Sardinas of San Diego
Sardinas is one of the oldest Italian restaurants in San Diego.
Mark checks the menu in best pizzeria in Florence, O Sole Mio
Now that Mark and I have been to Italy and back, we know from Italian food! There’s this best-kept-secret of an Italian restaurant right here in San Diego, but sometimes you have to go around the world, then return to Square One, to recognize the assets of your own backyard.
The day Giovanna got married
The Old Days
Let’s rewind to the 1980’s and 1990’s during which we lived across the street from a very nice Italian family. We knew they had a restaurant over on Morena Boulevard but because of our heavy work and play schedule, (we traveled a lot for weeks at a time) we just never seemed to make our way over to Sardina’s.
Inside Sardinas
Old Friends Meet Again
Fast-forwarding to a few months ago, we invited Mark’s mom to lunch, and she suggested Sardina’s. When we walked in the door, we recognized our old neighbor from across the street, Giovanna, who sat us down and served us a wonderful lunch. Mom had the eggplant parmigiana, Mark had the calimari steak, and I had the manicotti. Everybody was very happy with their selection, and there was enough food left to pack up into a box and enjoy for lunch the following day. (We usually have Tupperware containers in the car so we can forego styrofoam and save the planet for the next generation.)
Young guitar prodigy, “Smokin’ Joe” Robinson plays at the Brick-by-Brick
We decided to have dinner at a place close by Brick-by-Brick last weekend. We planned to see young guitar prodigy “Smokin’ Joe” Robinson who recently won the “Australia’s Got Talent” contest. Sardina’s was right around the block, so we walked in to find our old neighbor, Sal, manning the kitchen and surprised and happy to see Mark and me. He hooked us up with a nice calimari steak and carafe of chardonnay.
Calimari Steak with Spaghetti Pasta and Small Chicken Caesar Salad
A Friday Night
The ambiance is warm and comfortable. For a Friday night, the service was quick and friendly. Our friend, Robert, joined us a bit later for dinner and ordered the small chicken Caesar salad which was huge. By the way, the Caesar salad was invented by a chef just across the border from San Diego, in Tijuana, Mexico.
There are quite a few Italian restaurants in San Diego, many of which are rather pretentious. As our friend Scott puts it, they charge that much money for pasta and sauce?? Sardina’s is a nice, long-time family-run restaurant with good food at a good price. Check it out sometime and let Sal and Giovanna know that Mark and Patty sent you.
