Marisi

Marisi trades on Wall Street in the village of La Jolla, a short walk from the cove, and cooks Italian food from an open kitchen with pasta made in house. It says it sources from responsible farmers, ranchers and fishermen, and the room is one of the more polished dining spaces in the neighbourhood.

The drinks card carries a Spirit Free heading on both the dinner and the weekend lunch menus, and the three drinks under it are built rather than bought. The Rossini is the Italian classic — usually strawberry purée and prosecco — rebuilt with strawberry, grapefruit and non-alcoholic sparkling wine, which keeps the shape of the original without the alcohol. The Aperitivo Spritz uses a non-alcoholic aperitivo with verjus blanc and champagne acid; verjus, the pressed juice of unripe grapes, is what supplies the sharpness that wine would otherwise bring, and champagne acid does the same job for the finish. The third is an espresso martini made with the restaurant's own espresso blend, a non-alcoholic amaro and demerara sugar, which is a harder drink to get right without alcohol than most menus admit.

Those three are the whole section, so this is a short list rather than a deep one — but it is a considered short list, printed at both services, using ingredients chosen for acidity and bitterness rather than sweetness. For a non-drinker at an Italian table, the aperitivo spritz in particular does the thing an aperitivo is supposed to do.

Hours are worth checking before setting out. Dinner runs from five every night, until nine early in the week, ten on Friday and Saturday. Lunch is served on Saturday and Sunday from eleven until two, and the spirit-free section appears on that card as well. Reservations are advisable: the village is busy in summer and the dining room is not large. This is a licensed restaurant with a full wine programme, not an alcohol-free room.

The weekend lunch is the service worth planning around if the drinks are the draw. The kitchen puts out custard-soaked brioche with whipped vanilla mascarpone and strawberries, soft eggs with pomodoro and charred sourdough, and a bacon and egg sandwich on pain au lait, and the spirit-free drinks read better against that food than against a heavy dinner. The restaurant states that it sources from responsible farmers, ranchers and fishermen and that everything is cooked with intention, and the pasta is made on site. La Jolla parking is metered and tight at weekends, so allow time or use one of the structures a few streets back from the cove.