{"id":352742,"date":"2026-06-09T06:52:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T06:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/352742\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T06:52:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T06:52:10","slug":"tower-bridge-dinner-chefs-debut-restaurant-pops-up-to-tout-upcoming-opening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/352742\/","title":{"rendered":"Tower Bridge Dinner chef\u2019s debut restaurant pops up to tout upcoming opening"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week, Visit Sacramento announced the lineup of featured chefs<\/a> for this year\u2019s Tower Bridge Dinner: Kate Sutherland of Waterboy<\/a>, Giancarlo Zapata of Chicha Peruvian Kitchen<\/a>, Francisco Rivera of Hawks Public House<\/a> and Joe Pruner of Bocce.<\/p>\n

That last one cocked a few ears. Unlike the first three chefs, who helm kitchens of established restaurants, Pruner\u2019s Bocce isn\u2019t even open yet. In fact, prior to the announcement, most people hadn\u2019t even heard of it.<\/p>\n

Pruner hopes to open Bocce early next month in the East Sacramento space that formerly housed V. Miller Meats<\/a> at 4801 Folsom Blvd.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still waiting on a couple electrical approvals and fire safety, but everything\u2019s kind of on track for about four to five weeks,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Bocce has been an objective of Pruner\u2019s for several years, but it started to become reality last year when the V. Miller space became available. Paul DiPierro and Scott Ostrander, owners of adjacent restaurant Origami Asian Grill, encouraged Pruner to talk to the landlord when the space vacated.<\/p>\n

\"Joe Joe Pruner, owner and chef of upcoming restaurant Bocce, prepares a sandwich before his restaurant\u2019s pop-up event at Origami Asian Grill in Sacramento on Sunday, June 7, 2026. LIBBY SIMPSON libby.simpson@sacbee.com <\/p>\n

Pruner\u2019s concept is to open a neighborhood Italian spot, featuring fresh and extruded pastas, pizza, sandwiches and more, all through a California lens.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be lots of seasonal vegetable sides, whether it be a nice salad with some beautiful baby lettuce from Watsonville, or roasted broccoli with lemon anchovy vinaigrette with shaved parmesan,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The space will be small, with seating for only about 20, but they plan to add outdoor seating as well. Bocce will be offering takeaway, both in the form of prepared food and things customers can cook at home, like pasta and sauces that come with instructions.<\/p>\n

\"Staff Staff help prepare salads before Bocce\u2019s pop-up event at Origami Asian Grill in Sacramento on Sunday, June 7, 2026. LIBBY SIMPSON libby.simpson@sacbee.com <\/p>\n

Pruner is an industry veteran locally, having been part of the inaugural team at Empress Tavern and worked at Obo\u2019, Mulvaney\u2019s B&L and the now-defunct Woodlake Tavern, among other places.<\/p>\n

While not Italian-American himself, Bocce\u2019s menu reflects Pruner\u2019s passion for the cuisine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe concept just comes from the food that I like to eat and cook, and the food that I\u2019ve been cooking in the Sacramento region for the last 20 years, hyper-seasonal food that\u2019s local and whenever possible organic. We have such beautiful products around here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

To drive interest in the new spot, Pruner held a pop-up event at Origami, which is normally closed on Sundays. The diminutive menu contained just three sandwiches, two salads and a single dessert. Still, it took a significant amount of preparation.<\/p>\n

\u201c I was at Bocce until 1 a.m. Saturday night rolling 600 meatballs with my wife and kids, who went home a little earlier than that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The pop-up was announced by only one social media post, but word spread. By the 11 a.m. opening, people began to queue up outside the restaurant, and the line continued to grow.<\/p>\n

\"Customers Customers wait in line to order at Bocce\u2019s pop-up event at Origami Asian Grill in Sacramento on Sunday, June 7, 2026. LIBBY SIMPSON libby.simpson@sacbee.com <\/p>\n

Neighbors Jack Keys and Courtney Klein have lived around the corner for four years. They had their eyes on the hand-pulled mozzarella sandwich and the chicken parm smash.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan\u2019t go wrong with that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Bailey Hicks also lives just down the street. She was vacillating between the chicken parm and the bocce ball sandwich, a meatball sub on baguette from Duc Huang in South Sacramento.<\/p>\n

Like others, Nikki Halsey learned of the event via Instagram and felt compelled to give it a try.<\/p>\n

\u201cChicken parm smash. Yeah, I think that\u2019s my three favorite words of all time there. And then the panna cotta,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Pruner plans to have future pop-ups on June 21st and 28th in advance of the opening.<\/p>\n

Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Sean Timberlake<\/a><\/p>\n

The Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n

Sean Timberlake is the food and dining reporter for The Sacramento Bee. He has been writing professionally about food for over 20 years.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last week, Visit Sacramento announced the lineup of featured chefs for this year\u2019s Tower Bridge Dinner: Kate Sutherland…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":352743,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":["post-352742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}