Don Pistos offers mexican cuisine for North Beach cheap

By Catherine Lee
The Guardsman

Don Pisto’s is a recent addition to the North Beach dinner lineup offering numerous pleasures with an affordable menu and refined versions of classic Mexican dishes.

The medium-sized restaurant sits one block from the frenetically busy intersection of Union and Columbus, where the big green trees in Washington Square Park scent the air with a fresh leafiness that’s a relief from the vehicle exhaust of cars circling the North Beach strip of Columbus Avenue.

Don Pisto’s niche as a neighborhood dinner restaurant contrasts with the majority of restaurants clamoring for tourists’ dollars in North Beach. A dinner for two, including drinks, only demanded two $20 bills from my wallet. While there are some good, quick eats in North Beach, it’s often tough to find a sit-down dinner for under $20 a person.

The brick façade has no sign; the only markers are small red firehouse lights above a giant street window. Approaching by foot, you are drawn in by the savory smells of carnitas and chorizo, and the sounds of laughter and spunky modern Mexican music.

Inside is an almost unknown pleasure in San Francisco: plenty of room between stations and the luxury of eating at heavy wooden tables that neither totter nor wiggle. And the chairs, with an equally comforting girth, are a relaxing plus to the meal.

The tacos come two per order, and all are under $10. The simple presentations of meat or seafood—garnished with shredded cabbage and onion with cilantro and a side of radishes and jalapeños—looked a bit small on arrival. As did the carnitas torta ($9) which came out of the kitchen on gorgeous hot bread that was toasty crisp on top and soft on the inside.

Many of us who are now acclimated to Mission Mexican food suffer from the delusion that all tortas are giant sandwiches that we can barely get our hands around.

We’re wrong and Don Pisto’s is right. The portions were perfect. The two tacos per serving and the tortas were completely filling because they were so rich and savory you could taste the ingredients’ freshness.

Appetites are also slaked by the endless supply of perfectly crisp flour chips, which are served in giant wooden bowls with addictively mild tomatillo salsa in pretty silver bowls.

Plus, beers are only $5. Not super cheap, but a good price for any North Beach bar, and a price that still gets one diner out the door for under $20.

The atmosphere is casual and warm. Young couples and tables of co-workers shared pitchers of margaritas and Acai berry sangria in the moodily lit dining room, which has a healthy mix of two-, four- and six-person tables.

While there are few dishes on the menu, they are all classics prepared with gourmet delicacy. The lightness of the house–made chorizo and mussels ($13) was a pleasantly surprising change from the harsh acidity of many chorizos. For hearty eaters, there’s a cast iron seafood stew ($14), giant platters of chicken tostadas ($11) and a lobster dinner for two ($32) on the menu.