I’ve long been a fan of Cafe Astoria’s delicious coffees and breakfast food, and after that, co-owner Leah Raymundo’s delicious Filipino food at (sadly, now closed) Kalsada. Now, it’s her partner and co-owner John Occhiato’s turn to wow my taste buds. Occhiato is now serving Italian dinners in the evenings at Cafe Astoria, and some friends and I stopped by to check it out on a recent .
The year that just ended – like the previous one, both in the shadow of this pandemic – was not a promising one for opening a new restaurant; the ones on this list, however, took the courageous leap – and not only survived but thrived