Local restaurateurs will find a few changes in the San Lorenzo Valley this year.
Ciao Bella, the quirky Italian restaurant in Ben Lomond, closed its doors in December when owner Tad Morgan lost the restaurant for financial reasons.
A former employee, Allen Strong, and his stepdaughter, Dawn Eighmy, a former hostess at the original restaurant, bought it and began work. The building had been tagged for cleanup by county environmental health officials, and the pair poured themselves into remodeling the place.
Ciao Bella Act II opened for business in early May, serving breakfast and lunch as a start, while working to get its beer and alcohol license.
The restaurant is scheduled to open for dinner, serving an Italian menu, on June 19.
Some of the old servers who danced and sang for Morgan at the original Ciao Bella will be on staff, and the Italian chef will also return to cook dinner, Eighmy said.
The breakfast and lunch menu is much different — breakfast and lunch are purely American, and the décor is ’50s-themed with a dozen pictures of Marilyn Monroe covering one wall.
French toast, pancakes and omelets are some of the items on the breakfast menu, while hamburgers, cheeseburgers and patty melts are served until the restaurant closes at 2 p.m. Each is named after a famous star — from a Houdini omelet to Betty Boop eggs and Jackie Gleason cheeseburgers.
La Bruschetta, the gourmet Italian restaurant on Highway 9 in southern Felton, closed in February as bad economic conditions stymied the restaurant’s profitability.
However, chef Judd Anthony is still around. He’s taken his services to the Brookdale Inn and Spa, where he is the head chef for the lodge.
“(Anthony brings a) wealth of experience, and his background is a combination of Italian, herbal cuisine that is light and healthy,” Brookdale general manager Andy Poon said.
Brookdale has made only minor changes to the menu while keeping its traditional Brookroom setting, including a Sunday brunch.
A new restaurant that may open this summer is in the works at the La Bruschetta location in Felton.
