Sauci Pasta Slated To Open In St. Charles This Spring

From the family behind Fratelli’s Ristorante, the fast-casual concept will feature house-made pastas and salads that are prepared to order.

A decade in the making, Sauci Pasta (1990 1st Capitol Drive, St. Charles) is slated to open its doors this spring in St. Charles’ University Commons Plaza, just across the street from Lindenwood University. From the family behind Fratelli’s Ristorante, the fast-casual concept will feature house-made pastas and salads prepared to order. Here’s what to know before you go.

The Menu

“Everyone is doing burritos and pizza, but we wanted to carve out this style for the pasta market,” says co-owner Ben Alagna.

For the restaurant’s signature offering, the Build-A-Bowl, guests choose from a variety of noodles (spaghetti, fettuccini, rigatoni, canestri, fusilli, or gluten-free penne), then dress up their bowls with a variety of sauces (red, white, rose, meat, pomodoro, carbonara, basil pesto, or garlic oil and herb), proteins (chicken, meatballs, or prosciutto), cheeses (mozzarella, burrata, ricotta, or Provel), and vegetables (broccoli, peas, eggplant, red peppers, or spinach). They can then watch as their dish is cooked to order.

Although Sauci is embracing the fast-casual, customizable concept, there’s a notable difference: Rather than the ingredients being pulled from steam tables, dishes will be customized in front of the guest and cooked to order in pans behind the line. “Food will be made in real sauce pans,” Ben says. “Pasta needs to be hot, and it all needs to meld together.”

In addition to customizable bowls, Sauci has several composed offerings, such as spaghetti and meatballs, chicken fettuccine, shrimp bruschetta and deconstructed lasagna. Salads (Caesar, Cosmopolitan, and Mediterranean) use Fratelli’s signature house dressing. Breadsticks, pasta salad, and zeppole (Italian-style ricotta doughnuts) will also be available.

For those who choose to dine in, food is delivered to the table via a number system. Customers also have the option to take their items to go, with online ordering available.

The Atmosphere

Ben describes Sauci as having a modern, fast-casual feel, outfitted in neutral colors with small splashes of red. “If Fratelli’s is classical music, Sauci is jazz,” Ben says. “It’s a little edgier and sexier but still comfortable for families, business people, and college kids.”

The owners are especially excited about the restaurant’s pasta-making area, located in the main dining room and sectioned off by a half-wall, so guests have a 360-degree view of the process. The area will be surrounded with counter seating, allowing diners to take in a pasta-making show while enjoying the noodles made fresh that day. Additional tables and chairs will provide ample seating.

The Backstory

Sauci Pasta co-owners Ben and Adam Alagna’s father, Joe Alagna, founded Fratelli’s with his brother Tom Alagna in Delwood in 1983. They drew upon what they learned while growing up in their parents’ North County staple, Tommasso’s. After a 13-year run, the pair relocated Fratelli’s to its current home in St. Charles County. It’s since become an essential part of the area’s dining scene, garnering legions of regulars for the pastas, pizzas, and such specialties as eggplant parmigiana, chicken spiedini, and filet.

In 2014, Adam came to Ben with the idea of a fast-casual riff on the family’s beloved Italian restaurant. At the time, the brothers were living in California and Florida, respectively, though each planned to return to their home town at some point, with the understanding that they would be called upon to be involved in the family business in some capacity. Sauci Pasta, it seemed, provided a way to do so while putting their own spin on it.

Yet there was always something—another out-of-state move, their uncle’s retirement, the pandemic—that kept them from realizing their dreams. “We’ve been nurturing this idea for 10 years and are finally moving on it,” says Ben. “It’s surreal, because you dream it for so long that it doesn’t feel real. But now, it’s really happening.”

The goal, the brothers explain, is to create a vibrant, fast-casual pasta brand without sacrificing the handmade, fresh food that people have come to expect from the family. “I feel like, for some reason, every restaurateur who does Italian goes high-end and goes big—and there’s nothing wrong with that,” Ben says. “But what I want as a dad, or even when I was in college, is to have access to that fresh-cut pasta that’s just as chef-driven but at a reasonable price point and quick. This is high-end, restaurant-quality pasta that’s cut fresh and made in house for everyone.”

Ben and Adam, who are now involved in both concepts, following their uncle’s retirement, are thrilled to be offering a new way to experience their family’s food, which they hope will be accessible to a wider audience. “When we sell food, we’re not really selling pasta; we’re selling the emotional outcome that people get when they dine with us, which is comfort,” Ben says. “With Sauci, we’re not approaching it any differently. We’re still telling the same story here: It’s comfort, but we are doing it in a slightly different way.”