In November, Cori Trattoria’s co-owners chef Accursio Lota and his wife, Corinne Goria, opened their second restaurant at the southwest corner of the UC San Diego campus in La Jolla.
But Dora Ristorante is more than just a Southern Italian restaurant and bar. Situated in the university’s theater and arts district, Dora has a culinary partnership with its nearby neighbor, La Jolla Playhouse.
As part of that relationship, Dora Ristorante is serving a three-course, pre-theater dinner menu that Playhouse ticket-holders can book before an evening show. The meal is designed to be served and consumed in 80 to 90 minutes, so there’s plenty of time to walk across Theatre District Drive to the Playhouse’s three-theater campus and get settled into theater seats before the shows begin.
The pre-theater menu has been a hit since day one.
During the run of the Playhouse’s “Working Girl” production in November and December, theater-goers made up the bulk of the early-evening diners on show nights.
Another feature of the pre-theater menu is that chef Lota and his bar manager are creating new dishes and drinks inspired by each show in the Playhouse season. For “Working Girl,” a musical about an industrious young secretary in 1980s Manhattan, the menu featured New York City-inspired dishes and cocktails.
“It worked very well with ‘Working Girl,’” Lota said of the pre-show menu. “On the theater nights we’d have people lined up outside the door when we opened at 5 p.m. We’re having fun with it. But it’s not just for people going to the theater. Anyone can enjoy it.”
Now Dora has introduced its second themed pre-fixe menu, and this one seems especially well suited for the play opening in previews on Tuesday, Feb. 10. Claudia Shear’s world premiere play “The Recipe” is inspired by the early life of Julia Child, the famed American TV chef and French cookbook author.
The show’s opening night is Sunday, Feb. 15, and it will play Tuesdays-Sundays through March 22.
Local fish of the day prepared a la meunière, with lemons and capers, is one of the options Dora Ristorante is serving on its pre-theate,r three-course menu as a tie-in to nearby La Jolla Playhouse’s Julia Child-inspired play “The Recipe.” (Accursio Lota)
Vichyssoise, inspired by Julia Child’s potato-leek soup, is one of the options Dora Ristorante is serving on its pre-theater, three-course menu as a tie-in to nearby La Jolla Playhouse’s Julia Child-inspired play “The Recipe.” (Accursio Lota)
Insalata nizzarda vegetariana, an Italian twist on Julia Child’s salad Niçoise, is one of the options Dora Ristorante is serving on its pre-theater, three-course menu as a tie-in to nearby La Jolla Playhouse’s Julia Child-inspired play “The Recipe.” (Accursio Lota)
The classic French dish coq au vin is one of the options Dora Ristorante is serving on its pre-theater, three-course menu as a tie-in to nearby La Jolla Playhouse’s Julia Child-inspired play “The Recipe.” (Accursio Lota)
Julia Child’s classic beef bourgignon is one of the options Dora Ristorante is serving on its pre-theater, three-course menu as a tie-in to nearby La Jolla Playhouse’s Julia Child-inspired play “The Recipe.” (Accursio Lota)
Dora Ristorante owners Corinne Goria and Accursio Lota pose for a photo inside the restaurant. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
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Local fish of the day prepared a la meunière, with lemons and capers, is one of the options Dora Ristorante is serving on its pre-theate,r three-course menu as a tie-in to nearby La Jolla Playhouse’s Julia Child-inspired play “The Recipe.” (Accursio Lota)
Chef Lota said that the themed menus he and his wife are creating for each show are inspired by the plot and locales of each show in the Playhouse season.
For “The Recipe,” he studied Child’s cookbooks to come up with the menu, which offers diners a choice of four appetizer, four entrees and three desserts.
Among the “Recipe” menu options are vichyssoise, inspired by Child’s potato-leek soup; insalata nizzarda vegetariana (an Italian twist on Child’s salad Niçoise, made with green beans, white anchovies, cherry tomatoes and local egg); classic coq au vin; a gelato twist on Child’s crepes suzette; and (for an extra charge at market price) her classic Beef Bourgignon, a short rib in Chianti wine sauce with winter vegetable stew.
The menu also includes the option of local fish of the day prepared a la meunière, with lemons, capers and potatoes. A key scene in Shear’s “The Recipe” is the moment in 1948 when Child tasted sole meunière at a restaurant in Rouen, France, that was so mind-blowing it changed the direction of her life.
The prix-fixe, three-course menu is priced at $65, with optional add-ons plus beverages. A two-glass wine-flight is also avaialble for $27. Dora is at 9165 Theatre District Drive, La Jolla. For reservations, visit doralajolla.com/pretheater.