Sogno Coastal Italian Restaurant, 830 Anastasia Blvd, St. Augustine, FL  32080. 904-907-2228

By Irene Merenda

Some friends joined Frank and me at the new Italian Restaurant on the island.  According to Sogno’s website, “Sogno” means “dream” in Italian.    Our dinners were, in fact, mostly quite “dreamy!”  The chef uses only locally sourced seafood, of which there are numerous selections the menu.

One friend ordered a Caesar salad, ($12) which was large enough to be shared by 3 of us.  It had lots of shredded parmesan and house-made croutons that were buttery and garlicky.  It was topped with a crunchy piece of fried cheese.  Frank ordered the pasta fagioli as an appetizer.  Although fairly tasty, it was not the pasta fagioli that “Mama used to make.”  It was too heavy and tasted almost like tomato soup with pasta and beans.  That was the only thing that we ordered that all agreed we would not get again. 

As our entrée, two of us ordered the grouper special, which was described as “grouper picatta.”  ($39) It was served over fingerling  potatoes and very thin, young asparagus.  The generous portion of fish was fresh and tender.  I’m not normally a huge fan of potatoes or asparagus, but these were perfectly cooked and delicious, perhaps because of the lemon-butter-caper-white wine sauce that was over everything.  The side of linguini, cooked al dente, was smothered in the same delicious sauce. 

Another friend ordered the linguini with clams in a white sauce. ($34) There were plentiful fresh, chopped clams as well as 4 large clams still in their shells.  We agreed that the sauce was a bit overly salted, but otherwise very good. 

Frank ordered the special veal entrée, “Veal Genoa.” ($36) It was topped with prosciutto ham and melted Italian cheeses, then broiled so that the cheese formed a crispy brown topping.  He said it was delicious, even though I kept giving him dirty looks for his choice of entrée.  I don’t eat veal, but that’s a story for another day.

As tempting as tiramisu, crème brulee and limoncello cake were, none of us had enough space to order dessert.  We agreed that we will return to Sogno, and make sure we leave room to order one next time. 

Sogno has a fully stocked bar and a large selection of wines.  The restaurant is open Tuesday through Saturday, 4pm-11pm, and Sunday, 4pm-9pm.  We had no difficulty getting a reservation for 4 people at 6:30 on a Friday evening, but as this restaurant’s reputation circulates, I suspect that will change.  We are delighted to have a quality Italian Restaurant without leaving the island!

Try it soon, as the word will get out quickly.

4 and ½ spoonbills.