Polenta opens in Alamo Square, showcasing Friuli-Venezia Giulia cuisine

Polenta has opened quietly in Alamo Square, taking over the former Alamo Square Seafood Grill space at 803 Fillmore Street and bringing one of San Francisco’s most specific Italian concepts into a neighborhood better known for broad neighborhood dining. The restaurant is in soft-opening mode, but its identity is already clear: this is a trattoria centered on Friuli-Venezia Giulia, the northeastern Italian region shaped by Italian, Slovenian, Austrian, Venetian and Alpine influences.

That regional focus gives Polenta a sharper edge than a standard red-sauce spot. The menu reaches for dishes tied directly to Friuli rather than the usual citywide Italian mix, with offerings that include prosciutto with asparagus, aged Montasio cheese, 36-month Prosciutto San Daniele, Hungarian-style goulash and potato gnocchi with housemade Friulian sausage ragù. Some of the dish names are written in Friulian, a detail that reinforces how closely the restaurant is tied to its culinary point of view.

The kitchen is led by Friuli-born chef Michele Gargani, while the owner is wine importer Giulio De Monte Gaspardo, a first-time solo restaurateur with a background in the trade. De Monte Gaspardo previously worked as a sommelier at Bottega in Yountville and at Bartholomew Winery in Sonoma, and he plans to pour wines from producers he knows personally. That wine-first approach fits the restaurant’s tightly curated feel and suggests Polenta is aiming for a more deliberate dining experience than a casual neighborhood drop-in.

De Monte Gaspardo said he had searched for a space where he could build a Friuli-focused trattoria and eventually landed on the Alamo Square address after signing a lease almost a year ago. The rollout has been low-key, with no website and no sign, making the opening feel more like a neighborhood discovery than a formal launch.

The move also fits into San Francisco’s long-running appetite for regionally specific Italian cooking. In a city where Italian restaurants often stretch across the whole peninsula, Polenta narrows the frame to one borderland cuisine and its signature products. That means Montasio, Polenta, and Prosciutto di San Daniele are not side notes here; they are the point. Prosciutto di San Daniele is protected and made within the municipality of San Daniele del Friuli, giving the dish a built-in sense of place that Polenta is clearly trying to preserve at the table.