Tosca Cafe, S.F.: A favorite North Beach standby, relaunched

Symbolic, of course, as today's house "cappuccino" ($12) is a decidedly non-morning tipple - to be fair, it never was - with Armagnac, bourbon and chocolate ganache, and not a drop of coffee.

[...] a friendly sleight-of-hand at the new Tosca, which relaunched in October in the hands of star New York restaurateurs April Bloomfield and Ken Friedman (the Spotted Pig, the Breslin), who embarked on a dramatic transformation after acquiring it from proprietor Jeannette Etheredge.

Look closer and its identity is clear: a modern trattoria singing a love song to the past, down to the Formica tabletops, run by chef de cuisine Josh Even in Bloomfield's classic meat-heavy and lustily satisfying mode.

Bypass the bar sandwich ($10) for the chicken liver spiedini ($7), a perfect bar snack with their balance of livery funk and sweet tang of balsamic.

An extensive bottle list from wine director Ceri Smith (Biondivino), largely Italian but with a couple of nods to the Golden State, and 15 wines by the glass or 3-ounce taste.