For a year and a half or so, chef Leah Raymundo showcased her Filipino culinary heritage at the now-closed restaurant Kalsada. Now, it’s her partner’s turn in the kitchen.

At Cafe Astoria, the trendy coffee shop Raymundo and John Occhiato have owned since 2017, the duo are adding an after-hours Italian dinner menu.

Occhiato “has spent the bulk of his career studying and cooking Italian food,” Raymundo said via email. Three nights per week, the cafe will flip mid-afternoon to a full-service Italian restaurant with dishes including orecchiette with lamb sausage, goat cheese ravioli, porchetta tonnato and other Italian small plates. (Several pasta dishes are served in two size options.)

Currently, they’re also serving beer, Italian wines, and non-alcoholic cocktails, though Raymundo said they hope to have an expanded liquor license by the end of the year so they can add spirits, as well.

Don’t worry, though: Cafe Astoria will keep its existing coffee shop hours — 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday — and nothing will change during that time.

But in the evenings, “we are excited to share our love of Italian cuisine with you,” Raymundo said.

The couple closed Kalsada in September due in part to a discrepancy in profit margins between food and bar drinks, they said at the time; their son also spent several months in the hospital over the winter due to a sudden and nearly life-threatening blood condition.

The former Kalsada spot on Selby Avenue reopened this week as Pauly’s Pub and Grill, an Irish-themed neighborhood bar run by downtown restaurant vet Joe Kasel and former Winter Carnival King Boreas Jim Flaherty.

At Cafe Astoria, the classy Italian dinner menu is served from 4 to 9 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Reservations are required and can be made online.

Cafe Astoria: 325 W. 7th St.; 651-340-9471; cafeastoria-stpaul.com

Related Articles

Seven months after public hearing before St. Paul City Council, Billy’s on Grand still awaits its fate

Stillwater malt shop to offer free meal to veterans

Family-owned Hastings golf club adds event space, simulators as next generation tees off

Longtime Selby Ave. cafe Golden Thyme reopens as pop-up space for two Black-owned restaurants

Smash Park, with pickleball, ax throwing and much more, comes to Roseville