Sep. 5 -- Popular Nob Hill dining spot, Scalo, is exploring a new concept.

Diners will see a Sicilian focus on the restaurant's reimagined menu. Other new features include a Chef's Table, intimate seating area inside Scalo's wine room and a bistro-focused bar area. Cooking classes also are part of the reenvisioned Scalo, 3500 Central Ave. SE.

The restaurant brought back renowned chef Gaetano Ascione to lead the revamp of the restaurant. He previously spent a few months in the summer of 2020 redirecting Scalo's concept. Ascione brings his experience of running Michelin- and Zagat-rated restaurants around the world. He has worked for the White House serving former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, and managed the Inaugural Banquet for former South African President Nelson Mandela.

"We're gonna have dishes like busiate and mafaldine," Ascione said. "... The busiate will be served with clams and has no cheese. It stays in the (Sicilian) tradition and (we) don't serve any shellfish with a cheese. Then we have the famous Nebrodi pork, which is like pork belly."

Paccheri pasta, which is three times the size of rigatoni pasta, will be served with a meat ragù as a special rotating pasta dish menu offered on Sundays. Other Sunday pasta dishes may include calamarata and cavatelli.

Another offering to watch out for is something Ascione calls "very controversial."

"I'm going to put fettuccine alfredo on the menu, but it's not the fettuccine alfredo you see at Olive Garden," he said. "This is the original recipe from alfredo in Rome and it's very simple. It's mixed in front of the customer. What we do is we put some soft butter on the bottom of an olio plate. When you cook the pasta, you put the pasta right on top of the butter, use a little bit of water from the cooking pasta, then put a lot of Parmesan cheese on top in front of the customer. You mix all these things."

Ascione said the fettuccine alfredo will almost be like a cacio e pepe without pepper. He added it is the traditional way of making fettuccine alfredo.

A new added dining feature is the Chef's Table that does not have a set menu.

"I always used to call it a punishment table because you eat until you cannot anymore," Ascione explained. "And food will not be served by the server, but by the cooks. And every cook will serve the food and will explain what they've done. So you give some glory to the cooks also."

The table will be decorated with spices for a pleasant sensory experience.

"I call it aromatherapy," Ascione said. "I put on the table all the spices, it's peppercorn, star anise, fennel seeds, and it looks beautiful. And also you get the nice smell of all the spices that you have there. It really looks nice because you've got the green, the pink, the white. I put some nuts. And when the people sit down, they're kind of smelling all those herbs and all of a sudden those spices, they became one, so they have an idea (of) what the Chef's Table is. It's also the feeling you're going to have food that is reflected in the spices or the herbs that we use in the kitchen."

Scalo's bar is also getting a makeover and will become Scalo Bistro. It will feature rustic decor in a more casual setting.

"There is going to be still seating at the bar, but (tables are) going to have checkered tablecloths," Ascione said. "That is going to feel more rustic and not so intense like the restaurant with white tablecloths and white napkins. It's going to be more like a bistro. It will be a bit more bar food like the crab cake, pork belly, fried olives, the arancino, the chickpea flour pancake."

Patrons will also be able to enjoy an intimate dining experience inside Scalo's wine room that seats from two to six people.

"You cannot go and drink iced tea or have a coffee (in the wine room)," Ascione said. "You should have some wine, because it should entice the people to sit around the bottles of wine. So the wine cellar, I would suggest, is for vino aficionados, the people that like wine."

Another new component is the Politically Incorrect Culinary Academy or PICA, as Ascione refers to it.

"We're going to do (the cooking classes) probably on an off night, like on a Monday, when the restaurant is closed," he said. "And then start right after working hours, (at) five or six (o'clock). And people come inside and do not expect to sit down and watch you. (I) expect them to come and work (in the kitchen). I call it the day in the life of a chef. You see what happens and how we do things. And, you can travel my kitchen and eat and (learn about) the products I use. What is the product? What is the oil?"

Scalo will close for a week to implement the changes. It will fully open to the public on Tuesday, Sept. 10.