Taste of Italy- Rancho San Diego. A Sicilian influenced and excellent lunch.

mmm-yoso!!! is the food blog you are reading.  Cathy is writing because the guys (Kirk and ed(fromYuma)) are busy doing stuff, like researching future posts.

Tucked in a shopping mall near Cuyamaca College, next to the Starbucks, in Rancho San Diego, is this.  Taste of Italy, kind of a local chain of "A Taste of Italy" restaurants (another location is on University in Hillcrest, on Carmel Mountain Road in Del Mar and also Vesuvio and Etna are owned by the same group; the primary menu items are all Sicilian (a more complex Italian) based). We like the Rancho San Diego because it is open late (midnight M-Th and 2 a.m. on Fri and Sat), it has a bar, televisions in the bar (we watched a World Cup game here one Saturday) and really really good, house made food. 

Inside, there are a selection of wines, or you can bring your own and store the bottles, in a locked area with a personalized plaque, as you might on the island of Sicily.

 

We were here for lunch one day.  We could have also ordered brunch (they just started offering brunch on weekends in June, possibly to coincide with the above mentioned World Cup Games.)

Artichoke soup. Made from scratch.  Not heavy (no cream layer stuck to your tongue). Lemony and with a bit of heat (jalapeño juice maybe was in it). Excellent and made in house.  There is always a great minestrone,  I do like trying the soups. The island of Sicily has a subtropical climate and artichokes and eggplant and citrus are easily grown.  Most Sicilian dishes are vegetable and seafood based).
A few pieces of garlic bread were brought out- The garlic was complimentary to the soup taste. 

 

 
 I ordered the Classic Antipasto for my meal.  Red and green lettuces, fresh pickled mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, olives and rolled mortadella, salami and provolone.  This was just the right amount of food for me at lunch. The house made olive oil, balsamic and herb salad dressing (also with a bit of peppery heat) is just right. 

The Mister could not decide, but knew he wanted a baked pasta dish and chose the half ravioli half cheese manicotti with the marinara sauce ($14.99).  The pastas were tender, house made.  The manicotti were very much like crepes and filled with a combination of mozarella, ricotta and romano cheeses.  The ravioli were large and overfilled.  The marinara sauce, also house made, was very rich in tomato flavor and had just a touch of red pepper heat in it.

 

You need reservations on Friday and Saturday nights to eat here.  It gets very crowded.  Because it is good.  There are plenty of Italian Restaurants in this part of El Cajon.  This is one of the best.

 

Taste of Italy 2515 Jamacha Road El Cajon 92019 (Rancho San Diego-in the Ralphs/Michael's mall, across from the mall with the movie theaters) (619)660-6300 Website

Comments

[Jo`]

oooo Cathy! This one was VERY well timed for me! I slept with the aroma of gently simmering tomatoes all through the night. I kept dreaming of the different pasta dishes I would create with the resulting sauce. That salad looks marvelous. Lettuce is gone for now, I'm getting ready to plant a late summer/fall crop and salad is just a dream for the moment. Mortadella... I gotta learn now to make that!!!

[janfrederick]

Cool. I've always wanted to try the one in Mira Mesa or Del Mar.

[Cathy]

Hi Jo! I just took a giant batch of grape tomatoes, rinsed and did not dry and filled a soup pot almost to the top with the beautiful red fruit. Then I turned on the heat and let it all collapse, put about 5 cups into gallon freezer Ziplocs, laid each one flat and put them in the freezer. I now have a beautiful sauce or soup base ready for a meal. I can add herbs or not once I am cooking. It is so fun to have a garden.

This is an excellent group of restaurants, JF. I've always had excellent meals at all of them.

[James]

Looks great - have you been to Antica in La Mesa, and if so, how does it compare?

[Cathy]

Excellent question which is difficult to answer, James. Both are definitely Sicilian and higher end Italian, with just about everything meticulously house made and rich in flavors. Antica Trattoria is bit smaller and has a more limited menu, possibly because of the lack of a bar with televisions and earlier closing hours than Taste...so a different clientele is catered to at the open hours (Antica closes between lunch and dinner and Taste stays open from 11 a.m. daily)(The pizza choices at Taste are about five times more than at Antica). It really is a toss up and I have nothing bad to say about either restaurant. You do need reservations on weekends at both places...even though we live closer to Antica, I think we have been to both restaurants an equal number of times.

[Hannah J]

Wow, that is so surprising because I live about 3 minutes from here but I have never once visited. I always choose De Lione's just down the road as my favorite Italian food in Rancho! I will have to stop by here sometime.

[Hannah J]

Oops, spelled that terribly wrong. http://www.dileonesitalianrestaurant.com/

[Cathy]

We love Dieone's, Hannah. Used to go all the time when it was in Lemon Grove. Very much more homestyle, like Filippi's. Taste of Italy is kind of 'fancier' Italian. Really good but not uppity...like diLeone's.

[caninecologne]

hi cathy - update - the Taste of Italy in Chula Vista closed about 2 years ago. It's now a fusion place called Valentino's. It was actually not quite in Eastlake (but they marketed themselves that way) but in the Otay Ranch area. When Taste of Italy was around, they were pretty good; I liked going to lunch there.

[Cathy]

Hi CC- I was reading one of the Taste websites and copied it as far as location, since I knew about the Carmel Valley and Hillcrest ones. Corrected the blog, thanks. I do like the food here. Just enough heat so I can taste all the ingredients.

[James]

Cathy - thanks so much for the comparison. Antica is closer to me too, and I think it's such a jewel of a place. I can't wait to try TOI so I can compare the two!