I’d caught glimpses of Itria, hidden in plain sight on 24th Street, just up the street from BART, in the old Obispo site. With its plain white-tile exterior and the buses rumbling by, it was easy to miss. Inside, it’s as dark as a cool cave until you pass the bar, where the ceiling rises and the kitchen pass-through emits a golden light onto that portion of the dining room, splashing over the light gray walls, honey-toned woods, and a communal table. There’s a light elegance in its rusticity.

Chef Daniel Evers, formerly of Al’s Place and Cotogna, opened Itria in May of 2021. After spending most of the pandemic serving delivery pizza to go, it opened for indoor dining in August of that year and changed the menu entirely. Billed as modern Italian, Itria has a rotating list of crudos to start and, true to the chef’s lineage, homemade fresh pasta, with some varieties that I hadn’t ever heard of.