For Immediate Release
CENTO OSTERIA OPENS FOR DINNER TONIGHT,
WITH APERICENA SOON TO FOLLOW
Chef Donato Scotti’s first San Francisco venture, Cento Osteria, focuses on simple, Italian-style osteria fare paired with artisanal wines and cocktails
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – May 9, 2018 – Chef Donato Scotti, proprietor of Donato Restaurant Group, has opened his fourth restaurant and his first in San Francisco, Cento Osteria. Located along the city’s eastern waterfront at the corner of Brannan and the Embarcadero, 
Cento Osteria features simple, seasonal fare in the style of a classic Italian osteria, including pizza, pasta, grilled meat and seafood, and small plates to pair with wine and cocktails. The restaurant is now open daily for dinner, with pre-dinner apericena hours to follow on Wednesday, May 16.
Joining the Cento Osteria team is Chef Chris D’Andrea, a talented young chef who most recently worked at Saison and Eight Tables. The General Manager of the restaurant is Maria Fangras, a restaurant veteran who opened Rambler in Union Square and worked at A16 in San Francisco and Oakland.
Donato Restaurant Group comprises Donato Enoteca, a popular Italian dining destination celebrating its 10th anniversary next year in Redwood City; CRU, a European-style bar and wine shop, also in Redwood City; and Donato & Co. in Berkeley, which Scotti opened in 2017 with fellow Italian chef and longtime friend Gianluca Guglielmi, who is now executive chef for the Donato Restaurant Group.
“We are thankful for the warm welcome and enthusiasm we have already received from our neighbors who live and work along the Embarcadero,” said Scotti. “Cento Osteria will be a friendly gathering place for family, friends and colleagues to enjoy simply made Italian food with a glass of wine or a round of cocktails—whether it’s game day, everyday or a special occasion.”
The Cento Osteria menu is divided into five sections—antipasti, pizze, primi, secondi and contorni—with no more than six seasonally curated options. Most menu items are associated with a particular Italian city or province, like Baked Ricotta with Caponata from Ragusa, Sicily ($14) or Casonsei, a traditional filled pasta from Scotti’s native Bergamo ($18). Like its sister restaurants, Donato & Co. and Donato Enoteca, Cento Osteria features a live fire, where grilled meat, seafood and vegetables are specialties of the house, along with wood-fired thin crust pizzas. Guests can expect to find a mix of classics, like Cacio e Pepe ($16) and Pizza Margherita ($15), alongside new favorites that include Paccheri Pasta with Calamari ($17), Pizza Bianca with Mozzarella, Provola Cheese, House-made Sausage and Broccoli Rabe ($18), Roasted Spring Chicken with Herb Salad ($24) and Grilled House-aged New York Steak ($29). All of Cento Osteria’s pastas are house made, salumi is house cured, and ricotta is prepared from scratch.
There is a small selection of house-made desserts, including Cornmeal and Almond Tortino with Vanilla Gelato ($10), Chocolate Tarte with Peaches, Chocolate Sauce and Whipped Cream ($9) and Brutti Ma Buoni (“ugly but good”) Cookies ($7). Guests can finish their meal with an espresso imported from one of the most sought-after coffee roasters in Italy—Gianni Frasi’s Laboratorio di Torrefazione Giamaica Caffè in Verona. Chef Scotti’s four restaurants are the only establishments in the United States authorized to serve and sell Gianni Frasi’s Caffè. Online sales are coming soon to the CRU website.
The beverage menu offers a variety of wines by the glass and carafe and a rotating menu of eight house cocktails. The bottled wine list, with wines primarily from small-production Italian wineries, are organized by price point rather than by varietal—the same format that Scotti originated at Donato Enoteca. The bar offers an extensive grappa and amaro collection.
The handsome space, which accommodates up to 110 diners and bar guests, features an open floor plan with dark hardwood and charcoal accents, and brushed copper lighting. A wrap-around outdoor patio seats another 30 guests.
Cento Osteria serves dinner daily, Monday through Thursday, 5:30 to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5:30 to 11 p.m.; and Sunday, 5 to 9:30 p.m. An Italian-style apericena pre-dinner menu will be served at the bar daily beginning May 16 at 3 p.m. Lunch and brunch service will follow later this spring. The restaurant is located at 100 Brannan Street in San Francisco, between Embarcadero BART and AT&T Park. For additional information and updates, please visit www.centoosteria.com, Instagram at @centoosteria, or Facebook at centoosteria. For reservations, visit OpenTable or call the restaurant at 415-543-1000.
About the Cento Osteria Team
Donato Scotti, Owner, Donato Restaurant Group
Chef Scotti grew up in a small town near Bergamo, Italy, where he studied at the Instituto Alberghiero di San Pellegrino culinary school and learned his craft in various Michelin-starred restaurants in Bergamo. He then moved to the United States at the age of 21 and held positions of increasing responsibility at such restaurants as the legendary Valentino in Los Angeles and Il Fornaio in the Bay Area. In 2004, Scotti designed and opened La Strada in Palo Alto, before establishing Donato Enoteca in Redwood City in 2009, then Desco in Old Oakland in 2013 (now closed), and CRU in November 2016. He met Chef Guglielmi in 1999, beginning a longtime friendship and collaborative cooking partnership. Together they opened Donato & Co. in Berkeley’s Elmwood neighborhood in the fall of 2017.
Chris D’Andrea, Chef, Cento Osteria
Chris D’Andrea is a Connecticut native with a passion for cooking who grew up in a large Italian family. After graduating from George Washington University with a degree in Business Administration, D’Andrea moved directly into the restaurant industry, learning the trade by working at a number of notable DC restaurants. He headed to San Francisco to work at Saison, where he worked his way up to sous chef and helped the restaurant earn a third Michelin star. Prior to joining Cento Osteria, D’Andrea worked as Executive Sous Chef at Eight Tables.
Maria Fangras, General Manager, Cento Osteria
Maria Fangras has nearly two decades of experience working in every facet of front of the house. She was part of the opening management team at Rambler in Union Square and at A16 in both San Francisco and Oakland. She has also worked at Rose Pistola, Enoteca Vino Nostro and Tosco Wines. Fangras is a sommelier and cicerone with a love for all things Italian.
Gianluca Guglielmi, Executive Chef, Donato Restaurant Group
Chef Guglielmi grew up in Vicenza, Italy, surrounded by a family of chefs, and began working at his family’s gastronomia at the age of 13. He attended Italy’s famous culinary school, Recoaro Terme, then worked at a succession of highly regarded Michelin-starred Italian restaurants. In 1993, he opened his own wine bar and gastronomia, Il Vicolo. When he moved to the Bay Area in 1998, he became executive chef, food research and development, and vice president at A.G. Ferrari Foods. He returned to Italy in 2010 and opened Ristorante La Berlera in Riva del Garda. Guglielmi and his wife returned to the Bay Area in 2017 to join the growing Donato Restaurant Group.
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Photos (from top to bottom):
Image 1: Cento Osteria interior
Image 2: Roasted Spring Chicken, Herb salad
Image 3: Crispy Meringue, Whipped Cream, Strawberries
Image 4: Cento Osteria opening team
Photo credits: Nadia Andreini