So often, we remember our childhoods tinted though rose-colored glasses, marinating in the bliss of our easy early days without all the gunky stuff that sometimes came along with it. But in Accursio Lota’s case, his memories of that beauty are all true.
Growing up in Menfi, a small town on the southwestern coast of Sicily, he ran through artichoke groves, chasing chickens and standing side-by-side with his grandmother at the kitchen table, preserving summer tomatoes and learning how to prepare the red-bellied tuna caught in the nearby Mediterranean Sea. Even before he started working in restaurants as a teenager, he was learning the art that would one day become his life’s work.
It’s that nostalgia that led him to opening Dora—every drop of olive oil, every sun-kissed lemon, and every feathery stalk of foraged wild fennel—everything is a reflection of Lota’s past, present, and future.
It’s not the first time he’s taken his childhood cuisine and run with it. In 2019, he and his wife and creative partner Corinne Goria opened Cori Trattoria Pastificio in North Park. But Dora feels much more ambitious, both in scale and in homage. His grandmother, the restaurant’s namesake, feels as intertwined in the concept’s inspiration as she does the menu and even the design.
Designed by Bells + Whistles (Animae, Campfire, Jeune et Jolie), co-founders Jason St. John and Barbara Rourke worked with Oceanside-based builder CLTVT (The LaFayette Hotel, Kingfisher), along with Goria, to bring Lota’s Southern Italian upbringing to life in La Jolla. The 3,800-square-foot space, just across the street from the La Jolla Playhouse, features 2,600 square feet of dining space with an open kitchen and central bar. A 1,200-square-foot patio for al fresco dining was a must—we have a Mediterranean climate, after all—allowing for around 100 guests. Basically, the number of people Nonnas tend to feed in a night, right?
Southern Italian cuisine is based in simplicity, seasonality, and using the best, freshest, and most local ingredients—much like San Diego, Lota says. “There are a few dishes that are a tribute to my grandmother,” he explains, pointing to pastas like ravioli and agnolotti, all of which are made in-house. Ricotta, spinach, and foraged mushrooms might sound simple, but that’s the point. “She made it whenever I asked her, and it’s unbeatable.”
Along with chef de cuisine Luis Esteva (Kettner Exchange, Nolita Hall), he also took care to include his take on traditional Sicilian peasant dishes, like polpette alla griglia. “There’s a meatball mixed with beef, veal, braised onion, and then it’s basically wrapped in citrus leaves and it’s grilled,” he explains. “It’s kind of like being in the countryside, and enjoying the outside, sitting on a stone.” He laughs. “I don’t know if it makes sense, but it’s very unique.”
The cavatelli pasta with basil-infused mussels nduja (spicy Calabrian pork sausage), cherry tomatoes, and burnt lemon will be “an explosion of flavor,” he promises, but there will also be his versions of quintessential Italian dishes like bucatini with pomodoro sauce.
“They unify Italy, but they also divide Italy, because every person is doing [it] differently than the other, and if you talk to someone, they make it better than you, and yours [is] wrong,” Lota laughs.
He dives into great detail about why Dora’s pomodoro is going to kick ass, but I’ll just say that it involves a special tomato sauce that’s made using the sun (it’s a whole thing) and it basically doubles the flavor and is finished with a tomato tartar and fresh basil juice.
There’s also plenty of Italian and West Coast wines, curated by certified sommelier Federico Cavalleri (Monello, Bencotto, Cori), as well as cocktails from mixologist Mark Young (Born & Raised, Solare), all under the watchful eye of general manager Steve Schwob, a 25-year veteran of the industry who’s worked at Addison by William Bradley and Manchester Grand Hyatt, as well as co-founded Trust Restaurant Group, and served as GM at Marisi.
Between them and Lota’s many, many accolades (he won the Barilla World Pasta Competition in 2017, has served luminaries like Barack Obama and Oprah Winfrey, and been named Best Chef by San Diego Magazine nearly a half dozen times and counting), the team at Dora is as sparkling as the Mediterranean sea of Lota’s childhood.
For theatergoers, Dora will offer a pre-theater menu specifically designed to pair with the current performance at the La Jolla Playhouse. The three-course menu offers a few choices for each course, with an optional wine pairing and show-inspired cocktail. The current show, Working Girl, is a musical scored by Cyndi Lauper, and the cocktail is a bubbly lemon-spiced prickly pear-gin cocktail for $18. It’s a fun way to partner with their neighbor, says Lota, and a way for theatergoers to plan a full night out for themselves.
But Lota wants to make sure everyone understands that Dora isn’t just for people going to La Jolla Playhouse. This isn’t just for UCSD students. You don’t have to wonder about where to park or where to go—Dora is for everybody in San Diego.
PARTNER CONTENT
Photos by Kimberly Motos
Dora Ristorante opens Thursday, November 20 at 9165 Theatre District Drive in La Jolla. Hours are Tuesday through Thursday, 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. (aperitivo 4 p.m. to 5 p.m., dinner 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.), Friday through Sunday, 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. (lunch 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., dinner 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.), closed Monday. Reservations are now open.
