WALNUT CREEK, CA — North Italia makes pasta by hand in Walnut Creek. Montesacro serves pinsa farther along Locust Street. In Orinda, Daniele Carsano connects the two cities through Sorso, the Italian-inspired wine and small-plates bar he opened in September.
The three restaurants give diners a choice of Italian flavors, from pasta and pizza to wine and shared plates.
North Italia serves handmade pasta, pizza, and craft cocktails at the sprawling 1179 Locust St. location. It's the kind of place to go for large events (a wedding shower was wrapping up when I visited). On a sunny day, sit outside or at the bar and watch shoppers — or the day — go by.
This is also the kind of place for big wines and dishes like pappardelle with a meat sauce, spicy rigatoni vodka combined with Italian sausage, crispy pancetta, shaved garlic, and basil.
Farther along the street, Montesacro serves small plates, pinsa, pasta, and dessert at 1686 Locust St.
The trattoria and wine bar there is a slightly elevated setting for the same food served at the flagship location in San Francisco's SoMa district.
A daughter's celiac diagnosis inspired Gianluca Legrottaglie and Viviana Devoto, the team behind Montesacro, to create Clementina, a gluten-free Italian trattoria in San Francisco's Inner Richmond.
Coffee gives way to cocktails at Sorso now open in the former Starbucks space on Orinda's Theatre Square.
Daniele Carsano, formerly of Walnut Creek's Montesacro and Berkeley's Casa Barotti, brings an Italian approach to the neighborhood gathering place, pairing cocktails and wine with small plates.
The restaurant's description sets the mood: "Where cocktails lead, wine follows, and the plates are meant to be shared."
Carsano told the Bay Area Telegraph he wanted to give residents a reason to spend their evenings in Orinda, including somewhere to linger after a movie.
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