Green with envy: Sogno DiVino's Pesto appetizer is heavenly.

Finances being as they are, I haven't been out in a while. That means, I was I-T-C-H-I-N-G to!

So when my friend Nicole suggested a night out for a glass of wine, I said yes without much hesitation. 

Nicole suggested Sogno DiVino in the Little Italy area of San Diego immediately north of Downtown. I got there a little early so I wandered around as the area has changed so much since the last time I'd been there.

First thing that caught my ear, the older gentleman who I assumed was Sogno's owner/host was chatting with first time customers sitting out in the bar's outdoor patio. I loved hearing the heavily accented English and when I closed my eyes, I was transported to Italy. The customers were also European and where here on vacation. One was Israeli, the other French and the three of them spoke in English then switched to Italian and French without missing a beat. Yes, this was going to be a nice evening.

When Nicole arrived, the lovely Mr. Italian Host seated us near the kitchen right by the meat case. How fortuitous since the interior was dimly lit with candles and twinkling lights. I had planned on photographing our evening as incognito as possible so that meant high ISO, lens nearly wide open and no flash. The meat case was heavily lit from within and the light spilled over onto our table for two creating a nice side light that saved the evening's sneak attack photos.

We both decided white wine sounded good so when Ms. Waitress came to take our order, we let her know that's what we wanted. She started to suggest a chardonnay. However, Nicole and I had already discussed our mutual "eh" towards chardonnays. We both like Pinot Grigio, we tell Ms. Waitress who proceeded to suggest three wines, one being Italian. "Italian?" Naturally, that had to be our pick. So we settled on a 1/2 carafe of the LaVis Pinot Grigio from Trentino at $16. At the menu's $6 a glass listing for this wine, the carafe was definitely a better buy since it was enough for each of us to enjoy two glasses. It most definitely lived up to it's description too: Creamy, light, soft and refreshingly clean. And, well, truth be told, it was so darn yummy, that we ordered a second carafe. Oui! We should've gotten a bottle and saved ourselves $8.