If you’ve never been to Florence, you can dine there vicariously at Acqua al 2, the Gaslamp Quarter restaurant joined at the boots with its original archetype in Florence’s central theater district.

Here, a large screen plays video loops of the famed 28-year-old restaurant overseas, showing its centuries-old structure along with a replicated festooning of white ceramic plates signed by well-wishers and wooden wine crates scattered about. The motif at both locations is strikingly similar and captures a romantic and rustic ambience that is pure Tuscany.

The San Diego kitchen is owned by Chef Martin Gonz`lez, a native of Mexico who befriended the owners of Florence’s Acqua al 2 while attending culinary school there. Intrigued by the restaurant’s creative cuisine and established popularity (friends who have visited the Florence location say lines were so long, they couldn’t get a table), Gonzalez entered into a partnership and opened the San Diego offshoot in 2000.

The menu, too, is a near carbon copy of the one in Italy, which includes the tradition of serving warm crispy bread in brown paper bags. Balsamic vinegar and olive oil, naturally, accompany the unique presentation.

In an effort to guide patrons through the common progression of eating Italian style – three courses beginning with pasta and ending with dessert – Gonzalez devised a “chef’s choice” prix-fixed menu costing $50 with a glass of house wine, or $47 without. My dining companion and I went with the program (choosing our own wine), which introduced us to five different pasta dishes that comprised the first course.

Disappointment ensued after the Fusilli Corti agli Spinaci, a corkscrew cut dressed in a pleasing spinach and Parmesan pesto. From the second to fifth pasta samplers, the sauces shared a monotonous pinkish color and thick consistency with little variance in flavor.

A dish of bowties in garlic and rosemary sauce, for example, registered as tomato-cream sauce on the palate, as did the Maccheroni alla Vodka tossed with penne pasta. The Rigatoni alle Melanzane broke the flavor rhythm somewhat with the infusion of eggplant. Though what should have been a sauce finale of something silkier, whiter or redder, we ended up with long fusilli cloaked in a goopy “country-style” tomato sauce sweetened nicely by carrots, but afflicted again by cream or milk in the recipe.

The meal turned significantly brighter during our second course, which gave us each a platter of three main entrées scaled down in size a few notches. Rightfully so, the big rave here is Filetto all’Aceto Balsamico, a filet mignon topped with balsamic reduction so dark and rich that it looks like melted chocolate. Combined with the ultra-tender beef, it’s a dish worth clapping over.

A plump piece of New York steak was also impressive, yet frightfully rich given its thick mantle of cream sauce pointed up with brandy and Dijon mustard. The third item on the platter, Petto di Pollo al Porto, a meaty chicken breast with a glistening port wine sauce, lacked zip and seemed as though much of the port cooked off. Yet compared to everything that came before it, I welcomed its lighter tone.

We concluded with a sampler of four house-made desserts. My favorite was a moist Italian cheesecake with a soft ricotta cheese texture that was drizzled with fresh-tasting strawberry sauce. Flourless chocolate cake, tiramisu garnished with whole coffee beans and panna cotta with mango sauce rounded out the attractive lineup.

Not surprisingly, Acqua’s wine list presents a decent bounty of Italian varietals (mostly reds) that are largely geared for the meat-heavy dishes common throughout Tuscany and captured here. Yet Gonzalez notes that the restaurant’s fare stands out among Florentines as being more creative and less traditional than the homier meals prevalent throughout the region, which is what prompted him into exporting the concept to San Diego’s restaurant epicenter. Entrées such as hand-carved filet sporting blueberry sauce or steak with orange glaze uphold his claim.

Conversely, a basic Margherita pizza and various fish specialties were added to the San Diego menu to placate less adventurous locals, who didn’t take well to the frittatas that are still available at the Florence restaurant. For those, you’ll have to invest in a plane ticket and start practicing some Italian.