Restaurant review: Marisi, La Jolla

This special-occasion restaurant, named for the owners’ grandparents Marila and Isidoro, lends a Southern California perspective to Italian cuisine. Unabashedly ambitious, the La Jolla restaurant is on its second chef in as many years: Cameron Ingle’s two-decades-long career includes stints at Bouchon Bistro in Beverly Hills, Bestia in Los Angeles, and the Michelin two-starred Blue Hill at Stone Barns in New York.

Ingle, an experienced hand at live-fire cooking, commands a wood-burning hearth that sears and sizzles meaty cuts like bone marrow or a hefty bistecca alla Fiorentina, but also imparts complexity to more delicate ingredients that Ingle procures from Chino Farm.

An all-too-familiar beet salad regains interest when the grill-tinged root vegetables are paired with smoked goat cheese; and hearth-roasted eggplant elevates a simple tomato sauce in spaghetti alla chitarra, also known as tonnarelli.

Since Marisi has always touted its handmade pasta program, Ingle, who has been making pasta since he was 12, seems to be an ideal fit. His gnocchi (which are sometimes included on a tasting menu) are perfectly pillowy in a basil pesto brightened with citrus, and agnolotti with chanterelles grown on a regenerative farm in Santa Barbara would pass muster in Piedmont.

If it’s available, sample the salumi cured in a space above the restaurant. From salami made with a mix of duck and pork to bresaola—air-dried beef served in paper-thin slices—the meats are fragrant without being overwhelmingly salty.