Saratoga News

George Sakkestad

New pastry chef Toby Goan, right, joins executive chef Marcella Spinazzi Calloway in dishing up gourmet food and desserts.

Cafe Marcella menu is both fun and fancy

By Suzanne Cristallo

A lot of local history has come together at Cafe Marcella in Los Gatos since the days when Mary "Noni" Spinazzi inspired her young granddaughter, Marcella, to cook basic Italian food.

Reared in Saratoga, Marcella Spinazzi Calloway grew up loving the kitchen, creating French and "finesse" food under the further tutelage of her mother, Gigi, and eventually graduating from San Francisco's California Culinary Academy.

Today, Calloway, 30, is the executive chef for the European-style bistro she owns with working partners Vince Torre, 37, and Alain Staebler, 42, who run the front of the house. Since 1991, when the partners first opened their doors, Cafe Marcella has consistently been a "reservations recommended" restaurant, serving European- California cuisine--both "the fun and the fancy kinds."

"Actually, the food is whatever I fancy," says Calloway, who rejects having her menus labeled as any one kind of food. She has created finnan haddie (a Scottish soup) along with Chinese cabbage salad on a menu that offers the popular standbys of seafood, pasta, rack of lamb, grilled and sautéed fish and gourmet pizzas, priced from $8.95 to $22.

Calloway attributes much of the restaurant's success to the fact it has remained in one location and that each of the partners has brought to it a big following gained through many years of living and working locally.

Staebler was head waiter for 15 years at L'Ermitage, famous for fine dining in Los Gatos before it closed several years ago. "He was my favorite waiter," Calloway says, recalling Staebler's reputation for great service. "As a little girl, I would always ask for him when I dined there with my parents."

Torre also worked locally as a waiter in Saratoga's Plumed Horse. His own following, along with Staebler's and the friends gained through Calloway's growing years, has created a customer demand for up to 200 meals a day--keeping chef Jaime Cardiel and a kitchen staff of seven busy.

This spring, Cafe Marcella patrons will find a more extensive pastry menu. Newly hired pastry chef Toby Goan, who spent her CCA internship at the restaurant, will specialize in creating desserts such as chocolate velour crepes or fruit pound cake and adding fresh perspective to Calloway's culinary inventions.

Cafe Marcella, 368 Village Lane, Los Gatos. Lunch: Tue.-Sat., 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Dinner: 4:30- 9:30 p.m. Tue.-Thu. and Sun., Fri. and Sat. until 10:30 p.m. 354-8006.