Il Fornaio Celebrates 20 Years in California

CORTE MADERA, Calif., Sept. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Before anyone knew what ciabatta was, before "authentic" had become a marketing term, and before there was a host of imitators across the country, there was one restaurant, a simple trattoria with a full bar, a wood-burning oven and a small bread bakery tucked in back. It was twenty years ago this month when the first Il Fornaio Cucina Italiana fired up its ovens in Corte Madera, California.

Although the founded-in-Italy company had several retail bakery outlets in the U.S. modeled after its sister bakeries in Italy, when Larry Mindel took over in 1987, he opened Il Fornaio's first restaurant and bakery together in Corte Madera. It became an instant hit, a gathering place for the affluent yet low-key residents of the county across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco.

Combining a passion for authentic Italian food with Italian artisan bread previously unseen on these shores, the original Il Fornaio garnered national acclaim and local crowds. In the May 1988 issue, Gourmet Magazine restaurant critic Caroline Bates felt sorry for the couple she saw turned away: "Who would expect a restaurant in a shopping center in Corte Madera to be already filled and booked solid at 5:30 on a Thursday night?"

After twenty years, the first Il Fornaio is as popular as ever. But over the years Il Fornaio inspired a host of imitators. Other faster-growing Italian restaurant companies haven't been quite so focused on the quality you get from food made from scratch. But today, few others share Il Fornaio's reputation or customer loyalty. And earlier this year, after twenty years of their tortoise-like expansion, Il Fornaio opened its first East Coast restaurant and bakery just outside of Washington D.C.

"Who would have thought," said Mindel, who as Founder and board member is still actively involved in the company strategy, "that one little restaurant with great bread and food like you get in Italy could become a national brand?"

To commemorate the twentieth anniversary, Il Fornaio Corte Madera Managing Michael McCarthy and Chef-Partner CJ Snyder will be offering each guest a glass of prosecco and a freshly-baked cake for each table at dinner from October 8th through October 14th. In addition, the restaurant will be donating 20 percent of its sales Thursday evening before Thanksgiving, November 15, 2007, to Homeward Bound's Dine Out to End Hunger.

"Il Fornaio is really a neighborhood restaurant," McCarthy explained. "Although it's a really unique neighborhood, one where you might see George Lucas dining with Dana Carvey, or Sean Penn treating his family to some quality time."

Il Fornaio Corte Madera is located at the Corte Madera Town Center in Marin County, California. The bakery opens at 6:30AM weekdays, 8AM on weekends. The restaurant opens at 11AM weekdays and stays open all day. The kitchen and bar stay open until 10PM weeknights, 11PM Friday and Saturdays. Full-service brunch is served on the weekends. Il Fornaio features a menu highlighting the bread, food and wine of Italy developed collectively by the company's two-dozen chef-partners. Emphasis is placed on simple, fresh ingredients and authentic Italian cooking methods. All meals are complemented by a selection of hand-made, hearth-baked breads made from scratch and a Wine Spectator award-winning wine list. For information, photos and reservations, visit http://www.ilfornaio.com/cortemadera .