Maestoso

**** Maestoso has closed

The Missus had really loved the pasta in Emilia-Romagna. The simple, yet perfectly executed, fantastically textured pasta. And She was craving it from the time our plane landed back in San Diego. So, I've been toying around with various pastas, some fresh, some dried, but when you get the chance to have some house made pasta, at a place where your friend from Italy (my good buddy "Al"), and even the Eater endorses, you gotta give it a shot.

Which is how we ended up in Hillcrest, in the strip mall that houses TJs, Ike's Place, and many others. Things tend to turn around quickly here.....the Hillcrest location of Tokyo Deli came...and went in the blink of an eye.

And if memory serves me right; I think this used to be Napizza. Anyway, I'd heard the place can get crowded, so the Missus and I got over to Maestoso right as they opened.

They've done a nice job with the space; there a large bar area where all the action takes place.

The menu is small and tight, with flat breads, pastas, and the rest (i.e. starters/mains).

There's also the interesting concept called "passage" ("to pass by") whereupon carts with various dishes, a la dim sum, will circulate in the dining area.

The Missus always has to order the Meatballs whenever She spies them on the menu. It was no different ere.

The two most delicious things about this dish were the amazing Parmesan sauce; milky, but not salty, tongue coatingly perfect. And the confit tomatoes, which added brightness to the dish. The meatballs were fairly mild in flavor and on the dry side, though the Missus enjoyed them.

We got the La Selvatica as the pinsa, this flat bread topped with duck and wild boar salami.

We both loved the light, but crisp texture of the bread. But this was way too sweet, which really interfered with all the other flavors.

We were both thrilled when the Tagliatelle arrived. We loved that it wasn't over sauced, it also smelled lovely.

The tomato sauce and tomato confit were very good......I always say, "it tastes like sunshine", so bright, perfectly acidic, just wonderful. We weren't as pleased with the pasta as it was too "brittle",,tearing too easily, and lacking the springy pull that we enjoy. Regardless, we loved the flavor of the dish.

The big winner of the night was the Strozzapreti, the texture of this rolled-tubular pasta was just perfect. Tender, with a nice chew to it. The texture totally reminded the Missus of the wonderful spinach strigoli we had in Modena.

The oxtail was so beefy and there was just the right amount of it, any more of it and the dish would be too rich. There wasn't much tomato in this and the "mirepoix", added some nice textural contrast as well. There's ground cocoa on the pasta, which really didn't add much to the dish. The portion size of this dish was quite large, I took the leftovers for lunch the next day and "R", who is from Torino asked me where I got this......I'm guessing he'll be visiting soon.

As we were eating, the cart came by......

And we got a nice beet salad.

That pasta....and the meatballs, meant that we'd be returning. Which we did a week or so later.

This time the meatballs were amazing......so moist and tender. There was a pleasant mild gaminess that had us almost thinking there was lamb in these.

This was just plain wonderful.

This time around we tried the Maccheroni, basically macaroni, though thinking of the typical American tubular pasta would be an insult to how good this was.

The description "al dente" is perfect for how the pasta was cooked, perfect firmness, but not hard. The tomato sauce had the brightness that we'd experienced here before. The protein was pork cheek, but we'd have been happy with the tangy-acidic tomato sauce and that wonderful Parmesan sauce.

Of course we ordered the Strozzapreti again. Though this time it was bit different.

This one had much more oxtail, which nicely balanced out by more tomato sauce this time around. It seemed like a different dish, but the flavors were just as good. The pasta was a bit too under cooked this time. Still, we're going to definitely order this again next time.

We got the quinoa salad off the cart as it passed by. It was nothing special.

We enjoyed our meals at Maestoso. I'm thinking because our meals were quite early, before the place started getting busy; there wasn't much in terms of "passagi". But that's ok, we're going to keep coming here for the pasta. Service was efficient......there's some colorful characters here; which remind us a bit of Rome; without the attitude (aka "typical Roman service per our friends from Italy"). This place just might be on our rotation soon.

Maestoso
1040 University Ave.
San Diego, CA 92103
Hours:
Open Daily 5pm - 10pm

Comments

[kat]

everything looked great!

[Kirk]

We enjoyed our meals here Kat!

[RedDevil]

This place looks and sounds great! Interesting how different the two strozzapreti pictures look but that you liked them both. Next time we visit great wow we will stop by. Thanks!

[Kirk]

Hi RD - It was funny, because when we ordered it the second time; the strozzapreti seemed like a totally different dish. It was still good though. Definitely give them a try. Also, I've got to get back to Great Wow....it's been a while.

[Derek R]

I skipped the first few paragraphs and thought this place was in Italy. Was happily surprised to see its local. This is definitely going on my list of places to try when I move back to SD from Denver in a couple months.

[Kirk]

Check them out when you get back to SD Derek. We enjoyed our meals here.

[Lynn @ Oh-So Yummy]

How cool! I was wondering what the service and atmosphere would be like during regular dining hours. I sampled a few of their items during their grand opening so got a mix of foods of various deliciousness (a few not for my palate though). The flatbread crusts had a nice chew and taste. Salmon sample was unique with a purple potato puree. Also a bite of pasta. Hopefully I can officially try them out soon!

[Kirk]

The pastas were pretty good Lynn.....this from two folks who just got back from Italy.