The bean that ate San Francisco

A big white bean has taken over San Francisco -- a very big white bean. “They’re huge -- they’re so big they’re almost like small animals,” says Staffan Terje, chef-owner of Perbacco, a new Italian-Provencal restaurant. “They’re fantastic, meaty beans.”

Cannellini beans might be far more familiar, but it’s impossible to overlook coronas because each is about the size of a quarter. And chefs all over Frisco (I dared say it!) seem to love them -- you almost can’t turn the corner without running into a big, fat corona bean.

At Perbacco in San Francisco’s Financial District, Terje serves them with grilled Ligurian tuna or grilled squid. “You’re not chasing around these little tiny beans on the plate. But I don’t use them in a soup because one bean would take up the whole spoon, and I would want a few more things on my spoon,” Terje says.

That hasn’t deterred others. Corona beans are showcased in a soup of cilantro and chard with poached egg at Bar Tartine in the Mission District.

Chris Cosentino, chef at Incanto in Noe Valley, is better known for his way with bresaola than with beans (he’s opening his house-made salumi emporium, Boccalone, in Oakland this year). But he uses coronas with abandon -- in a lacinato kale soup and with braised nervetti, or beef tendon, warmed with sage and garlic. “You can do all kinds of things with them,” Cosentino says. “They have an unctuous, luscious mouth feel.”

Cosentino says he soaks the beans for at least 24 hours, and Terje says that because they’re so big, he tries to soak them for 48 hours. “Once they’re fully rehydrated, that’s when they cook the best,” Terje says.

Cosentino and Terje get them from Italian food importer Howard Case, who says he has been selling them (lots of them) since the middle of last year. Case says they’re sometimes called gargantuan beans, for obvious reasons.

“Cook them really, really slow,” he says, “and they come out really creamy, just as creamy as creamy can be. You have to cook them really slow and soft so the skins will hold together and they won’t fall apart. If you cook ‘em fast, they’ll burst on you. They’re especially good when you cook them with a prosciutto bone.”

Surprisingly, he also says they’re “kind of an elusive bean.” Which is certainly true in L.A. A recent hunt for corona beans here included a phone call to Cube, the gourmet shop on La Brea Avenue.

“Do you have corona beans?”

“What?”

“Corona beans.”

“Corona beans? I don’t know....”

In fact, they do have corona beans. But they ain’t cheap: $12.99 for a little more than a pound.

So what’s the next hot Italian bean? Tondini? Cicerchia? Controne? Who cares -- they’re all so tiny.

Betty Hallock

**

Small bites

* Francois Payard has signed on to open Patisserie Payard this summer in Caesars Palace next to the recently opened Rao’s restaurant. Caesars Palace also houses Restaurant Guy Savoy. Patisserie Payard will be designed by the Rockwell Group. A little blackjack, maybe a fountain show and then a chocolate chiboust tart. Very Vegas.

3570 Las Vegas Blvd., Las Vegas.

* They say good things come in threes -- well, at least restaurants with “three” in them do. Now open are e3rd, a downtown steakhouse from the owners of Zip Fusion (think rib-eye and kimchi); Trifecta, a downtown “upscale” sports bar and restaurant (white tablecloths, big-screen TVs); and 3 Square, the new Venice bakery from Hans Rockenwagner (pretzels and panini).

e3rd Steakhouse & Lounge, 734 E. 3rd St., Los Angeles, (213) 680-3003; Trifecta Ultra-Lounge & Sports Bar, 200 S. Hill St., Los Angeles, (213) 625-0000; 3 Square Bakery, 1121 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice, (310) 399-6504.