Successful New York City based duo April Bloomfield and business partner Ken Friedman revived Tosca Cafe. This iconic North Beach Italian restaurant and bar dates to 1919. Chef Josh Even is leading efforts in the kitchen of this classic San Francisco spot. Even prints the menu daily. His crew gets a workout, making pasta, large format proteins, and seasonal sides. Tosca Cafe’s tagline is “innovative and fresh Italian cuisine,” which they express starting with Antipasti.

In pretty much any Sichuan appetizer cold case, you’ll find pig ears sliced, tossed with chile oil, and touting tongue tingling ma la. Tosca Cafe seasons Pressed Pig Ears ($6) and dresses them with olive oil. You still get the pig part’s signature cartilage crunch, minus the palate rattling spice. That could either be positive or negative, depending on your preference. Considering Tosca Cafe piles on bold flavors later in the meal, I didn’t mind early restraint.

Dose of Vitamin P spotlights my favorite pork dish from the previous week.