The Fabulous Fior Weblog

Firefighters tumbled into the main dining room of the Fior d’Italia on September 20 but this time not to quench any flames. They were enjoying the wedding rehearsal dinner of Marc Kasper and his bride Carla Cirelli.

Marc Kasper (from left) and his bride Carla Cirelli, with Marc’s mother Victoria and her husband Richard Murphy…

If you are planning festivities for family or business during the holiday season,book now. Our holiday calendar starts filling up in October.
Call us at 415-986-1886. (Remembering the phone number is easy if you reflect that the restaurant was founded in 1886.) Or log onto our web site at www.Fior.com.

Rich Holmberg wanted to honor the longtime employees of Concord-based Grabber, a national construction supply company. The event on September 20 feted 23 employees who had been with the company other 20 or 30 years.

It was founded 40 years ago, May 1967, in San Francisco,” said Holmberg proudly.The participants who hailed from across the…

America’s Oldest Italian Restaurant still leads the restaurant industry!

San Francisco — America’s oldest Italian restaurant goes live with its blog at www.fabulousfior.com and offers a place for the restaurant to speak to customers directly and for diners to respond with their comments. Now in addition to great Italian cuisine and old world service the Fior…

The restaurant’s Elif Arslan and her friend Jagermeister

This year, as in the past few, we have had a chance to work with Infineon Raceways to promote some of their events and help them raise money for some good causes like the “Eric Medlen Nitro Night at the Fior Charity Dinner” hosted by the Fior…

Actually they don’t fly that low but they are coming again for Fleet Week 2007 — always a great time in San Francisco. We get to celebrate Columbus Day with a parade and say thank you to some of our military as they visit our city. As we have for years the Fior d’Italia will…

Bob Larive, Jessica and Armando, Jinx Larive celebrate the couple’s marriage at the Fior.

Armando, Oscar to some of us, worked with us at the Fior d’ Italia for over ten years. He is now pursuing a management career with Ritz Carlton Hotels. We wish him well with his career.

But the best news recently…

Here we are in our sixth building (besides the tent we occupied after the 1906 earthquake) and still celebrating. If you want to join us for
holiday parties — whether family fetes or business parties — book now. Our holiday bookings get very tight as we get close to October.

Every year we look forward…

We were happy see Fior received such a favorable review on Vagablond posted by Ava Stochinsy on August 9, 2007

I have to admit whenever I hear of a restaurant that claims to be the best or the oldest I tend to be a bit weary. So when I heard that Fior d’Italia was the oldest…

BY AMALIA McGIBBON

reprinted with permission from SF Downtown Magazine.

May 2006

Amalia McGibbon is a freelance writer based in San Francisco. Reprinted with permission from San Francisco Downtown Magazine

Fior d’Italia is worth a visit for its long-standing history alone, but the Italian restaurant’s recent facelift should seal the deal. “The Fior,” as it’s affectionately called…

Sonoma-based Infineon Raceway brought top drivers from the National Hot Rod Association POWERade Drag Racing series to the Fior d’Italia on Thursday, July 26 to a sold out dinner.

The evening featured funny car drivers Ron Capps (Brut Racing Dodge), Ashley Force (Castrol/Auto Club Mustang), Robert Hight (Auto Club Mustang), Jack Beckman, Gary Scelzi (Mopar/Oakley…

The Fabulous Fior: Over 100 Years in an Italian Kitchen*
An Excerpt from Chapter 11, A Place to Be Seen

During the 1950s and 1960s, the Fior was political flypaper. Local, national and foreign politicos patronized the establishment with regularity. When Richard M. Nixon visited San Francisco during his vice presidency (1953-61), a member of the…

The Fior d’Italia was one of the recipients of the 2007 “As Fresh As It Gets” award. This is the second year the San Mateo County Farm Bureau and the San Mateo County Convention and Visitors Bureau have conferred this commendation on the restaurants, hotels and caterers who buy and serve produce from San Mateo…

There have been many great meals celebrated in history. The one that poisoned Lucretia Borgia for instance. Well, maybe not that one.

But think of the first Thanksgiving meal of the pilgrims; the first sandwich invented by the Earl of Sandwich, then of course there’s Meals on Wheels and TV dinners. All renowned repasts.

But…

Fifty-two members of the Lifchitz clan enjoyed a euphoric if sometimes “raucous” reunion here on June 29, reported Liz Hertz, one of the celebrants.

In the early 20th century, Rifka Lifchitz, her four sisters and two brothers immigrated from Bobruysk, Russia, now part of Belarus. Their descendents now outnumber at least 200, Hertz figures.

They…

Internationally known food manufacturer, General Mills ($12.4 billion in sales) drew 120 regional salespeople to the restaurant on June 26. These professionals are organized from their Scottsdale, Arizona center.

“It’s an annual event but this year we honored our 40-year retiree Larry Beene,” explained business planning manager Justin Sergi, from Scottsdale.

General Mills retiree Larry…

It was not uncommon among Italian immigrants of that era to desert the gold fields and resume a trade in San Francisco and its environs that they knew from the old country. Angelo Del Monte was one who made good with this fall-back strategy. Although he had left the gold camps in disgust, he learned…

The Fior d’ Italia, as it has for the past 10 years, was a sponsor of the 2007 Grand National Rodeo and Stock Show at the Cow Palace, April 4 to 16. The Fior’s proprietors Bob and Jinx Larive always enjoy the action — bareback riding, steer wrestling, barrel racing, saddle bronc and bull riding,…

WHY WE CALL FIOR THE ‘OLDEST’ ITALIAN RESTAURANT IN AMERICA

Often patrons ask us if the Fior d’Italia is really the first Italian restaurant in this country. They misunderstand. The Fior was certainly not the first Italian restaurant to be built. Those worthy establishments are long gone. But we are the longest continuously operating Italian restaurant…

Thursday night February 22, Freemark Abbey decanted its famous wines for this restaurant’s monthly wine dinner. The menu’s starter was a crostini di bresaola, a cured beef on a crust wedge, served with Freemark Abbey’s 2002 Cabernet. The Napa Valley vineyard’s 2004 Chardonnay accompanied a truly angelic broth of prawns and angel hair. The winemakers’…