Italian Restaurant Replacing Whisknladle in La Jolla

The local family behind Puesto Mexican Artisan Kitchen & Bar is venturing into Italian cuisine for their next restaurant, which will be adjacent to the Wall Street location of their popular Mexican eatery. Naming the new restaurant Marisi Italiano after their grandparents, Isidoro and Marila, brothers Eric, Alan, and Alex Adler and cousins Isi and Moy have signed a lease for the neighboring Whisknladle space, which shuttered in May after 12 years in La Jolla.

Marisi Italiano is scheduled to open in early 2021 with chef Patrick Money at the helm. Hailing from Northern Italy, Money learned pasta-making from his nonna and moved to the U.S. after culinary school; in San Diego, he helped to launch Cesarina in Point Loma and cooked at Cucina Enoteca in Del Mar and North Park’s The Smoking Goat.

His still-developing menu will include fresh pasta, as well as housemade bread and pastries, with Puesto’s culinary director Erik Aronow (Republique, Destroyer) consulting alongside the group’s bar and spirits creative director Beau du Bois (The Restaurant at Meadowood).