New Winter Dishes At Chef Brad Wise’s Cardellino

There’s a new winter menu at Cardellino! Chef Brad Wise bought a new Big Green Egg grill for the kitchen to add more fire, more char, and more smoke to the plate.

He’s weaving in more of the flavors that have come to define TRUST Restaurant Group into this Italian-ish restaurant of his in Mission Hills, and the result is dishes that are rustic, hearty, and comforting.

The Dishes

50 Layer Eggplant Lasagna
Lasagna is Cardellino’s love language. Chef’s version embodies everything they seek to do in their from-scratch kitchen: from the cured and pressed vegetables, freshly rolled pasta dough, housemade mornay and cheese, to the charred eggplant puree that starts in their new Green Egg grill.

Oh, and did we mention it takes nearly three days to craft this epic slice of lasagna? And that they pan-fry each piece to give you crispy edges – that’s another thing to remember (and drool over!).

Coal Roasted Filet Mignon
Filet Mignon gets the royal treatment at Cardellino, layered with umami notes that include a porcini mushroom rub, a bone marrow mornay sauce, and fried truffle potatoes. The cut itself, an upper 2/3-rds choice (the top 5% of all beef), comes from one of their favorite ranches, and the cow, a Black Angus, is prized for its fine marbling and superior flavor.

Coal Roasted Chicken Cacciatore
You don’t go to a restaurant to eat chicken. Until now. A housemade sauce of aromatic vegetables, herbs, and tomatoes slow cooks for hours in the oven.

The chicken, marinated in Greek yogurt mixed with herbs, lemon, and spices, means the chicken develops an incredibly juicy, tender center. Off the Big Green Egg, the char and the smoke combined with the savory sauce to form this rustic, comforting, cozy dish.

Best chicken ever? We’ll let you decide.

Braised Lamb Shoulder
Leaning into the robust, pastoral flavor notes of lamb, Chef’s choice of shoulder cut calls for a full afternoon braising session – breaking down the piece of meat to create an incredibly juicy, extraordinarily tender dish.

A creamy polenta blended with fontina cheese, adds a funk to cut through the richness of the dish, with braised greens and an onion preserve infuse some acid to liven and brighten the plate.

If you love lamb, this is your jam. If you don’t – well this one’s so good it just might make you a believer.

Roasted Bone Marrow
A vessel of rich flavor, bone marrow appeals to your primal urges buried deep in your genetic code. Cardellino’s is well seasoned, roasted in a 700-degree oven for a quick sear, and served with grilled sourdough and a cranberry onion preserve for a build-it-yourself, shareable appetizer.

Spiced Duroc Pork Chop
Duroc pork has long been considered the Cadillac of pig. Intensely marbled, and tender, this is the breed Chef sources time and time again for his dishes, and it’s not hard to see why.

Taking the traditional approach, Chef’s spicy/sweet flavor profile involves a housemade porchetta spice blend and a sweet and fruity agrodolce – the result is a playful, layered, nuanced dish that feels simple, rustic, and yet, nuanced and complex.

It all sounds amazing!

See you there, San Diego!