Ambrogio15 Team To Open New Restaurant Helmed By Michelin-Starred Italian Chef In San Diego's La Jolla

September 29, 2022

The team behind San Diego's Ambrogio15 restaurants is repurposing its Semola concept in La Jolla to become Ambrogio by Acquerello, a tasting menu-exclusive fine-dining destination helmed by a Michelin-starred Italian chef. 

Milan-turned-San Diego residents Giacomo Pizzigoni, Andrea Burrone and Luca Salvi opened the flagship Ambrogio15 on Turquoise Street in San Diego's North Pacific Beach community in August 2016. Under the umbrella of their Milano Five hospitality company, the team expanded in 2018 with a stall within the Little Italy Food Hall and also opened a micro-version of Ambrogio15 within Del Mar Highlands Town Center's 20,000 square-foot, multi-restaurant food hall The Sky Deck. The Ambrogio boys launched new concept Semola Artisan Express Pasta in the Little Italy Food Hall in 2019 but last year relocated the concept to the indoor/outdoor La Jolla space left dormant by the sudden and inexplicable closure of PrepKitchen. Milano Five is also working on the opening of wine room and grocery Ambrogio15 Enoteca in the space that last housed their Ciao Ciao Piadina concept in south La Jolla. 

The Ambrogio15 crew will soon close their Semola restaurant on Fay Avenue in La Jolla and repurpose the space to become Ambrogio by Acquerello, which is anticipated to open on November 4. The new restaurant will be led by Executive Chef Silvio Salmoiraghi, who was mentored by the late Milanese Chef Gualtiero Marchesi, known as the founder of modern Italian food. Chef Salmoiraghi previously worked at the one-Michelin starred Locanda del Lago on the shore of Lago Maggiore in Italy. 

Ambrogio by Acquerello will serve a $149, seven-course tasting menu. There will also be a vegetarian-vegan tasting menu offered for $99. There will also be a curated selection of natural, organic and biodynamic wines. Ambrogio15 recently won the Best Contemporary Wine List Award in San Diego by Italy’s top food & wine publishing group Gambero Rosso, so they know what they're doing on the wine front. 

Ambrogio by Acquerello will open in early November at 7556 Fay Avenue in La Jolla. For more information, visit ambrogio15.com.