Sogno Expanding Size, Menu as Caffe Anello

Sogno, the Westwood-based cafe known for its crepes and fresh-roasted coffee, is planning an expansion in the next few months.

The eatery is planning to expand into the former Gyrocopter next door to their Broadway location and will be adding sit-down dining under the name Caffe Anello, according to Sogno's coffee/culinary expert John Vitale.

As part of the plan, they're also planning to expand the cafe's menu with tapas and handmade pasta and sauces. They'll remain a cafe by day, but will become an open-kitchen forum by night, according to Vitale.

"It's going to be a completely European feel," he said.

Vitale and his wife, Alissa, said they were inspired by their honeymoon in Paris and Tuscany when they opened Sogno last year. They make their crepes from traditional Parisian recipes and roast their own coffee with a hand-built roaster made by a father-and-son team of steel workers.

They plan to bring that same attention to detail in their expanded menu, John Vitale said. All the pasta will be made on site using a pair of custom-built machines being shipped from Italy. The sauces and mozzarella will also all be handmade on site using traditional techniques.

"It's going to be traditional Italian dishes," Vitale said. "Not American-Italian."

Renovations are already underway in the former Gyrocopter, though Sogno will remain open in the meantime. When they're done, the new pasta machines will be prominently displayed in the window like Sogno's coffee roaster is now.

"You will see everything cooked right in front of you," Vitale said.

Caffe Anello will be reservation-only at night because there will be only limited seating and they don't want people to have a long wait, Vitale said. Their food will be available for sale like bags of Sogno's coffee are now.

If everything goes well, Caffe Anello should open in mid-June, Vitale said.

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