This is not the salumeria
If you came here looking for Boccalone Salumeria, the San Francisco cured-meat business, you have not found it. This is a new, independent pizza publication that shares only the word in the web address.
In short
Boccalone.com is now an independent publication about pizza. It is not Boccalone Salumeria, is not affiliated with that company or its founders, has no endorsement from them, and holds no rights to their recipes, photographs, product names, or brand. The name was chosen because boccalone is an ordinary Italian word meaning big mouth.
The plain version
- We are not Boccalone Salumeria and we are not its successor.
- We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to that company, its founders, or anyone who worked there.
- We acquired the domain name. We did not acquire the business, the brand, the recipes, or the archive.
- We do not publish, reproduce, or claim any of the former company's content, photography, product names, or slogan.
- We do not sell cured meat, or any food at all.
- We are not connected to Salumeria Volpetti in Rome, which this web address briefly pointed at some years ago.
Why the name, then
Boccalone is not a coined brand word. It is ordinary Italian for big mouth — a loudmouth, a blabbermouth, and in some usage a gullible person. It is the kind of word you would call a friend who cannot keep a secret.
For a publication with strong opinions about pizza, that is a good name and an honest one. It is also, we think, a good name for a pizza. We chose it for what it means, not for who used it before.
What the former business was
Boccalone Salumeria was a well-regarded San Francisco cured-meat company. It opened in 2007, traded from the Ferry Building, became known for products including nduja, and closed in 2017.
That is their story and it belongs to them. We are not going to retell it here from memory, claim any part of it, or borrow its reputation. If you want to read about it, the food press covered it properly at the time and those accounts are still the right place to look.
If you were looking for something specific
We cannot help you buy their products, because the business closed and we have no connection to it. We do not hold their recipes and we would not publish them if we did.
What we can offer, if you are here because you care about this kind of food, is a pizza publication that treats toppings — including cured meat — with real technical attention. How pepperoni cups. How nduja behaves under a very hot bake. Why prosciutto goes on after the oven, not before.
- How toppings behave under a high bake
- Buying cured meat as a pizza topping
- What this publication is and how it works
One thing we will not do
We will not blur this line, even where it would help us. No borrowed founding date, no "since 2007", no pig iconography, no reused slogan, and no wording designed to let a reader assume a connection we do not have.
If you ever see a page on this site that reads as though we are continuing that business, it is a mistake, and it is corrected under the published corrections policy.
Where to go next
Frequently asked questions
Did you buy the company?
No. We acquired the domain name and nothing else. The company closed in 2017 and we have no relationship with it, its owners, or its successors of any kind.
Can I still buy their nduja?
Not from us, and we do not know of a route. The business closed and we have no connection to anyone who worked there, so we cannot point you anywhere with confidence.
Do you have their recipes?
No. We do not hold them, we have not seen them, and we would not publish them without rights even if we had. Anything we write about cured meat is our own work and is about buying and using it as a pizza topping.
Why not just pick a different name?
Because the word is a common Italian noun with an obvious meaning that fits a pizza publication, and because the honest answer to the confusion is a clear page like this one rather than a name change. If our position on that ever needs to change, it will.
Are you connected to Salumeria Volpetti in Rome?
No. This web address pointed at their site for a period some years ago, before we had anything to do with it. There is no relationship, no affiliation, and no shared ownership.
Is this page just legal boilerplate?
It is a real answer to a real question. Some people who arrive at this address are looking for the old shop, and telling them the truth quickly is more useful than letting them work it out from context.
If you are staying, start here
We publish style references with their sources, a formula worksheet for logging your own bakes, and diagnostics that name the variable rather than guessing at it.