San Diego Metropolitan - Dining

Most evenings around seven o’clock, the masses swarm to the Aventine restaurant row to drink, dine, see and be seen. The old standbys, Japengo and Fleming’s, will do just fine without me tonight; I’m headed next door to a new restaurant called Sofia’s Italian Table.

Sofia’s is new to the space where Aquarella, a Mexican restaurant, recently did a quick three-month stint. It has the same owners, Michael and Victoria McGeath, but is a whole new concept. Since the minor cosmetic makeover and staff retraining took just a week, Sofia’s was able to quietly open last month having hardly missed a meal.

The cuisine is Southern Italian and the style is family, which means get ready for some big platters and big flavors. The menu is moderately priced with most dishes coming in two sizes, individual and family. Unless you’re dining alone, I suggest you go family style. It’s a great deal and a lot of fun, too.

We started with the “Calamari Fritti” ($6.95/$11.95), the “Baked Polenta” ($6.95/$10.95) and the “Formaggio Fritto” ($6.50/$10.50). I did say this was family style, so I brought a big family to help me eat all this food. The kids loved the calamari, which was crispy and a perfect golden brown. I, of course, fell for the pine nut crusted baked Brie cheese. It was crackly on the outside, creamy, warm and rich on the inside and surrounded with a spicy and sweet apricot jelly and baked garlic. It’s served with thin-sliced toasted Italian bread perfect for slathering.

Next up were two salads, the “Insalata Panzanella” ($7.95/$10.95), a Tuscan-style bread salad with vine-ripe tomatoes (which were sweet as candy), red onions, black olives and cucumbers, all tossed in a red wine vinaigrette. The slightly stale (or perhaps day-old) bread adds a chewy element to this fantastic salad. We also tried “Sofia’s Insalata” ($7.95/$10.95). Mixed baby greens are tossed with a sherry-walnut vinaigrette and topped with grilled pears, candied walnuts and Gorgonzola cheese. The sweet pears were well matched with the pungent salty cheese (always a winner in my book).

Then we shared two pastas: the “Fettuccine Alfredo” (11.95/$14.95), topped with roasted chicken breast, and the “Linguine Vongole” ($13.95/$16.95), served with Manila clams, garlic and a white wine sauce. There seemed to be something for everyone: the kids loved the Alfredo, particularly with the added chicken, and I went absolutely mad for the Vongole. Michael McGeath says it’s his favorite pasta on the menu and of the ones I’ve tasted I have to agree with him. It’s light, clean and, most important, it’s “nice and garlicky.” The pasta is topped with open-faced steamed clams sprinkled with a combination of bread crumbs, garlic and parsley. They’re just delicious.

It was hard to choose only two entrées since so many sounded great. The “Pollo Parmigiana” ($13.95) was a crowd pleaser. Lightly breaded free-range chicken breasts are sautéed with tomato sauce and topped with mozzarella cheese. They are served on an enormous platter around an arrangement of grilled vegetables. The “Salmone Atlantico” ($17.95) is pan-roasted Atlantic salmon done almost picatta style with a white wine, caper, butter and garlic sauce.

If you’re still not ready to call it quits, make sure you loosen your belt; it’s time to choose the desserts. I let the kids pick, and they made great selections. The “Profiteroles with Espresso Gelato” and the “Tiramisu” were both, well, to be honest, quite large (a fact highly appreciated by the kids) and a perfect ending to a quite a large, quite an excellent dinner.