Il Postino

Last night I stumbled upon a brand new restaurant in North Park called Il Postino. Il Postino means the postman in Italian and this place was delivered right on time to the just the right area. The creators of Arrivederci opened up this large gem on Wednesday. You would have thought it was open for a month as there were not too many signs this restaurant had any kinks to work out. The decor has a tasteful modern vintage mailman theme. The chain see-through wall divider with a mailman printed on it was my favorite along with all the wood tables that were imprinted with black stamp like mailman art work. This place is very open but does not feel to spread out so you feel like you are in a quaint Italian restaurant someplace in Italy. The impressive stocked u-shaped bar was full of young hip professionals drinking wine and sharing yummy very reasonable bites. The flat screen TV was playing European Football. With four spots left at the bar we couldn't resist the vibe we felt so we posted ourselves at the bar where the view of the whole restaurant is the best.

We ordered wine and appetizers to share. My favorite appetizer of the evening was the special Scallops for $8.50 and this dish could have been an entrée as the serving was so generous. The scallops were perfectly cooked and served on top of mounds of sautéed spinach, floating in a delicate rich sauce that was soaked up with fresh homemade bread. It was divine. We also had the Caprese Salad which was very large and served with a ton of house roasted red peppers that were delicious. The tomatoes and mozzarella were so fresh they melted in your mouth. We also had a prosciutto fruit plate which was not my favorite. The melons were not ripe and there is nothing worse then salty prosciutto on a tasteless melon. The melons should have been left off the plate.
I was most impressed by the wine list which has over 400 wines from all over the world and was hand picked by Luca Forte of Forte Selection. He is a wine marketing consultant and this man knows his wines! We had the pleasure of meeting him that night and he introduced us to some fantastic wines and we even got a tour of the wine cellar which was amazing and was my favorite part of the evening. I am planning to make this place a regular spot and I can't wait to go and have a real sit down meal. I was eying the Osso Buco as another Italian waiter named Luca passed me and it looked incredible! This place is a must. Check it out before the word gets out because I expect Il Postino to be the next hot spot. No one likes to wait in line at the post office so be sure to make a reservation.Il Postino by Arrivederci 3959 30th st. san diego ca. 92104 p. 619.325.0809
Ciao~