Cucina Urbana is climbing in my ratings. I still don't think it has the best food in SD by far. But it's reliable, fun...and most importantly, near the park - and with a great fridge that stores your leftovers while you are in the theater! Also took advantage of Sunday's no corkage to get a bottle: Roero Arneis. It was better with my food than on its own - was kind of boring to sip, but actually played well with my agnolotti.
Drinks: got the rosebud cocktail. Really, a place as buzzy as this deserves a better mixologist. This drink was tasty - and actually the most drinkable cocktail I've ever ordered there. But their cocktail menu is hit or miss, in my experience. Their cocktail program is nowhere on the level of the other top restaurants in town (Grant Grill, the Malarkey empire, Alchemy, etc.).
Food: loved the corn/goat cheese agnolotti. Not a huge portion. Don't remember what CH ordered.
Dessert: This was the biggest disappointment. Disappointment, you say? What, with Jack Fisher there? Well, I went in with high expectations, cuz I love Jack Fisher! And the dessert I got was tasty enough: zeppoles, with vanilla cream, balsalmic syrup and some other component I can't remember. But while it was tasty, it seemed dumbed down for Cucina Urbana. They were perfectly well executed zeppole, but I could have gotten zeppole like that at any restaurant in Little Italy in NY. From Jack Fisher, I expect....well, something like the basil cilantro cake I just had at Nine-Ten, or that crazy cashew ice cream he made for the School Lunch Chefs Confab, or any of his fab cutting-edge panna cottas from his first go-around at Nine-Ten (in the Michael Stebner days). This was a dessert anyone else could have made. If there had been more vanilla cream and balsalmic, it might have been more exciting but they were placed on very sparingly, and so it was some plain ol' tasty zeppole. CH loved his chocolate buddino, but that was something that the server said predated Fisher's arrival at CU. He certainly executed it nicely, but it wasn't his creation.
So....I'll still order dessert when next we go, but I hope he'll be back to pushing the envelope! I know CU's clientele are not necessarily looking for the avant-garde, but with Jack Fisher there it would be a shame if he keeps the desserts too traditional.
Still, CU is so much fun, as the menu changes often enough, and the wine possibilities are fun, and the atmosphere is great. I may be ready to add it to my list of top 5 restaurants, even though I think there's a big jump down in food between 4 and 5
1. Grant Grill
2. Alchemy
3. Searsucker
4. Charisma Cucina Italiana
5. Cucina Urbana
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