Ettore’s Bakery and Café, 

390 North Sunrise Avenue, Roseville, 

916-822-2190, ettores.com

For the throngs of avid fans of Ettore’s Bakery and Café in Sacramento, the wait is over—Ettore’s Roseville location is open for business. 

I first became acquainted with the original café through two of their most ardent fans: my parents. My father would use any excuse to travel from Lincoln to enjoy his favorite pastry and breakfast (breakfast optional), commute traffic be damned. 

The new Ettore’s kept all the qualities of the original locale and added a few upgrades, including a more substantial outdoor patio, upstairs dining, a banquet room, and a beautifully tiled gas-fired pizza oven. The kitchen is pumping out everything from European pastries, breakfast favorites and café-style sandwiches and salads, to pizzas on handcrafted dough, and white-tablecloth-worthy dinner entrées. 

 I sampled a couple of the latter on my recent visit, starting with a seasonal roasted beet salad (available on a rotating basis). If you’re a roasted beet fan like me, you’ll enjoy this colorful, wintry plate of goodness that included earthy, roasted beet cubes, salty feta, crunchy pine nuts, baby greens, and perfectly tart pickled red onions in a light vinaigrette. 

The menu description of the next two entrées made them impossible to pass up—rotisserie chicken with garlic mashed potatoes and broccolini in au jus, and red wine braised lamb shank with baby carrots, pearl onions and peas. The wood-fired rotisserie chicken (1/2 chicken) was moist, crispy (thanks to it being skin-on) and well-seasoned. Perched in a bath of aromatic chicken au jus, it put every store-bought version to shame. 

The lamb shank was the evening’s big hit—judging by the number of orders coming out of the kitchen—and for good reason. Cooked to perfection and paired with a red wine jus, it was a dish I wish more restaurants would feature. My only complaint was I wanted more of the delicious au jus to pour over the creamy roasted garlic mashers (OK, not really a complaint, I’m just a gravy junkie).

So you may have heard Ettore’s makes a few desserts? I pretended to be healthy by first ordering the four-inch fruit tart—a thin pie crust layered with chocolate, pastry cream and, here’s the healthy part, fruit. No harm there right? I figured I might as well try the chocolate chewy cookie, too—it is, afterall, their best seller. Made with walnuts, egg whites and cocoa powder, these melt-in-your-mouth bites can lead to a chocolate addiction. Yep, tomorrow‘s always a good day to start that diet!   

Hours:  7 a.m.-9 p.m. (Sunday), 6 a.m.-9 p.m. (Monday-Thursday), 6 a.m.-10 p.m. (Friday-Saturday)

Try This:  Cinnamon Roll French Toast, Croissants, Ettore’s Hamburger on a Cheddar Scallion Bun, Gourmet Mac and Cheese, Red Wine Braised Lamb Shank, Chef’s Seasonal Pizza, Fruit Tart, Napolean

Alcohol:  Beer and wine

Tab: $$

Heads-Up:  Online ordering and express catering (breakfast pastries, gourmet lunch boxes, sandwich platters, desserts, etc.) available; custom wedding and special event cakes; kids’ menus for breakfast and lunch/dinner; brunch served Sundays from 7 a.m.-2 p.m.; patio seating with live music on select nights; banquet area that can accommodate approximately 40 guests; stay tuned for house-made, soft-serve Swiss-style ice cream come spring/summer