Solare Ristorante & Lounge is Liberty Station’s first white-linen restaurant to emerge among dozens of historic buildings that are either currently under renovation or have recently become occupied by commercial and arts organizations. Yet as more independent kitchens set their sights on this vast parcel of coveted land (formerly the Naval Training Center), I predict that Solare will be tough to outdo.

The 4,000-square-foot restaurant houses Zen-like décor and furnishings that owners Stefano Ceresoli and Roberta Ruffini customized in Bali – teak wine shelving, high-back wooden chairs, cow-skin lampshades and even the glass enclosing a wine closet in the center of the layout, which features seating for four. Brazilian tiger wood flooring adds luster and stateliness to both the dining room and spacious lounge area.

Where the restaurant’s exquisite far-Eastern aesthetics leave off, a menu of contemporary, top-quality Milanese cuisine begins, not to mention an army of handsome waiters equipped with mostly Italian accents.

Chef Mark Pelliccia relies on organic and imported ingredients to execute his dishes, having worked in top-rated restaurants throughout Italy until taking the job at Solare. Unlike the owners and a majority of staff who hail from Milan and other parts of the Mother Country, he was born in New York.

“I went to Italy when I was 18 years old for cooking school and ended up staying 15 years,” he quipped. “Northern Italian food became my specialty,” meaning that more eggs are used for making pasta and butter often replaces olive oil.

Starting with a meat and cheese board, my companion and I flipped over the assortment of toothsome meats (proscuitto, speck and cured pork) curled around chunks of delectable tallagio, pecorino and brie cheeses. Pelliccia later revealed to us that none of the contents on the board are made in the U.S., but that they originate from international distributors. Judging from the absence of flavors from nitrates and excessive sodium, we had already kind of guessed.

Another appetizer, zucchini tagliatelle arrived with colossal shrimp retaining their heads and tails, exactly how you don’t see them served in Italian restaurants run by Americans. And this may well explain their high level of sweetness, which resembled good lobster meat pulled directly from the shell.

Though listed as a starter, pork belly with white bean “stew” could essentially constitute as an entrée given its portion size. The dish is terrific, offering three succulent, square-shaped pieces of the belly, which the chef brines overnight and then bakes in a low-heat oven for several hours. Imagine the flavor of pork roast to the tenth power. The meat rested atop a bed of rich white beans infused lightly with herbs and the pork fat.

The ravioli of the day, filled with pasta and spinach, struck us as too pedestrian, so we instead found a starch fix with “ofelle.” Heavier than ravioli, the dish featured several potato dumplings stuffed with a teaspoon’s worth of fennel-rich sausage, and served in butter-sage sauce. Though novel and tasty, we might have made a bigger dent in the plate had the casings been thinner.

Soaring off the charts was slow-roasted, hormone-free beef tenderloin served with robust arugula pesto and a smear of spicy tomato confit that fetched its intensity from bell peppers, anchovies and crushed red pepper. The beef was richly marbled, sturdy in flavor and accompanied with a potato cake bound in eggs and panko bread crumbs and fried in clarified butter. Rarely do I find steak dishes of this caliber in Italian restaurants, if at all. And the popular chophouses simply never change their sets, sticking always to the usual wine-balsamic-stock reductions and mashed or baked spuds.

Solare’s menu isn’t lengthy. And the chef assured us that it will change seasonally. The current offerings feature gnocci (prepared differently every few days), domestic rack of lamb, herbed king salmon, egg pappardelle with lobster and a few colorful salads, one with strawberries and aged ricotta.

The wine list obliges with a nice mix of new and Old World varietals, the latter naturally drawing from numerous regions of Italy, including a super Tuscan Belguardo for only 10 bucks a glass. Two other super Tuscans sold only by the bottle reside in their expected price range at $85 and $130 apiece.

Solare’s owners also operate Caffe Bella Italia in Pacific Beach, where you’ll find more familiar Italian recipes for things like lasagna, cheese ravioli, tomato-meat sauces, etc. Yet here, you’re truly transported overseas in both directions with a soothing Asian-inspired atmosphere and some of the best cuisine coming out of modern-day Italy.