Ettore brings European pastries and more to University Union

All pastries are not created equal.

"I would rather have one pastry of good quality than 20 pastry that are bad," said Ettore Ravazzolo of Ettore's. The award-winning pastry chef will be preparing some of these fine pastries and breads when he moves part of his renowned Sacramento business into the catering kitchen of the University Union.

Ravazzolo is subletting part of the kitchen and will provide most of the sweets and breads to be served by the campus eateries.

Ravazzolo owns the popular restaurant/European bakery/catering business on Fair Oaks Blvd. He serves everything from coffee, salads, and salmon to a wide variety of desserts. He bought the business in 1985 eight years after moving here from Europe, when it was still Viva Croissant. It has been expanded three times since the purchase. Pictures of his two sons, Harrison and Reilly adorn the front counter of the restaurant, and he credits the festive decorations to his wife, Lisa.

"You should see it here at Christmas. It's beautiful," said Ravazzolo.

The Swiss-born chef prides himself on the quality of his products and is excited about the new partnership with the campus.

"I'm a firm believer in quality. I'm excited about being able to produce good food for the university," said Ravazzolo.

And CSUS Foundation's food services division is excited to have him.

"We're really happy the partnership is happening. We looked at lot of different bakeries and they seemed to have the quality we wanted and we knew it was popular with the campus," said Nancy Pennebaker, special assistant to the executive director of the CSUS Foundation.

After a loss in revenue last year, food services has reorganized their program, said Pennebaker, Ettore's lease, and his outfitting of the kitchen with his own new equipment, will result in much of the older kitchen equipment being loaned by the University Union to other areas of food services, including the Riverfront Market.

"We've taken a real aggressive approach to food services. We're thrilled about using the equipment from the Union," said Pennebaker.

Ravazzolo said he would be moving into the kitchen within the next week and hopes to be producing his goodies within the next three weeks. The final contract was signed Friday.

Among other things, he said he is excited about the new "Artisan" bread his staff will be baking. The bread can take anywhere from three to 48 hours to produce. Some of his current 50-person staff will be working in the kitchen, starting as early as 3 a.m. to make breads and pastries.

"Some people don't realize the labor and love that goes into our food," said Ravazzolo. "We make everything fresh every day and use 100 percent butter."

In addition to providing food for the campus and his restaurant, Ravazzolo would also like to see some sort of baking program eventually implemented at CSUS or a nearby junior college.

"I love to teach," said Ravazzolo, who still visits his homeland to check up on what's new in food.

Ravazzolo's contract is good for the next three years and he plans to stay in the United States a lot longer than that.

"I love America," he said.