The Italian word prego has several meanings, including “you’re welcome” and “please.”
In Orange County, Prego has an even more important meaning—it’s the name of a beloved Italian restaurant in Tustin that has been in business for four decades.
Originally located in Irvine next to Irvine Towers, where it served as a top business lunch hot spot, Prego Restaurant moved to its current location in The District at Tustin Legacy at the end of 2017.
The restaurant blends Old World charm with an upscale yet relaxed ambiance, perfect for a leisurely lunch before or after a movie at The District’s AMC Theatres, or a nice dinner with friends or clients.
The lively exhibition kitchen is where the regional Italian menu comes to life, created by Executive Chef Ugo Allesina, who has been crafting pasta, meat and fish dishes at Prego for 25 years.
Born and raised in the region of Piemonte, Italy, Ugo has experience at prestigious hotels and restaurants in Italy, Germany and the United States. Locally, he was the executive chef at Mezzaluna restaurant in Corona del Mar, where he worked for six years until it closed.
He then joined Il Fornaio at its Manhattan Beach, Beverly Hills and Santa Monica locations before returning to Orange County in July 2000 to take over the culinary duties at Prego.
The menu lists 10 antipasti options plus a variety of pastas and salads and a good assortment of fish, chicken and meat dishes. Most are prepared with minimum ingredients, such as the new cacio e pepe—rigatoni, pecorino and pepper.
“Simple preparations make the ingredients shine,” Ugo told the Business Journal.
“I think Italian food is very simple ingredients, good ingredients,” adding that having too many ingredients on a plate may look good, but “after you start tasting it, everything tastes the same.”
The same goes for the Parmigiano—a fresh chicken breast breaded and lightly sauteed.
“A lot of people deep fry this dish, and it becomes too greasy,” said Ugo. “I finish it with fresh mozzarella and basil, with a little spaghetti vodka sauce on the side.”
Prego recently started offering a weekend brunch menu from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., featuring items such as short rib hash, an Italian benedict with prosciutto, and even a breakfast pizza. The regular menu is still available during brunch.
Prego Restaurant, 2409 Park Ave., Tustin, (949) 553-1333, pregooc.com.
Trela’s Take
Fellow food writer Malena Gordon and I dined at Prego for lunch on a recent Sunday. We had both perused the menu online, but the dishes all sounded delicious, so we let our server walk us through the menu until something captured our appetites.
Turns out Prego has just launched several new menu items, although fan favorites will always be on the menu.
The fritto misto (calamari) and the Caesar salad are among the most ordered items. The prosciutto wrapped asparagus salad is new, along with the gnocchi con gamberoni and the cacio e pepe.
By the time our server finished with the descriptions of the dishes, we had settled on the Carciofi blossoms (crispy artichokes served with an aioli) and the calamari for starters. Gordon chose the chicken parmigiana with spaghetti, while I was curious to try the cacio e pepe. For dessert, we had to order the tiramisu.
The slightly crispy calamari and the two dipping sauces were a perfect start to the meal, as were the artichokes, which were prepared tempura-style.
Gordon raved about her chicken parmesan, which she claimed was perfect. Not sure how you can get more perfect than the cacio e pepe. The simple combination of ingredients made for a thoroughly satisfying dish, and I relished every bite until my plate was clean.
And of course, the traditional tiramisu was splendid—a sweet ending to a lovely lunch.
