Cellar Hand, a new Mediterranean restaurant from the owners of Pali Wine Co., will open Thursday in Hillcrest.
Nick and Carmen Perr are the owners of Pali Wine in Santa Barbara County. They are collaborating with chef Logan Kendall on their very first restaurant project, Cellar Hand. The restaurant, with an open kitchen and central indoor-outdoor bar, will serve a Mediterranean menu designed to complement Pali’s full range of still and sparkling white, pink, orange and red wines. It will seat 60 indoors and another 60 on the patio.
The menu’s starters will include house-baked, 24-hour-fermented pita and dips, seafood crudos (raw) and conservas (preserved) fish including rockfish, bluefin tuna, scallops and mussels. There will be an expanded menu of California vegetable dishes from local farms including Chino, Valdivia and Cyclops. Proteins will include California-farmed pork and beef and seafood sourced from famed local fishmonger Tommy Gomes.
Just as the Perrs’ wine is specific to the terroir of California’s Central Coast, Cellar Hand will celebrate local and regional ingredients and artisan wares.
“With Cellar Hand, we’re bringing to life our vision of a dining experience that not only showcases but celebrates the abundant flavors and talents of California,” the Perrs said, in a statement. “Our goal is to forge deep connections with the land and its artisans, farmers, and stewards, creating a space where every meal and glass reflects the passion of our region.”
Cellar Hand hours will be open from 4 to 10 p.m. Wednesday-Sundays at 1440 University Ave., San Diego. cellarhandhillcrest.com.
A rigatoni pasta dish at BASTA! restaurant, opening June 6 in Little Italy.
(Courtesy of Kassandra Lewis)
Sam ‘The Cooking Guy’ Zien opening BASTA!
San Diego’s Sam Zien, better known as YouTube star “Sam the Cooking Guy,” will open a new Italian-inspired restaurant next week in Little Italy. BASTA! — which is the Italian word for “enough” — will replace Zien’s former American shareable plates restaurant Graze by Sam.
The BASTA! menu, co-created by Zien and chef Gavin Mills, will feature bone marrow garlic bread, sardines with Calabrian chili and gremolata, chicken liver mousse, crispy herb gnocchi, handmade cavatelli with Santa Barbara uni, and ricotta tortellini with asparagus, lemon, and crème fraiche. The restaurant will also serve Italian-inspired cocktails.
BASTA! is the latest collaboration between Zien and Grain & Grit Collective, which has been his business partner on several culinary projects over the past six years, including Not Not Tacos in Grain & Grit’s Little Italy Food Hall. Graze by Sam hasn’t gone away completely. It has been consolidated into a food booth inside the food hall, which is just a few steps away across the Piazza della Familia from BASTA!
BASTA! is at 555 W. Date St., Suite B, in San Diego. Visit grainandgritcollective.com/basta.
A chilled cold brew beverage from CoCo Playa, a drive-through sweets and drinks stand opening June 1 in the Midway District of San Diego.
(Courtesy of CoCo Playa)
CoCo Playa drink drive-through opens Saturday
CoCo Playa, a new drive-through and walk-up coffee and cookies stand in the Midway District of San Diego, will open at 9 a.m. Saturday morning.
Built inside the former Los Corrales taqueria at 3030 Kurtz St., CoCo Playa will serve made-to-order custom hot and cold coffee drinks and “dirty soda” concoctions made with soft drinks, fruit juices, teas and Red Bull. It will also served fresh-baked cookies.
CoCo Playa is the creation of business partners and longtime restaurateurs Ryan and Jeoff Feghali and Johnny Baklini, along with George and Gabriel Chammas. The first 50 drive-through customers on Saturday will receive a free medium beverage. CoCo Playa is at 3030 Kurtz St., San Diego. Visit instagram.com/trycocoplaya.
Sura Korean BBQ coming to Chula Vista
The team behind Common Theory Public House will open Sura, an all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ restaurant, at the end of June at 1960 Optima St. in the Otay Ranch area of Chula Vista.
Sura will have 30 tables, each with its own gas grill, where diners can cook their own dishes. The restaurant will accommodate up to 150 diners and will be open for lunch, takeout and dinner seven days a week. The 4,500-square-foot Sura restaurant will open near Common Theory’s new Otay location in the Millenia development. Common Theory and Sura are owned by Cris Liang and Joon Lee, along with partner Andy Ahn. For more details, visit commontheorysd.com.
Venchi coming to Westfield UTC
Venchi, billed by its owners as the first “cioccogelateria” in Southern California, will open in mid-June at Westfield UTC shopping center.
Venchi will sell up to 50 varieties of imported Italian chocolates as well as up to 20 flavors of Italian-recipe gelatos, which will be made fresh in-house daily. The shop will open at 4303 La Jolla Village Drive, Suite E-25, San Diego. For details on Venchi, visit us.venchi.com.
Beef udon from Marugame Udon at Westfield UTC.
(Marugame Udon)
Also new at UTC
Two Asian restaurants have also recently opened at Westfield UTC.
Marugame Udon, an international Japanese noodle shop chain, opened a location in April at the shopping center. Marugame serves sanuki-style udon noodles and tempura dishes. It’s located in the shopping center’s Macy’s wing near Quin West Noodle. marugameudon.com/locations/la-jolla.
Blue Ocean Sushi & Grill, the third in Chef James Pyo’s three-store Blue Ocean chain of sushi restaurants in Carlsbad and La Jolla, has also opened near Macy’s in Westfield UTC. The new restaurant, which opened its doors in May, serves sushi rolls, rib eye teriyaki, miso-glazed Chilean sea bass, Korean barbecue, spicy chicken stir-fry and more. Visit blueoceansushibar.com/utc.