For 30 years, my mother and grandmother made regular pilgrimages to Cafe Citti in Kenwood for what they called the “tuna egg mayo.”

Though the correct name is “tuna and egg salad sandwich” ($13.95), my mother sticks to her own made-up moniker steadfastly. Little more than a footnote on the Italian trattoria menu, the mix of egg and tuna salad between two thick slices of focaccia is her bad day fixer and comfort food go-to.

Sitting on the back patio of Luca and Linda Citti’s new(ish) Santa Rosa location, the tuna sandwich is immediately added to our order, as my parents and I enjoy a warm spring evening overlooking Santa Rosa Creek. I’m more of a pasta girl, but I get the nostalgia so many locals share for Cafe Citti.

The Kenwood location closed in 2020 when the Cittis faced extensive renovations to the building they had leased for more than 30 years, on top of COVID-19 restrictions, power outages and the threat of wildfires and evacuation orders.

Roughly a year later, the Cittis opened their current location in Santa Rosa, a compact 900-foot space recognizable on Fourth Street by its tiny cupola and arched windows. Early on, takeout was their bread and butter, but as the world opened up again, the back patio became one of the best kept secrets in Sonoma County.

Though there are a handful of seats in front of the restaurant, the coveted seats are in the quiet refuge at the rear (there is no seating inside the restaurant).

On the way to the patio, you’ll walk through the bustle of the busy kitchen with an almost constant stream of to-go and delivery orders.

You’ll find that Cafe Citti is primarily a club for regulars, who know their order and embrace Luca and Linda like the old friends they are.

The surprisingly extensive menu, considering the small space, includes Cafe Citti’s oft-imitated garlicky Caesar salad ($18), mix-and-match pastas and sauces and scratch-made desserts, as well as specials and low-alcohol cocktails.

The Santa Rosa location offers 14 sauces made from scratch, including Italian workhorses like Bolognese, marinara, pesto, Alfredo, white clam and puttanesca ($22.95 with choice of noodles). Upgrade to Luca’s signature sauces ($25.95): carbonara made properly (without cream), spicy pomodoro, smoked chicken with lemon and cream, and the luxurious porcini (29.95) with mushrooms, Marsala wine, garlic and cream. Each is easily shareable or enough for hearty leftovers.

Want more than just noodles? Cafe Citti’s housemade ravioli, gnocchi and fried slices of polenta don’t disappoint, and a towering slice of lasagna layered with Bolognese and béchamel feeds my dad for days. The restaurant also serves 12-inch thin-crust pizzas with gourmet toppings and focaccia sandwiches.

For dessert, housemade tiramisu ($9.50) bathed in crème Anglaise is a charming finish at this neighborhood gem.

Linda Citti has concocted a variety of spritzes using herbal Cappelletti (a cousin of Aperol), Prosecco and Pinot Grigio infused with fruit. The Pomegranate Prickly Pear ($12) with fresh pomegranate and prickly pear nectar, lime, sugar, agave and maple syrup with a Prosecco float is a sweet but refreshing cocktail.

And, it’s a perfect way to toast to my mom’s favorite tuna egg mayo sandwich.

Café Citti: 2792 Fourth St., Santa Rosa. 707-523-2690, cafecitti.com. Open from 4:30 to 7:30. p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 4:30 to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Seating is first-come, first-served.

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After renovating their new Santa Rosa location for nearly eight months, Cafe Citti owners Luca and Linda Citti are finally ready to take orders for their much-loved Caesar salads, tuna egg focaccia sandwiches and fried polenta.

It’s been a well-kept secret for several weeks that the couple were quietly launching their new takeout-only restaurant at 2792 Fourth St. (the former Whole Pie), but early this week an online ordering site went up at cafecitti.com.

The new digs are tiny and mostly taken up by the kitchen, but the couple are excited to be back in business after closing their Kenwood location last fall. In October, the Cittis cited a desperate need for renovations to the building, frequent power outages during the high summer season and threats of fire as the reasons for shuttering their beloved restaurant.

Like most restaurateurs, the Cittis were forced to lay off most of their staff at the height of the pandemic and slim down their menu to streamline operations. And, like most restaurateurs who are now getting back to “normal” after a year of significant challenges, they’ll be gradually scaling up to welcome regulars and new diners eager to get a taste of that Citti magic.

More dining news

Tony’s Galley Opening

Sea Thai Bistro chef Tony Ounpamornchai has a new restaurant in the works at Montgomery Village, and lobster rolls are one of the stars of the menu. The seafood-centric cafe will include four versions of the classic East Coast sandwich, including Maine Style with chilled mayonnaise, celery and scallions; Connecticut Style featuring lobster poached in clarified butter; Thai Style with tempura-fried lobster in sweet chili aioli, pickled chiles, tobiko (flying fish roe) and green onion and an LGBLT with lobster, garlic butter, bacon, mayo, lettuce and tomatoes. Also on the menu are oysters, shrimp, fried calamari, chilled seafood towers, steamed mussels in Panang curry sauce, clam chowder, a seafood beer boil and surf and turf with garlic-crusted rib-eye. Look for a July opening.

Pizza for India

Plan ahead for a limited-edition pizza collaboration between Leah Scurto of PizzaLeah and Chef Preeti Mistry (recently featured on Michelle Obama’s “Waffles + Mochi” Netflix series) the week of May 18. The 12-inch pie will include julienne carrots and snap peas sauteed with curry leaves, ginger, turmeric and mustard seeds topped with caramelized onions, pickled hot peppers, mozzarella and fresh cilantro. A portion of the proceeds will go to Give India, a nonprofit working to provide oxygen, ventilators and food rations to those with COVID-19 in India. Order at pizzaleah.com.

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We’ve heard some super-sad news from Sebastopol: Food Mechanic is closing. The cafe, owned by Shane Dykhuis and Anne Zuelke, served healthy soups and salads, along with some darn good cookies and collagen “jigglers,” made with juice and beef gelatin. To say that their smoked chicken salad was my very, very favorite in the whole wide world is not an exaggeration. On one of my hard days as I worked to get food to first responders and evacuees during the Kincade fire, that salad pretty much saved my bacon and my sanity.

“We’ve muscled through major challenges like wildfires and the ongoing pandemic, but these slowed down our momentum during critical growth periods and we’ve simply run out of time and resources to continue on in this capacity,” the couple said on Facebook in an announcement about the closure.

I’m heartbroken that they’ll be moving on, but we hope they’ll pop up soon in another spot. Open until March 26, 980 Gravenstein Hwy., Sebastopol, foodmechanic.com.

Madrona Manor makeover

The historic Healdsburg mansion and its restaurant will be closed for several months for a remodel after being acquired by an investment group headed by designer Jay Jeffers of St. Helena, Kyle Jeffers and Cory Schisler (see renderings of the remodel in the above gallery). What we’re interested in is the Michelin-starred restaurant run by Chef Jesse Mallgren, who will stay on when the property reopens under a new name, The Madrona. The restaurant will be a more casual spot than its former white-tablecloth incarnation, Jay Jeffers said.

Cafe Citti update

After months of waiting, Cafe Citti has received its much-anticipated building permit and hopes to open soon in its new location at 2792 Fourth St. in Santa Rosa. Luca and Linda Citti, owners of the popular Italian eatery, said last fall they planned to move for several reasons, including the need for renovations at the Kenwood building, power outages and the Glass fire that burned through parts of Kenwood.

Finally open

Of course, the biggest news is that Sonoma County has reached the much-anticipated red tier, which means restaurants can have indoor dining at 25% of their capacity. While we’re still quite happy outdoors in this lovely weather, it’s nice to know that we’ll be able to head inside — especially after getting our second vaccine dose!

The post Cafe Citti Soon to Open in Santa Rosa, More Local Dining News appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

After 30 years at their iconic Kenwood roadhouse, the owners of Cafe Citti have officially closed their restaurant, but their roast chicken, lasagna and tuna egg sandwiches will live on at a new location in Santa Rosa later this fall.

“We knew this day was coming,” said Linda Citti, who announced the decision on social media Tuesday. Chef-owners Luca and Linda Citti cited a combination of reasons for the move including the need for extensive renovations to the building they leased for more than 30 years, coronavirus restrictions, power outages and the recent Glass fire that burned through parts of Kenwood.

The Cittis plan to open a takeout-only business on Fourth Street in east Santa Rosa in late November in the quirky, 900-square-foot former Whole Pie location next to Hank’s Creekside Restaurant.

“We wanted something that had the charm and funkiness of what we’ve always been. We’re not a strip mall kind of place and we’re not a fancy place. We both immediately got a good vibe (about the space),” Linda Citti said.

The family-friendly roadhouse is a longtime favorite of locals from Kenwood and Oakmont, winemakers, ranchers and Sonoma Valley tourists with its approachable Italian and American classics.

In 2010, the restaurant was featured on Guy Fieri’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” with Fieri saying, “If you have never visited the Sonoma Valley, then this is the place to dine at.”

Since March, Cafe Citti has only offered takeout to their loyal following, with a slightly reduced menu. Like many restaurants, it was forced to cut staff from 25 employees to just six. With pandemic restrictions continuing, the usual brisk spring and summer business the couple expected to sustain them through a planned construction closure this winter didn’t pan out.

“Before the pandemic we were in talks about continuing at our location and riding out the seven to 10 months of construction. We were looking forward to having a new beautiful space and working there for another however many years. Then the pandemic hit, and this time that we were supposed to be socking away money and preparing for the shutdown,” Citti said.

The recent fires were the last straw, forcing the cafe to close once again for several days as the Glass fire raged nearby. A significant amount of food spoiled at the restaurant as power remained out in the area.

“We’ve been evacuated every time, impacted by power outages every time. It’s just always something and the way that the whole restaurant world will change post-pandemic, we just can’t go back,” Citti said.

The couple briefly contemplated leaving the restaurant business and moving back to Italy after a harrowing evacuation from their Skyhawk home at the start of the Glass fire.
“We thought, maybe we’re just done and we need to find something else, but everything we went back to involved food. This is what we love, what we are, and what we have been for 30 years,” she said.

Still weighing their options and without a signed lease on the new location, news of the restaurant’s potential fate leaked out on a neighborhood social media platform early this week, Citti said, forcing her hand to announce the news that the restaurant would remain closed permanently.

“We’ve been in our world of agony trying to figure out what we were going to do next, and we weren’t quite ready (for the announcement), but someone outed us on Nextdoor and the floodgates were open,” said Linda.

The response was a flood of emails, phone calls and messages from well-wishers.

“The incredible response gave me the strength to get through these last few days,” said Linda. “I read all these comments (on our social media) and I’m just in tears. It’s so affirming. You think, wow, working our asses off 14 hours a day, seven days a week made a difference for somebody. When you sit back and have this opportunity to see what Cafe Citti has meant to so many people, this is as good as it gets.

“People have been generous and supportive through this. The only reason we’re still here is all the support we’ve had. We’re sad we didn’t get to say goodbye to everyone in person,” she said.

As the new Cafe Citti takes shape over the next few months, Linda Citti hopes her regulars will understand that they’re mourning the loss of their old restaurant but excited to move forward.

“Just be patient with us,” she said, “we’re starting all over again and we’re not as young as we used to be.”

The post After Three Decades, Cafe Citti Leaves Kenwood and Reinvents Itself as a Santa Rosa Takeout Spot appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

The owners of Kenwood’s iconic Italian eatery, Cafe Citti, have announced they will be leaving the Sonoma Valley and moving into the former Whole Pie location on Fourth Street in Santa Rosa. Also, the restaurant will end in-house dining, which has been limited to outdoor seating only during the pandemic, and instead focus on take-out at the new location.

Luca and Linda Citti cited a combination of reasons for the move, including the need for renovations to the building they’ve leased for more than 30 years, coronavirus restrictions, power outages and the recent Glass fire that burned through parts of Kenwood.

The family-friendly roadhouse is a longtime favorite of locals, winemakers and ranchers with its approachable Italian classics, stellar Caesar salad and huge sandwiches. In my teens, it was a much-anticipated pit stop on the seemingly interminable drives from Santa Rosa to Sonoma, where we got the tuna-egg-mayo sandwiches I’ll never forget. The restaurant also was featured on Guy Fieri’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.”

Here is the full announcement from the owners of Cafe Citti:

“It is with a heavy heart that after 30 years of business in Kenwood, we announce that Cafe Citti will be relocating. Our landlords have made the decision to address the stability of the building and will be making renovations that will take several months. Due to the new restrictions placed upon us during this time of Covid, the annual PSPS shut off‘s, and most recently the Glass fire, we will be leaving the dining portion of our business behind and we will concentrate our focus on continuing with our take-out business at a new location in Santa Rosa. We will be occupying the space next door to Hank’s Creekside at 2792 4th Street in Santa Rosa and we look forward to seeing your friendly faces there. On behalf of ourselves and our staff we would like to thank you for your patronage over the last 30 years and particularly the community of Kenwood for supporting us through thick and thin. Our hearts will always be in Kenwood but we are excited about the next chapter.
Please stay tuned for an opening date.
Luca and Linda Citti”

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In the eternal quest for the latest and greatest, it’s easy to forget about the restaurants that stick it out day after day, year after year, serving up great food. Not the fanciest food or the most innovative. Just food you can count on. Money well spent. Tummies totally satisfied. Places you want to go back repeatedly, but somehow forget about.
Entirely unimpressive from the outside, Cafe Citti is a Kenwood sleeper. The outdoor patio is  a perfect summer hangout–sipping raspberry lemonade and nibbling insalada Caprese and through the winter there’s a cozy fireplace and plenty of steamy pasta dishes that will warm your cockles.
Rustic mom and pop Italian’s the name of the game here: Housemade mozzarella, focaccia, pasta and desserts that have a lighter, Northern Italian flare. It’s a combination walk-up and sit-down eatery, think deli meets white napkin service. Somehow it works.
BiteClub’s Mission Caesar brought me around again. Luca’s garlicky Caesar lives up to its billing. And yes, it is that good. Your breath will be flattening co-workers for the
remainder of the day, if not the week. There’s a real sardine on top, house-made croutons and crisp lettuce that (thankfully) is tossed and pre-cut. You can argue the authenticity of that amongst yourselves. I’m all for others doing the work for me.
A Caesar alone won’t bring me back, however. The kitchen’s gotta prove its mojo throughout the menu, and Citti does that. Sandwiches (try the tuna, egg, mayo) are epic. Linguine in lemon cream sauce never fails me. And the tiramisu (which I don’t order lightly) is truly worthy of saving room for. No wonder the Michelin Guide loves them.
Oh, and then there’s Joel. You asked, and I found him. He’s the resident red-headed waitron so many of you love. He sends his regards. Albeit a little sheepishly. Say hello next time you’re in.
Which really should be soon. Because Café Citti is forgotten no more.
Café Citti, 9049 Sonoma Hwy./Hwy. 12, Kenwood, (707) 833-2690. Daily 11:00am-3:30pm, 5-8:30pm, Fri-Sat until 9pm. But sheesh, call ahead before you make the drive.

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