Come And Get A First Taste Of Buona Forchetta Family’s Matteo
This Saturday, the public will have its first chance to experience Matteo, the nonprofit restaurant in South Park from Buona Forchetta Family owner, Matteo Cattaneo, that will open in early 2020!
Join the Walkabout!
Coinciding with the Holiday Walkabout & Luminaria, the Matteo Bake Sale & Craft Market will benefit the McKinley School Foundation, which provides supplemental activities and services to the North Park elementary school. Guests can be amongst the first to taste baked goods by Matteo’s general manager and head baker Joanne Sherif, formerly the owner of North Park’s beloved Cardamom Café and Bakery.
Starting at 6 p.m., Matteo will be selling pre-packaged gingerbread kids and Christmas cookie kits to take home and decorate, as well as European favorites like Stollen and Panettone, plus mini holiday tea cakes and individual cookies. All baked goods will be available until they sell out. In addition to the bake sale, there will also be face painting, caroling, festive bites and sips.
COMING SOON
Matteo will be a 2,800-square-foot eatery that serves American breakfast favorites such as eggs benedict alongside homemade Italian pastries and house-baked breads. The restaurant will also include a market selling imported Italian staples and Buona Forchetta’s pastas and sauces to take away, as well as a small event space that will host classes for children.
In addition to a breakfast menu, there will also be aperitivo with tapas and Italian wines. Yum!
A focal point of the exterior is the large mural by local artist Stacey Uy, who regularly works with the South Park Business Group. Her colorful, playful mural includes the hashtag #Bfforacause, which is the official hashtag for the project.
The public is invited to submit causes for consideration for 2020, which will be chosen by the Buona Forchetta Family leadership team via its website when the new site launched in early 2020.
KEEP IT IN THE COMMUNITY
Already the owner and operator of three Buona Forchetta restaurants, Cattaneo is known for his penchant for snapping up new spaces that call out to him, with a focus on the South Park neighborhood. While he has several other projects in the works, Cattaneo knew he wanted to open a restaurant that would directly give back to the community that has wholeheartedly embraced him and his businesses since he moved to San Diego from Bergamo, Italy.
“San Diego is my home now,” Cattaneo says. “My children go to school here and my restaurants are neighborhood gathering places. It’s important to me to share my success with my community and Matteo will allow my restaurant group to give back as well as be a key player in the nonprofit restaurant space.”
BUONA FORCHETTA FAMILY GROWS
In addition to opening Matteo, Buona Forchetta Family will also open Gelati & Peccati in the heart of North Park in early 2020. The small space will specialize in pizza al taglio (Roman-style slices) and gelato and is a collaboration between Cattaneo and longtime Buona Forchetta employees Luca Zamboni and Giovanni Bonomi.
Additional upcoming projects include Carbón, a BBQ joint also in South Park, and a fourth Buona Forchetta location, Garage Buona Forchetta, slated to open in Coronado in early 2020.
ABOUT BFF
Started in 2011 as a tiny Italian restaurant nestled on a leafy corner of San Diego’s South Park neighborhood, Buona Forchetta has since grown into Buona Forchetta Family, a San Diego-based restaurant group led by owner Matteo Cattaneo.
In addition to three Buona Forchetta restaurants (with a fourth on the way) widely known for their Neapolitan-style pizza, the group is working to introduce three new concepts in San Diego, all inspired by food from Cattaneo’s childhood in Italy. Central to the Buona Forchetta experience are its hand-built wood fired pizza ovens, tended to by pizzaioli who ensure a perfect pizza every time.
We love this focus on giving back to the community and can’t wait to try what Matteo has to offer!
See you there!
