A soaring new Marina restaurant knows its audience — and its roots

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If you want to understand how the 4-month-old Marina District restaurant Morella manages to merge Italian, Argentinian, and California cuisines, just try the stuffed pasta. 

The round pillows with crimped edges look like classic Italian ravioli. But if you know a thing or two about Argentinian cuisine, then you know that their XL size sets them apart as sorrentinos, a dish invented in that country by an Italian immigrant. Morella executive chef Jesus Dominguez uses seasonal, local Dungeness crab as filling. And to top off the pasta: “What better to go with it than a crab bisque?” Dominguez says, referring to his rich, rust-colored sauce made from reduced crab-shell stock.

The result is a dish that’s both familiar and unexpected — and distinctly San Franciscan. When Kingston Wu, founder of Proof Positive, the hospitality group behind Morella, took over the former Dorian space, he knew he needed to thread a delicate needle, serving food the neighborhood would find approachable but not boring. For inspiration, he looked at the success of the city’s growing number of Nikkei, or Japanese-Peruvian, restaurants, including Kaiyo, Kaiyo Rooftop, and Chotto Matte, which opened to much fanfare in 2023. “We noticed that people gravitate toward Nikkei because it’s a type of fusion cuisine,” Wu says.

So, fusion is back? Sort of. Although Morella’s menu — a mashup of empanadas, asado del pulpo, arancini, and carbonara — may seem all over the map, it has authentic roots. From the late 1800s through the 1930s, millions of Italians immigrated to Argentina, resulting in a blending of the two cultures.

Dominguez, who spent 10 years as the sous chef at Michelin-starred Taj Compton Place before joining the Morella team, clearly had fun running with the idea. The dirty martini dip begs to be flaunted on Instagram: The pungent blend of gin, gorgonzola, and Greek yogurt arrives in a wide-mouthed wine glass garnished with a trio of olives and a glug of olive oil. It’s ferried to your table not on a plate, but on a large round serving tray, the kind of showy presentation meant to turn heads. Baked oysters, buried under blankets of garlic, Parmesan, and breadcrumbs, dive even deeper into the briny waters with the inclusion of chopped-up clams. 

Other dishes hew closer to tradition. The beef empanadas are seasoned with a classic combination of peppers, onions, garlic chimichurri, and raisins, while the chicken version gets stuffed with marinated white meat, onions, peppers, and fluffy chunks of potato. When it comes to grilled meat, Dominguez keeps things simple. The Argentinian picanha steak gets little treatment beyond a session over the wood fire and a bed of savory beef jus. 

Beverage director Sean Doolan took the cocktail list in a less obvious direction, splitting the 14 drinks into categories named for personality traits he associates with Argentines and Italians: sassy, classy, spritzy, and messy (the latter isn’t a slight but rather a bit of wordplay referring to Argentine footballer Lionel Messi). The Refreshing Negroni (gin, Luxardo aperitivo, lemon, green grape, sparkling rosé) lacks the classic cocktail’s typical bitter tones, which Doolan says is part of an effort to please Marina locals, who tend to be a Red Bull-vodka kind of crowd, Doolan says. The Life’s a Beach (tequila, hibiscus, citrus, egg white, bitters) delivers with floral sweetness and just a bit of foamy tang. 

For those who once bellied up to the Dorian bar for late-night espresso martinis, the renovated restaurant will be nearly unrecognizable. Wu placed Morella’s bar against one wall and filled the spacious room with frilly palms, velvet-wrapped booths, and a dizzying array of patterned wallpaper. A trompe l’oeil atrium mural lends the space an airy, outdoorsy feeling, making it almost possible to pretend you’re enjoying dinner in a tropical plaza. The pastel palette echoes old Buenos Aires; faux dwarf lemon trees nod to the Italian coast. But when the doors swing open and a cold wind whips in from the street, you’ll know you’re right here in San Francisco.