After 15 months of anticipation, the Glen Ellen Star team has announced that their second restaurant, Stella, will open March 1.
The Cal-meets-Ital restaurant will lean heavily on housemade pasta and wood-fired meats at the former Cafe Citti (9049 Sonoma Highway) location. Unlike Glen Ellen Star, there will be no pizza — but there will be a mozzarella bar.
The restaurant is the newest venture for chef Ari Weiswasser, his wife Erin and managing partners Spencer and Ashley Waite. Glen Ellen Star’s chef de cuisine, Bryant Minuche, will lead the Stella kitchen.
The opening menu lists seven types of fresh pasta ($24-$31), including bucatini cacio e pepe, lobster ravioli, lumache with aji amarillo pesto (a vegan cashew version is also available) along with tagliatelle with prosciutto and spicy mafaldine (a ribbon-shaped pasta). Entrées include a Duroc pork chop with lemon caper butter sauce ($42), Snake River Farms bavette steak ($45) and whole grilled Daurado fish.
Italian mozzarella and burrata dishes — aka the mozzarella bar — include burrata with brown butter walnuts and 12-year aged balsamic vinegar, buffalo mozzarella with anchovy and a farm egg yolk, and mozzarella with artichoke and lemon vinaigrette all served with fettunta (fancy garlic bread).
Cozy Italian desserts like tiramisu, ricotta zeppole (doughnut holes) and chocolate olive oil cake will also be on the menu, but it’s the Baked “Gelaska” with vanilla gelato, raspberry sorbet, sponge cake and torched marshmallow fluff that has us extra excited.
Wines by the glass or bottle are mainly from Sonoma and Napa, and a handful of low-proof cocktails, including a white Negroni and Stella Spritz, are offered.
The restaurant will include a dining room with a fireplace, chef’s counter seating and a covered outdoor patio. Stella will be open for dinner from 4:30 p.m. daily. Reservations are available at stellakenwood.com.
9049 Sonoma Highway, Kenwood, 707-801-8043
