Strada Cucina Italiana, the fast-casual pasta counter that opened on Broadway in downtown Salt Lake City, offers a full dinner service alongside its daily lineup, turning the same storefront into two different restaurants depending on the hour. By day it still runs a lunch counter with paninis and build-your-own pasta bowls; by night it now serves antipasti, ravioli del giorno, manicotti, Portofino-style risotto, New York strip bistecca, and braised lamb, according to the restaurant's own announcement.
The dual concept, detailed in a release carried by PR Underground, is the work of founder Matteo Sogne, who also opened the fine-dining flagship Matteo Ristorante Italiano. Strada sits at 30 E. Broadway in downtown Salt Lake City, according to Utah Business, placing it in downtown Salt Lake City. Sogne has described Strada as the “fun 1980s colorful riviera sister” to Matteo's more Northern Italian-inspired flagship, saying its menu reflects his family's legacy, tradition, and joy of sharing meals.
A Lunch Counter Built for Office Workers
The lunch side of Strada, open Monday through Friday from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., was designed as a budget-conscious counterpoint to Matteo Ristorante's higher-end pricing. Lunch prices include a $16 offer of any half sandwich, side salad or dessert, and soda, while some pasta dishes are listed as high as $17.50. At the center of the daytime menu is a customizable pasta bar offering seven handcrafted pasta shapes paired with six made-from-scratch sauces prepared daily, all adapted from the flagship restaurant's recipes.
The lunch side is aimed squarely at downtown office workers looking for a quick, quality meal rather than another sandwich-shop routine.
One Family Kitchen, Two Different Shifts
Dinner runs Monday through Saturday from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., and Strada bills it as an intimate, bistro-style experience distinct from the counter-service daytime hours, per PR Underground's release. The dinner menu draws on generations of the Sogne family's recipes, with Executive Chef Damiano Carlotto tasked with perfecting those dishes for Strada's kitchen. Carlotto imports all of the restaurant's charcuterie directly from Italy while preparing roasted pork, house-made sausage, polpette, and chicken cutlets fresh each day, according to Utah Business.
Behind the scenes, Sogne built a dual-kitchen model to give daytime prep staff full-time hours and benefits. Strada leans on the flagship Matteo Ristorante's kitchen, located one block away, for daily prep work, according to Utah Stories. The shared-kitchen setup was designed to close that gap.
Family Recipes Rooted in Modena
The Sogne family moved to Salt Lake City from Modena, Italy, a region famous for Parmigiano Reggiano and traditional balsamic vinegar, and folded those regional recipes directly into their Utah restaurants, according to Salt Lake Magazine. That heritage shows up literally in the bread: Sogne's mother, Manuela, bakes fresh ciabatta daily for Strada's paninis and fills Italian cannoli to order, a routine Utah Stories has reported built on her earlier reputation for focaccia and desserts at Matteo Ristorante.
Sogne's own path to the restaurant business ran through the pool rather than the kitchen. Before founding either restaurant, he was a swimmer at the University of Utah, posting top-10 times in program history, and graduated in 2020 with a math degree, according to University of Utah Athletics. Matteo Ristorante Italiano itself carries some pedigree of its own, having been named Utah's Best Restaurant by Salt Lake Magazine in 2025.
Filling a Gap Left by Downtown Chain Closures
Strada's dinner service comes as downtown Salt Lake City sees the closure of a long-standing chain outpost. The 400 South Chili's closed in May 2026 after 30 years in business, as Hoodline previously reported. Sogne has framed the dinner service as a way to bring the community in for casual family dinners, after-work meals, and celebrations with friends, combining Italian food, wine, and hospitality under one Broadway roof from morning pasta bowls to evening bistecca.
