Pomodoro

Dining Review

location > 2833 Avenida de Portugal, Point Loma
phone > 619-523-1301
chef > Antonino Mastellone

ANTONINO MASTELLONE doesn’t need a branding consultant to get his message across. Instead, the seasoned restaurateur from Sorrento, Italy, depends on two old standbys of the dining world: good word of mouth and great value for the money.

“Our advertising is people talking to each other——that and our low prices,” says Mastellone.

You may not recognize Mastellone’s name, but it’s likely you know one of the series of charming and authentic Italian restaurants he and his partners have launched. They include Arriverderci and La Pizzeria Arriverderci in Hillcrest, La Jolla Shores’ Osteria Romantica and one of our perennial destinations in Little Italy, Buon Appetito.

Now Point Loma has joined this lucky list of neighborhoods. “Me and my partners, we like neighborhood restaurants,” Mastellone says. “And customers were always asking me, ‘Why don’t you come to Point Loma?’ ”

When the former Luna Notte near Shelter Island came up for sale late last year, Mastellone and business partner Fabio Speziali created Pomodoro, a tomato-themed trattoria in a converted old house near Portuguese Hall. It’s a real plum.

The place is relatively small——it seats about 35 indoors, maybe 60 on an enclosed patio——but the menu’s vast, and the cuisine coming out of the petite open kitchen is big-bodied and well-prepared. The lunch and dinner menus offer appetizers and salads galore, more than a dozen meat and poultry dishes and a comparable number of pastas. The average dinner entrée price is between $12.95 and $17.95——and you won’t walk out hungry.

At dinnertime, an additional page of specials tempts with items such as house-made ravioli. Don’t miss the lush combo of salmon, slivered leeks and cream drizzled with caviar ($14.95) and the ossobuco, a burly, marrow-filled veal shank flavored with a typical sofritto of carrots, onion, celery and herbs over fettuccine ($19.95). Refreshingly, in an age where “dinner special” has become restaurant-speak for “priced between 30 and 40 bucks,” nothing on this lineup is more than $19.95.

Let’s start with starters. Standouts among the appetizers and salads include the four succulent, garlic-sautéed shrimp with cannellini beans ($8.95); the Sapori salad, a trio of radicchio, arugula and endive splashed with fruity olive oil ($7.50); and sliced beets paired with peppery arugula and the smoothest, mellowest goat cheese imaginable ($7.95).

Calamari fritti with sliced zucchini is above average——even better when dipped into herbalicious hot tomato dip ($8.95). But we’d pass on the overly intense shrimp bisque——it needs a splash of cream or sherry to lighten it up ($6).

With so many main-dish choices, we’d also pass on the halibut, which arrived one evening a tad overdone and overly laden with tomato sauce ($17.95). Everything else has earned bravos, from the aforementioned veal shank and ravioli to a remarkably tender veal Marsala redolent with wild mushrooms ($16.95). Also notable: textbook-perfect risotto suffused with truffle oil and aged Parmesan ($16.95) and a simple seafood linguine tossed with either tomato or white-wine sauce ($15.95).

For dessert, the house-made strawberry Napoleon layered with whipped cream and puff pastry ($6) is outstanding. Though it’s big enough to share, you’ll want one of your own. Other offerings include crème brûlée and tiramisu.

The wine list is much stronger in bottles than by-the-glass options. While you’ll find a number of premium (and accordingly priced) Italian reds on the bottle menu, plenty of selections go for under $30——Tiziano Chianti ($27), Diseno Malbec ($26) and Feudi di San Gregorio Falanghina ($29) among them. A larger——or at least more appealing——selection of whites by the glass would be a plus.

We’ve no complaints about the service, which is cordial and swift. The setting’s simple and cozy, a pleasingly rustic compendium of checked tablecloths, ceiling fans, tomato-theme canvases and wine racks.

Tables are a bit close together, but there’s a feeling of relaxed camaraderie to this casually clad, grown-up crowd (we neither saw nor heard young children on multiple visits). You might even find yourself making new acquaintances over the course of a meal. How appropriate that a house transformed into a restaurant feels like a good friend’s home. Pomodoro, you’re a most welcome addition to the neighborhood. Pomodoro serves lunch and dinner daily at 2833 Avenida de Portugal, Point Loma. Telephone: 619-523-1301.

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