Oakland’s Desco to Close on December 31

Desco, the rustic wood-fired Italian restaurant from chef Donato Scotti, will close its doors at the end of the month. Via email, Scotti says the closure is the result of an “inability to come to a long-term agreement that would allow us to make updates to the restaurant space and concept.”

The chef will maintain his two restaurants in Redwood City — Donato Enoteca and CRU — and the recently opened Donato & Co., a collaboration with chef Gianluca Guglielmi (formerly of A.G. Ferrari). Scotti and Guglielmi also have a plan in the works for a San Francisco restaurant, though there are no further details available.

Desco opened in 2013 serving wood-fired Neapolitan-style pizzas and house-made pasta, with an emphasis on Italian regional dishes in Old Oakland; the chef says that while it was doing “very well,” he’s chosen to focus more attention on his other projects.

Fans of the restaurant can bid it fare well at one of the special dinners planned for Christmas Eve or New Year’s. No word yet on what will take the place of the 50-seat corner restaurant, located across the street from the historic Swan Marketplace and includes popular neighbors like Miss Ollies, Cosecha, and B-Dama.

• Desco, Wood-Fired Italian in Oakland [ESF]
• Donato & Co. Is Headed to The Advocate’s Space in Berkeley [ESF]