Serving up nostalgia at Johnny & Sanny’s in Mountain View
Downtown restaurant pays homage to owner Angelo Sannino’s Italian heritage
Downtown Mountain View is a haven for diners and walkers, especially with Castro Street being largely closed to traffic. With its enormous outdoor space, warm service and classic menu items like chicken Milanese and carbonara, the newly opened Johnny & Sanny’s adds to Castro Street’s welcoming ambiance.
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Owner Angelo Sannino hails from Naples but has been in the Bay Area for the better part of his life. He has fond memories of Sundays at home, where his grandmother always made ragu (sauce) for the traditional Sunday meals, which generally included lasagna.
“We would dip bread in the sauce, and she would slap our hands, saying that this changed the flavor,” Sannino recalls. “We didn't care, because it tasted so good.”
You will be forgiven for dipping garlic bread in whatever sauce you choose, as the ravioli can be ordered with pesto, tomato, or Johnny & Sanny’s meat sauce, and you can also indulge in that ultra caloric splurge, fettuccini Alfredo.
Sannino, who owns five Doppio Zero locations including one down the street from his new venture, turned this former tapas restaurant into an homage to his heritage.
“The meatballs are my grandmother’s recipe, always made with pork and beef, and light on the bread crumbs to keep them tender,” he says.
Picky about ingredients, he's now getting fresh mozzarella from a maker in LA. As we dove into the olive oil-drizzled caprese salad, we delighted in the fresh creaminess of this cheese, accompanied by sweet roasted Roma tomatoes, arugula and avocado.
The calamari proved excellent: crisp on the outside, tender on the inside, served with a lemon aioli. The standout entrée was the eggplant parmesan: airy, cheesy, light-hearted perfection.
ll also find classics like cioppino, spaghetti Napoli, chicken parm, veal piccata and sole piccata, pan-seared then finished in the oven. The carpaccio is served with those divine Sicilian berry capers. For lunch, you can indulge in a meatball or chicken sandwich for that Italian-American taste of home. And save room for the divine tiramisu.
A bit further south, the gargantuan Puesto Santa Clara offers a big space for big parties, but the huge bar is great for solo or two-up dining. We recently met the charming Raul Casillas, who is consulting chef here. Born in San Diego and raised between Tijuana and Mexicali, Casillas spent six years at L'Atelier de Joel Rubichon after attending Le Cordon Bleu in Las Vegas. His love of Mexican food led him to partner in Malva in Valle de Gaudelupe, and in 2021, he launched Valle in San Diego, which later earned a Michelin star.
Puesto Santa Clara is a stunning architectural mix of local graffiti art by Chor Boogie, along with handmade concrete tiles and Balsa wood tabletops, all designed by Paul Basile of BASILE Studio. The centerpiece is a massive liquor carousel that revolves around a giant skylight. The entire space is illuminated by great natural lighting, and outdoor seating is plentiful. The place says “grande” with every copper-accented inch of its fiber.
The menu is confined to appetizers, tacos, two salads, two enchiladas and three platas. It's always the simplest dishes that tell the tale. We loved the crudo verde with Ensenada kampachi, avocado, hoja santa leche de tigre and tomatillo, and the guacamole with fresh lime and orange, was refreshing and bright. A variety of tacos are all served on earthy blue corn tortillas. The ribeye taco with escabeche and avocado salsa was a standout for presentation. Although this is more of a margarita destination, we found the iced tea refreshingly strong.
Back in Mountain View, The Emerald Hour at Shashi Hotel has just rolled out a new bar menu to accompany its daily Golden Hour from 3-6 p.m. In addition to the special burger and cocktail combo for just $25, chefs Jarad Gallagher and Aubree Arndt have created a new menu of bites, from small plates like hamachi crudo, chickpea tabbouleh salad and chicken croquetas to larger entrees like asparagus pot pie with organic asparagus, béchamel, cornmeal biscuit, truffle butter and Calabrian honey.
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