Dining with Frank Sabatini Jr.
- Sora
- 655 W. Broadway
- Centro
- 619-564-7100
- Prices: Antipasti, salads and pizzas, $6 to $16; entrees, $18 to $28
Get ready for something completely different in the world of Asian-fusion cuisine.
At the new, elegant Sora restaurant, you can essentially encounter sea urchin on ricotta pizza and miso sauce in a bowl of garlicky pasta.
Or if you prefer forking separately through the two disparate food cultures of Japan and Italy, the menu flaunts a host of dishes that are fusion-free, allowing you to jump between seared hamachi with quail eggs and asparagus risotto prepared tableside in a Parmesan cheese wheel.
Sora, which translates to “sky” in Japanese, is the collaboration of two entrepreneurial Italians and accomplished Japanese Chef, Noriyoshi Teruya, who mastered Asian cooking at the renowned Nobu in New York, Milan and San Diego.
The project landed on the drawing board a couple of years ago, when restaurateur Alessandro Minutella and graphic artist Daniele Visco-Gilardi would visit Nobu in San Diego and order off-menu some of the Italian specialties that Teruya learned to cook while living in Milan.
“Japanese people love Italian food, more so than French cuisine,” says Teruya, whose Waygu beef meatballs spiked with sage will leave you effusing with wild hand gestures.
In a starter of beef carpaccio from the antipasti section, he gives the raw, paper-thin meat accurate Italian flair with shaved black truffles, which combine rather comfortably with dressing made from yuzo, a Japanese citrus fruit.
My dining companion, initially a little skeptical about joining me on this review, quickly threw his trust into the meal when tasting Teruya’s version of caprese salad, served with soft burrata cheese speckled in herbs. Here, the chef employs a French twist by marinating the cherry tomatoes in Grand Marnier, thus hiking their sweetness in a way that tasted natural.
In another salad, Italian-Japanese Caesar, creamy miso dressing bewitched a couple heads of romaine that were gently charred on the grill. We ordered it with chicken, also charry, and noticed along the way hints of anise surfacing from somewhere. All combined, the salad scarcely resembled a Caesar, but we cherished it to the last crouton.
The starter menu makes a pit stop to Switzerland with raclette cheese melted over fingerling potatoes. Having experienced raclette dinners in Europe, I couldn’t resist. Alas, American supplies of the curds aren’t nearly as sharp or nutty as their Old World counterparts. Nonetheless, the basil oil that Teruya adds to the dish provides a rousing lift.
Our entrees centered on pasta, although additional choices extend to seasonal fish with fava bean puree; filet mignon in sake-butter sauce and several different pizzas using robust Italian cheeses such as Taleggio, Gorgonzola and Parmesan Reggiano.
Uni and crab served as the proteins in dish of fusilli, which ranks among the thickest and densest of pastas.
Given the light, shredded texture of the seafood, we wished for a less weighty cut of noodle. The flavors and presentation, however, were chic.
Garlic and miso comprised the sauce while puddles of silky tasting edamame puree graced each end of the plate.
A pair of the aforementioned Waygu meatballs came with an order of basic spaghetti that lived up to Italian standards with its sweet, low-acidic tomato sauce.
The meatballs were soft and herby, revealing tiny pockets of melted mozzarella cheese inside. Because they are made with exclusive Japanese-bred cows that produce well-marbled flesh, don’t except baseball-sized spheres.
We hit the finishing line with peach and banana zabaglione, a velvety Italian custard that my companion paired with a sturdy cup of Joe served with buttermilk as the creamer – a novelty that he embraced, although which we suspected may have been a mistake.
The dessert list also features tiramisu, but ventures out of the ordinary with green tea listed as an ingredient.
Our service at Sora was highly accommodating in that five different waiters attended to our table throughout the evening, some of them with Brazilian and Croatian accents, all of them handsome and cheerful. Co-owner Visco-Gilardi also works the floor and charms with his Milano roots while overseeing the flow of wine, sake and crafty cocktails that omit syrups and sweeteners. Hurray!
Is Sora the answer for when our appetites are torn between Japanese and Italian cuisine? Absolutely. Whether you stick to only one country or eat from both on the same plate, the concept isn’t as outrageous as you might imagine.
Frank Sabatini Jr. is the author of Secret San Diego (ECW Press), and began writing about food two decades ago as a staffer for the former San Diego Tribune. He has since covered the culinary scene extensively for NBC; Pacific San Diego Magazine; San Diego Uptown News; Gay San Diego; Living in Style Magazine and The Gay & Lesbian Times.
