New in San Francisco: Ottimista Enoteca-Cafe
Staff Writer - November 12, 2005
 During the second part of October, San Francisco's trendy Union Street wine and food scene will be further enriched by a new addition: Ottimista Enoteca-Cafe, a wine bar and small-plate venue launched by former high-tech marketer Melissa Gisler and Jerad Ruhl, formerly wine director/sommelier at Rose Pistola, in San Francisco's North Beach. The duo chose a name that reflects their feeling for this enterprise, in fact 'Ottimista' means 'optimist' in Italian while 'enoteca' means 'wine bar'.
The location, 1838 Union Street, near Octavia Street, already changed hands and personality twice in the past three years. First it was Charlie's, then it was reborn as Rica, the Latino-style restaurant that closed in September 2005.
When Ottimista opens later this month, the 40 seats inside and the 20 on the patio will represent a dream come true for Gisler and Ruhl, who have been planning to open such a wine bar for nearly a year. They are starting out with a 250-bottle wine list, featuring a good selection of Italian and California wine, without forgetting other world producing countries. There will be 25 wines by-the-glass, ranging from $6 to $12. The spirit side of the business will include cocktails, grappas and other distillation as well.
The chef is Mark Young, formerly with Mill Valley's Bungalow 44, Slow Club and the Slanted Door. The menu will be inspired to northern Italian cuisine, and will feature finger food and small plates priced from $4 to $14, as well as larger entrees such as daily house-made potato gnocchi pasta with roasted Brussels sprouts, bacon, hazelnuts and brown butter, or the fresh mozzarella lasagna with butternut squash and wild mushrooms.
Chef Mark Young said that Ottimista will open and take it one step at a time. They will serve dinner during the first week and then add more working hours thereafter, eventually serving drinks and food from 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., from Tuesday to Thursday; from 11:30 a.m. to 2 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Sundays.
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