CUCINA Enoteca — Restaurant in San Diego

Enoteca's are tasting room's for local wineries. Once you've picked one out with the local expert you go to that vineyard and purchase in bulk for your cellar or celebration. Not a wine bar the way we understand it, it's only for tasting, not socializing. Though that part of the name sounds cool it doesn't quite lend real representation.

Huge wine selection. Well selected and laid out by type, profile. 100+ from house to some really good stuff. I was most intrigued by the almost 20 types of bubbly. I like how they note organic, biodynamic and sustainable, but was a little perplexed by the Certified Napa Green Winery. I've always been an adventurous drinker so I almost always try something I've never had each time I come. Something funky from the red's I really liked was the porter creek "old vine" which I thought had great body. Varner's "bee block chardonnay" was about as dense and potent a chard has I've tried in a long time.

A dozen beers, mostly bottle, half of that is Italian, some local, all craft. Sculpin is probably their best beer of category. Also a personal favorite of all time. Their lavender lemonade is good, almost too light though, while the Aquazul is a little too rich and not refreshing enough. Fresh, but not quite the effect I was expecting considering the ingredients. Lunch always calls for a pelli. Aranciata rossa is my favorite. I can't quite seem to try their cocktails. They all seem very "Italianized". With summer behind us I'd prefer to stay warm with wine, than cool off with cocktails.

Porchetta & Brie with honey is so creamy and bold at different times it's very well balances as a whole. No real truffle oil is used in the making of the truffle fries. Any real truffle or extract would make the oil alone hundreds of dollars thus out of a price point for fries as a side for under $20, think about it people. Roasted mary's chicken is not worth the price. Asparagus, chard, peso, polenta, pretty basic ingredients. I did like the pistachio pesto, creamy but to me could use more garlic. Love the grilled Octopus, truly Mediterranean. I stayed away from the Pizza due to not using a trady brick oven and being a little to creative on the ingredients and profiles. I was most surprised by how they have such a great wine selection, but their balsamic was westernized. Little sweetness and not thick at all. Not everyone is used to that type of balsamic, but once you've had it there is only the inferior kind and real balsamic. Fried and stuffed squash blossoms are amazing, despite the neutral flavor of the flower the herb ricotta, pesto, lemon aioli compliment very well. Despite their Italian"ness" I never felt like I was eating there, just trying their food.

Love the décor and architecture. A great addition to North County. Large spacious location, dare I mention the resemblance to a certain local beer garden. I could be warmer and inviting for socializing, but the globes and trees are nice touches. You'd think by the menu you are in Little Italy, but don't feel that way at all. Service is only ok. Understandably new-ish the food is well prepared and plated, but the front house staff could be a little more polished. If you just stand back and watch there are obvious holes in their service areas and lapses during HH, which is generally a great time to go, but think twice on where you sit. Dinner and Lunch mid week gets you the best service due to traffic, parking, etc. It's a great place for dinner, date, the general wine and dine experience and a great addition to Del Mar. Interesting observation I've noticed about Del Mar is the city draws so many people from neighboring cities, but of my friends who live there, they prefer to not eat in Del Mar when not eating at home. Bring the plastic as you can eat pretty basically, but a few wines and your bill...

My friend and I have been coming here about once a month to meet up for wine and light appetizers. The restaurant itself is amazing, but the shopping plaza it is located in has terrible parking. If I don't get lucky on my first pass through, I park on the hill behind the shopping center and walk down.

Cucina Enoteca is a modern styled restaurant, so it has high ceilings that cause a lot of echo if you're sitting in the open seating area. We haven't actually had dinner here, just appetizers, so we've never had to reserve a table ahead of time, we just sit in the open seating. The open seating is open to anyone, so other parties may ask you to move if the seating shifts throughout the night. I'd suggest reserving a table if you want your privacy, but I've had a good time talking to other people at the open seating.

Our favorite server was Matt (I use was, only because he moved to a different restaurant). He always made sure that we ordered a bottle of wine that we would enjoy and checked in with us regularly. The other servers here also do a great job too and regularly ask if you need anything. Since we typically just come to enjoy light appetizers and a bottle of wine, we don't typically need anything, be it's nice to know that they check in once in a while.

The wine selection here is pretty good - my friend is a big fan of Napa Cabernet Sauvignon, so there's always a reliable bottle we can enjoy. To go with our wine, we typically order an assorted cheese plate, which comes with a variety of bread and 5 cheeses that we can select. I don't really like soft cheeses, so we typically ask our server to help us select the ones that aren't soft. This usually ends up with a couple of double orders on cheese since they only have 6-7 cheeses at a time. The cheese plate here is really good, but the portions are definitely smaller than other wine bars I've been to.

We also get the stuffed squash blossoms, which are delicious. They are lightly fried and stuffed with a lemon ricotta - it's definitely a treat. A order comes with 3 blossoms, so make sure you get enough for the group you're with. In addition to the cheese plate and stuffed blossoms, we've gotten the beet and avocado salad, which is really refreshing. I'm not a big fan of beets, but I really like how this salad is put together. Definitely worth a try if you're looking for something different.

Overall, Cucina Enoteca is a great place to have light appetizers and enjoy some wine. I really like the ambiance, although they could definitely benefit from something to reduce the amount of noise in the open...

If you've dined at Cucina Urbana before and enjoyed it then you would love Cucina Enoteca. Same company and same ambiance. Think Pottery Barn meets Anthropologie. It's intimate yet the restaurant is still large. I actually prefer Cucina Enoteca over Cucina Urbana as it isn't as loud here as it is at urbana. And you really do get that intimate feeling and its not surprisingly dark.

I dined here with friends visiting for restaurant week and they had three menu options --- the $30 (flatbreads for entrees), $36 (pasta, chicken, and polenta entrees), and $44 (steak, porkchop, and fish) prefix options. I had the $36 prefix option and had the stuffed squash blossoms to start off with and oh my it was delicious. Squash stuffed with ricotta, pesto, and lemon aioli yumminess. Think a delicious cream cheese puff but 100 times better. For my main entree, i had the jidori chicken. I always enjoy ordering chicken from a nice restaurant. If they can cook chicken right then proves to me that damn the restaurant is really good. And Cucina Enoteca is that good. The chicken was moist, perfectly roasted cripsy chicken skin on top, paired with polenta crochettes, tomatoes and a sherry glaze was a perfect combo. And did i say the chicken was moist? For dessert i had the whipped chocolate budino - a vanilla creme fraiche (think a milk chocolate mousse but light and creamy).

Things that stand out - decor obviously, and that if you have take out and are enjoying a dessert and/or still enjoying your company they will have it waiting for you at checkout refrigerated. Nice touch.

Tips - make a reservation and come early to look for parking (they also have valet...