Cesarina is a handmade-pasta-focused Italian trattoria in San Diego’s Point Loma/Ocean Beach area, at 4161 Voltaire Street. It opened in February 2019 and was founded by three Italian natives: Cesarina Mezzoni, Niccolò Angius and Giuseppe Capasso. Mezzoni is the chef and namesake behind the restaurant. The concept is built around the idea of the Italian matriarch: “Cesarina” represents the grandmother/mother/daughter who feeds and takes care of everyone. That translates into a colorful, warm, slightly whimsical trattoria rather than a formal Italian fine-dining restaurant. One of the coolest features is its open-air pastificio — pasta factory — where you can actually watch fresh pasta being made. The restaurant has also received a Michelin Bib Gourmand, which Michelin uses to recognize restaurants offering particularly good food at a comparatively good value. Part of the menu lets you choose your fresh pasta shape and then choose the sauce. Shapes include fettuccine, spaghetti, pappardelle, paccheri, lumache, mafalde, rigatoni, gemelli and gnocchi, with sauces including Pomodoro Fresco, Bolognese, Funghi, Norma, Tartufona and Arrabbiatissima. There are also composed pasta dishes. The menu includes Lasagna alla Bolognese, made with hand-rolled egg pasta, Bolognese, béchamel and mozzarella; Paccheri Vodka and Scampi, with shrimp and a whole langoustine; and Gnocchi Salsiccia, Porcini e Tartufo, with truffle sauce, porcini and bone marrow. I had the "GNOCCHI, PORCINI, GAMBERI e TARTUFO" - Handmade Gnocchi, garlic, Peperoneino, shrimp, porcini mushroom, "crema al Tartufo", parsley, freshly shaved imported black summer truffle. This was easily one of those dishes where every ingredient sounded rich on its own, but somehow it all worked together perfectly. The handmade gnocchi were soft, pillowy and almost melted in my mouth, coated in a silky truffle cream that was earthy. Porcini mushrooms doubled down on that deep, savory flavor, while the shrimp added a little sweetness and made the dish feel more substantial. The freshly shaved black summer truffle on top made the whole thing feel incredibly indulgent. It was creamy, earthy, garlicky and ridiculously good — the kind of pasta dish I kept thinking about after it was gone. Grade: A