Sauci Pasta will open in St. Charles in spring 2024

Fast-casual pasta restaurant Sauci Pasta will open in spring 2024 at 1990 First Capitol Drive in St. Charles. The restaurant is owned by the same family as Fratelli’s Ristorante, which has been a fixture in St. Charles for the past four decades.

The restaurant is owned and managed principally by Ben Alagna and his brother Adam. The third partner in the restaurant is their father Tom, who founded Fratelli’s with his brother Joe in 1983.

Ben Alagna said the idea for Sauci developed out of conversations he and Adam started having about 10 years ago. “He came to me and said, ‘I have this idea, we should really take our [Fratelli’s] sauces and really celebrate them through pasta in a fast-casual format,’” Alagna said. For a long time, life got in the way, but now the time is right and the Alagnas are getting ready to bring their plans to life.

Sauci Pasta will offer a simplified, pasta-centric take on Fratelli’s approachable Italian comfort food concept. The restaurant will make its pasta in-house, and customers will be able to see the process up-close by grabbing a seat at the 360-degree pasta station, where they can watch pasta being rolled, pulled and cut while they eat.

Diners at Sauci will be able to build their own bowls of pasta, choosing a pasta shape (spaghetti, fettuccine, rigatoni, fusilli, canestri and a gluten-free penne) then a sauce – options will include, red, white, rosé, carbonara, basil pesto and gluten-free options including meat sauce, pomodoro, and garlic oil and herb. The basic price of a pasta bowl includes your pasta and sauce, but you’ll also be able to add to your bowl with protein, a choice of cheeses and vegetables. “It gives a bit more flexibility to those with dietary restrictions – people who may want to do more vegan or vegetarian, it gives more flexibility than something that we just put together,” Alagna said.

Each bowl is cooked to order in the open kitchen, which Alagna said is an important distinction. “It’s not like I’m pointing at a steam table and saying, ‘I want that sauce, I want that chicken,’” Alagna said. Instead, the order is placed at the counter, then sent to the kitchen to be prepared as it would in any other full-service restaurant. “All those flavors get to meld together, and that’s how pasta really thrives I think,” Alagna added.

The menu will also include some pasta dishes imported directly from Fratelli’s menu, as well as a couple of inventive twists on old favorites. The “deconstructed lasagna” is a case in point. “We weren’t really able to put in ovens to do baked pastas, but everyone loves the lasagna at Fratelli’s, so I said, ‘Why don’t we get creative and figure out a way to still offer lasagna without having to bake it?’” Alagna said. “It’s going to have all the same ingredients and it’ll all be incorporated into a saucepan with a wide, flat fettuccine pasta.”

A few salads will also be offered, and Sauci’s sweet ricotta Italian doughnuts will be the dessert option. “We’ve played with it at Fratelli’s, and that’s a huge hit,” Alagna said. The restaurant will offer a few single-serve wine and beer options, in addition to soft drinks.

Renovations are already underway on the 2,200-square-foot space, which was formerly an AT&T store. The “open, clean and refined” design will feature white oak paneling and accent walls. Alagna said the restaurant will seat around 20 guests and will offer online ordering for to-go orders in addition to counter service.

Sauci Pasta is targeting a March or April opening. Follow the restaurant on Instagram to keep up with the latest updates.