Italian cuisine always seemed to work for the old Espresso Pizza. The popular Ocean Beach eatery served it with speed and pride as far back as the early 1970s. It built its reputation for service well before then, when it first opened as a malt shop in the 1940s.
\nTime marches on, and the malt shop and pizza place are gone. In their steads stands Espresso Cucina, recently reopened after a four-month facelift that features a new chef, artwork by local artists and a respect for what the co-owner sees as a new Ocean Beach vibe. Chris Stavros and his wife, Adriana Alcaraz, owners of OB\u2019s Olive Tree Marketplace, bought the restaurant last year upon the former owner\u2019s retirement. Pizza, of course, is a staple (for $12, (the customers get to make their own 14-inchers), and more than 80 entries, including beer and wine, dot a menu that features favorites such as smoked salmon and veal Parmigiana.
\nThe Stavros family work ethic and Ocean Beach have essentially grown up together \u2014 and Stavros said the eatery\u2019s upgrade reflects the change in the neighborhood\u2019s climate.
\n“You\u2019re seeing a huge influx of wonderful restaurants coming in in OB,” he said. “You\u2019re finding people refining their taste buds, demanding higher-end foods and better product. It\u2019s the same in the craft-beer industry, too. We\u2019ve noticed the trends among young owners and we went for it to give the city want it wants.”
\nJose Lares, formerly at Avanti\u2019s in La Jolla, will cook your dinner.
\n\u2022 ESPRESSO CUCINA is located at 1776 Sunset Cliffs Blvd., and is open from 4:30 to 9:30 p.m. every day except Tuesdays. Further information is available at (619) 224-2227 or espressocucina.com.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Italian cuisine always seemed to work for the old Espresso Pizza. The popular Ocean Beach eatery served it with speed and pride as far back as the early 1970s. It built its reputation for service well before then, when it first opened as a malt shop in the 1940s. Time marches on, and the malt […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":293528,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"OB\u2019s Espresso Cucina serves up new interior and fare","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11600],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-293527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sdnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293527\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}