When it comes to Offal cuisine nobody knows it better that Chris Cosentino. We recently got the chance to sit down with him and talk about the progression of this type of cooking and the barriers he has encountered thus far.

Acquired Taste Magazine had the opportunity to head down to San Francisco for a week to check out their food scene and we were not disappointed.  We managed to check out a few spots, some well known, and some off the beaten path, and we’re going to show you the ones we liked best.

Our first stop, led us to a charming neighborhood restaurant in the Noe Valley, Incanto.  We’ve read countless reviews about this restaurant, we’ve seen Incanto Chef, Chris Cosentino, numerous times on the Food Network but I’ll be honest in saying that the main reason why we went is because of our love of offal cuisine.  Offal is a culinary term used to refer to the entrails and internal organs of a butchered animal.  Each and every course was made to perfection.  The marinated sardines were extremely light and freshing, the smoked eel with boccalone was a uniquely great dish and the spaghetti with sardinian cured tuna heart was like something I’ve never had before.  Not to mention, the wines our server suggested were a perfect match.  All in all, the only offal dish that we had was our last course, the ‘calf’s sweet breads and kidneys’ and it was well worth it.

If you’re ever in the Noe Valley, make sure you head over to Incanto.

Words & Photography by Chuck Ortiz