A storefront that spent years selling kitchenware is about to serve Roman-style pasta instead. Marco's Ristorante Italiano is preparing to open at 1730 Main Street in Escalon's historic downtown, and California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control records show the restaurant filed a new liquor license on August 24, listing chef Marco Baldieri as the sole managing member.
The opening caps nearly 10 months of interior renovations that transformed the space into a restaurant and Italian market, according to the 1730Main Facebook page. Crews added new marble work, kitchen equipment and fresh paint while intentionally preserving original fixtures from the building's earlier life as a commercial meat locker. As reported by WhatNow, the restaurant sits among the antique shops, coffee shops and boutiques that line Escalon Main Street.
Before Marco's moved in, the address was home for years to The Butler's Pantry, a kitchenware and gift boutique that owner Jamie Butler opened in 2018, per 209 Magazine. That shop later relocated its storefront to neighboring Ripon, leaving the space open for its latest transformation.
A Chef With Roots in Rome and Stops Across the Country
Baldieri traces his family background to Rome, and WhatNow reports he has opened restaurants across Rome, England, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Oakdale, Scottsdale, Seattle, Las Vegas and Salem. He previously ran Marco Ristorante Italiano in Salem, Oregon, and Mamma Italia Ristorante in Dayton, Oregon, before selling the Dayton location in early 2021, according to the Oregon Wine Press. The Dayton restaurant was acquired by local chefs who kept its Italian menu focus intact.
Baldieri also opened Baldieri Café in Greece, New York, in September 2022, serving authentic Roman family recipes with imported Italian ingredients, the Westside News reported at the time. WhatNow describes his move to Escalon as a return to the Central Valley, bringing his restaurant brand back to California after years running dining rooms in the Pacific Northwest and Upstate New York.
City Grant Program Helped Bridge the Gap
Marco's Ristorante Italiano received a small business incentive grant through the city's program, per attribution in WhatNow's report. The grant traces back to Escalon's 2026 Economic Development Incentive Program, which the city launched in February with $40,000 in Measure P local sales tax revenue matched by a $20,000 contribution from Oak Valley Community Bank, according to the Escalon Times. That created a $60,000 total grant pool for local entrepreneurs in the program's first year.
WhatNow reports the grant program ultimately awarded funding to nine businesses, including home-based micro-bakery Oak & Ember Sourdough, community venue The Barn, and Tacos de Nieve. The Escalon Times detailed an earlier round in which the city council awarded $38,800 across five businesses, including $6,000 to Oak & Ember Sourdough and $18,000 to The Barn, funding that supported both storefront expansions and home-based ventures scaling up commercial equipment.
The city's Economic Development Committee reviewed every grant application, basing awards on project readiness, documented investment, community benefit and alignment with council priorities, WhatNow reports. Shawn Strohman said the city's contribution helped speed up projects that strengthen Main Street, while Jeff Kay said the grants helped businesses bridge funding gaps and move forward with confidence.
Measure P Tax Dollars Fuel a Broader Downtown Push
The grant program draws on Measure P, a 1% municipal sales tax Escalon voters approved in November 2024 that is projected to generate roughly $900,000 annually, according to Ballotpedia. A citizen advisory committee made up of resident volunteers appointed by the city council oversees how those funds get directed toward police, infrastructure and business incentive grants.
The grant program is part of a larger, structured effort to revitalize downtown Escalon. In 2025, the city set aside $150,000 to form an Economic Development Committee and hired consulting firm Natelson Dale Group to draft a citywide Economic Development Strategic Plan focused on Main Street and other major commercial corridors, per the City of Escalon. That plan centers on business retention, site inventory and expanding the city's sales tax base.
For the 2026-2027 fiscal year, the Escalon City Council adopted a $6.7 million General Fund budget within a total municipal budget of roughly $23.1 million, leaving about $700,000 in unassigned surplus funds for local debate and allocation, according to Citizen Portal. Escalon, a San Joaquin County city known for its walnut processing industry, is home to roughly 7,500 residents, and its small-city fiscal caution has shown up elsewhere too — in July 2025, city managers from all eight San Joaquin County municipalities, including Escalon, jointly pushed back on a proposed service expansion by the San Joaquin Regional Transit District, demanding better inter-agency collaboration over taxpayer dollars.
WhatNow, which first reported on the liquor license filing and the restaurant's Main Street opening, has not published a target opening date for Marco's Ristorante Italiano, and that detail remains unconfirmed. For now, the marble counters and preserved meat-locker fixtures at 1730 Main Street stand as the clearest sign that Escalon's downtown revitalization has a new tenant.
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