Seating (90 (plus 40 on patio))