Quick Take
After 42 years in business, Ristorante Italiano in Santa Cruz has closed. In downtown Santa Cruz, Cafe Mare has changed hands. Marco Paoletti and Andrea Loporcaro, both former Cafe Mare employees and co-owners of Sugo Italian Pasta Bar, are taking over from Jean Pierre Iuliano, who founded the restaurant on Front Street in 2002.
It’s the end of an era at two long-standing Italian restaurants in Santa Cruz, both of which announced significant changes to their operations within days of each other.
On Saturday, Ristorante Italiano closed its doors permanently after 42 years. Since 1981, the family-owned restaurant had served traditional Italian American dishes in Branciforte Plaza on Soquel Avenue.
“We sincerely thank every single person who has walked through our doors and let us serve them and share in good times,” a post on Ristorante Italiano’s website reads. “Our family grew with the restaurant, and although some things have changed along the way, our passion and commitment to serving you remained.”
The restaurant did not give a reason for the closure and could not be reached for comment.
In downtown Santa Cruz, Cafe Mare has changed hands. Jean Pierre Iuliano opened the upscale Italian restaurant on Front Street in 2002. Now, he has passed the reins to two former employees, Marco Paoletti and Andrea Loporcaro. Paoletti and Loporcaro co-own Sugo Italian Pasta Bar, which has locations on Soquel Avenue in Santa Cruz and at Discretion Brewing in Soquel.
The official transfer of ownership will take place Friday, and for the month of December, Cafe Mare will remain much the same as it has for the past two decades. Starting in January, the restaurant will close for two to three weeks for a remodel and will reopen with a new name and new dining concept, said Paoletti.
“We are working on the menu now. It will have a more modern concept. The vision is a nice lounge and cocktail bar that serves dinner,” Paoletti said. “It will be very different from Sugo, where the focus is on pasta.”
Both Paoletti and Loporcaro are from Italy — from Rome and Puglia, respectively — and opened Sugo in the former Lillian’s Italian Kitchen location at 1116 Soquel Ave. in 2020. The restaurant offers high-quality, organic and authentic Italian food, including a customizable menu of house-made pastas and sauces. It opened a second location in the kitchen at Discretion Brewing in 2021.
The duo worked together at Cafe Mare for several years before becoming business partners, and have remained good friends with Iuliano, known affectionately as “JP.” “JP was happy for it to stay in the family,” Paoletti said of the restaurant transfer.
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FOR THE RECORD: A previous version of this story said that Sugo Pasta Bar offers counter service. It is a full-service restaurant.
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