Restaurant Review: Cucina Caprese in the Midway

Cucina Caprese
3545 Midway Drive
San Diego, CA 92110
619-228-9325 

By Judi Curry

During the past few weeks, I received three calls asking me if I had had a meal at “Cucina Caprese”.  I asked for more information from each caller and last night, when I did not have to cook dinner for my three ESL students, Steve and I decided to try it out.  And we are glad that we did.

The restaurant is located in the same strip mall that the “Broken Yolk” is located, except it is at the eastern end of the parking lot. It appears to be quite small until you walk in and find that there are two dining rooms, and it isn’t as small as it appeared at first glance.  Interesting to note that on each table there was a freshly picked lemon, which Guiseppe, the owner, explained that he was from Capri which is known for their fresh lemons!

We were seated at a table for two as we  had gone early – 5:30pm on a Saturday evening. After we placed our order, which consisted of quite a few plates, our server pulled the empty table next to us to our table so we had plenty of room for our meal!

Guiseppe came to our table and told us what the specialties of the evening were.  He was so gracious; answered all of our questions, and made a few suggestions after our questioning period!  He did tell us he was from Capri; missed it and wanted his restaurant to reflect what he left in Italy.  I told him about my three daughters that each spent a year in Napoli and loved going to Capri.

Steve and I decided that we would try several items on the very extensive menu, and began with a Red Sangria ($14).  It was interesting to note that the glass was so heavy that I had to hold the glass with two hands! And it was delicious.  Not too sweet and very tasty.

We decided to try the two appetizers on the “Fritti” menu. I ordered the Calamari Fritti which was described as “lightly fried Calamari served wit h a lemon and caper sauce.” Steve ordered the “Trio Montanara” which was three pieces of fried dough topped with one of tomato sauce and shaved Parmigiano; one topped with cherry tomatoes and Cream of Burrata, and one topped with Mortadella, Burrata and crumbled Pistachio. Each of the appetizers was $15.50 each.

The Calamari was very good.  It consisted of both the rings and tentacles lightly fried, and a sauce that was similar to tartar sauce but a bit more salty.  The Trio was good also, but I  could have done without the cherry tomato and Cream of Burrata.

Steve LOVES pizza.  He had a difficult time decided which one he would order because there were so many of them on the menu. He finally  decided to order the “Carnivora” pizza.  It was made with tomato sauce, Mozzarella, Pepperoni, Italian Sausage, Pancetta, Prosclutto Cotto, Meatball, Spicy Salami and Parmigiano Regglano.  It was one of the more expensive items on the menu at $21.50.  Steve enjoyed it immensely; I was taken back by the burned dough on the top of the pizza.  However, he said that the taste of everything put together made it exceptionally good, and he enjoyed it. The burned portions did not seem to bother him.

I decided to have one of the specials of the day – a Shrimp Linguine with Grachio.  We did not know the price of the special until we received the bill, and found that it was $26.  It was very tasty; there were only 6 shrimp on the plate but what was there was good.  The only thing that bothered me was that the tails were left on and it was awkward to remove them without either putting your entire hand in your mouth to remove the tail, or spitting it our while eating the entrée.  I tried cutting the shell off  the shrimp before eating it  but found that I left a lot of the shrimp meat in the tail.  But I really enjoyed the dinner and there was so much of the linguine left that I took it home and made a Carbonara for breakfast for 5 people this morning!

Steve and I were quite full with the huge amount of food that we ate, but when I looked at the dessert menu and I saw Crème Brulee ($9.95) I convinced him to share it with me.  I am so glad we did, because it was excellent. (There were over 9 items on the dessert menu and making the final choice was difficult!)

Over all Steve and I agreed that the dinner was delicious. It was a little more expensive than we are used to paying, but we also ordered more than we are used to trying.  However, we felt that it was well worth the extra, and when we go again we will not order as much as we did this time.  And … we will be going again!