Hillcrest’s New Genre-Bending Restaurant Has Food on Carts and Chefs As Servers | Eater San Diego

"A new restaurant aiming to deliver a different style of dining has arrived at The Hub Hillcrest Market: Maestoso. Led by Roman chef-owner Marco Maestoso—who landed in San Diego after stints in San Francisco and Los Angeles and brings a Gambero Rosso degree, an acclaimed New York City pop-up dinner series, training in Michelin-star kitchens and his own fine-dining restaurant Casa Maestoso in Rome—the restaurant is co-founded with Dalila Ercolani and backed by pro race car driver Richard Antinucci along with Napizza partners Christopher Antinucci and Giulia Colmignoli. Taking over the former Napizza space in the University Avenue complex, it features a central open kitchen bordered by a long dining counter for chef–diner interaction and operates a “chef-to-table” service model in which chefs alternate between front of house and kitchen to take orders, chat with customers and deliver dishes while bussers handle other tasks. The menu reflects Maestoso’s Italian heritage and fine-dining, molecular influences with build-your-own pastas made on site and a variety of pinsa (a Roman airy flatbread from long-fermented rice and wheat flour dough) topped with items such as sous-vide calamari, wild boar salami and lemon-smoked cod carpaccio. A nightly rotating array of off-menu dishes called passaggi (priced $1–$18) will be served via roving tableside carts inspired by dim sum and State Bird Provisions; the restaurant will offer Italian and California wines and local craft beers and is seeking a full liquor license. Open daily from 5 to 10 p.m., Maestoso will begin limited seatings this Friday, with a full public opening on Monday, March 5 and a grand opening scheduled for March 15." - Candice Woo