At 630 Third Street, a life-size horse draped in pink stands near a wall of pink flowers and a pink carousel. This is Café Carrusel, the all-day Mexi-brunch spot that took over the former La Fondita space downtown. The more interesting part of the story is who did it. Sonoma Magazine reported that Carrusel comes from the owners of La Fondita, so the people who ran the old restaurant in this room came back with a completely different idea.

The same thing has happened across Santa Rosa this year. Nearly every opening worth knowing about since June comes from an operator who already had a track record nearby, and most moved into a space many locals already know. The names on the doors are new. The people behind them, and many of the buildings, are not.

Every New Name Has a Previous Address

Here is how the summer and fall openings line up, by where they are and where their owners got started.

Most rows show the same thing. Whether the first location was a truck, a shop or another restaurant, the owners proved the concept there before signing a lease in Santa Rosa.

Two Downtown Nightlife Rooms, Now Serving Dinner and Spices

The clearest examples are a block apart on Mendocino Avenue, just north of Courthouse Square.

Capriciano Osteria opened at 505 Mendocino Ave. in the space last used by Tipsy Taco, which had closed suddenly in March 2025 after eight years. Before that, the room was the Acapulco Lounge. Chef Baki Bekci grew up in his family's restaurant in Fethiye, on Turkey's Turquoise Coast. He cooked in Four Seasons kitchens in Istanbul, Los Angeles and Calistoga, then founded Mezzeluna in Cotati, which he has since left. He turned the old cantina into a cozy dining room with two large fireplaces and an outdoor patio that Sonoma Magazine called larger than most in the region. When the magazine visited a week after opening, the room was already packed.

The menu sticks to Italian classics, and the prices give a sense of the place:

• Shrimp carpaccio with passion fruit vinaigrette and Sicilian chile, $22
• Grilled octopus with tomato-caper sauce and smashed potatoes, $24
• Ravioli al limone with mushroom filling and a lemon-cream Parmesan sauce, $28
• Risotto frutti di mare with shrimp, lobster and clams, Bekci's signature dish, $34

Lunch runs 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday through Sunday. Dinner is 5 to 9:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Reservations and details are at capriciano.com.

A block south, at 404 Mendocino Ave., Wind McAlister opened the second Sonoma Spice Queen shop in early September. The space used to be the Kozy Kar nightclub, which McAlister has acknowledged with some humor. She had been scouting Healdsburg and Sonoma when the Santa Rosa storefront came up. In April she was aiming for a mid-June opening, so the shop arrived about a season later than planned.

The timing matters because Santa Rosa had been without a dedicated spice shop. Savory Spice closed its downtown store in 2024, and Penzeys left Montgomery Village in January 2025. The new shop fills that gap with McAlister's organic blends, rubs, chiles, peppercorns, salts and sugars. She has ground whole spices by hand for more than 13 years, and in 2013 she was among the first in Sonoma County to get a Cottage Food Operator Permit. She now works from a commercial kitchen.

The Food Truck Pipeline on the East and West Sides

Away from downtown, the pattern shows up as food trucks becoming restaurants.

Jamerikan Jerk, a Jamaican food truck that has been around for years, now has a restaurant at 2792 Fourth St. on the east side. The business describes its food as Jamaican-American fusion, with jerk chicken, braised oxtail and Caribbean ribs. Details are at jamerikanjerksr.com.

On the west side, Aladdin Grill opened in September at 2101 W. College Ave. with wraps, kebabs and Turkish coffee. The original truck is still parked on Grove Street in Sonoma. The Santa Rosa location has a full kitchen, and a review in The Northern Table says the portions came along unchanged. The shawarma is still sliced to order off the spit.

A short drive away, Afghan Kabob Cafe opened at 2478 W. Third St. It is the second location of a popular halal restaurant based in Tracy, serving kabobs, biryani and bolani. So two Middle Eastern and Central Asian grills, each the second outpost of an established business, opened within a few weeks of each other on Santa Rosa's west side this September.

Montgomery Village and the Long Wait at Cricklewood

Two more openings show how long some of these rooms take to fill.

Cascabel closed at 909 Village Court in Montgomery Village on May 23, 2025. Olives and Agave opened there in mid-September 2026, about 16 months later, serving tapas and Mediterranean dishes drawn from Spanish and Middle Eastern cooking. The menu includes hummus, kibbeh, kafta, whole branzino and lamb shank tagine. The owners have not been named in local coverage, which makes this the one opening on the list without a known backstory.

The longest wait is at 4618 Old Redwood Highway. The original Cricklewood building there was destroyed in the October 2017 wildfires. It was later rebuilt but has stayed empty. The team taking it over runs Sweet T's in Windsor: co-owners Ann and Dennis Tussey and pitmaster George Ah Chin, who grew up on Hawaii's Big Island. Their new restaurant, Hapa's on the Mainland, had been in development for three years when the Press Democrat reported in March that they expected to open by the end of 2026. Plans call for an indoor tiki lounge, a dining room and two outdoor bars, with seating for more than 200 guests. Dishes at an investor preview included poke, lomi salmon, shoyu chicken and fried kampachi.

As of Sonoma Magazine's September 8 update, construction was underway. No opening date has been announced. The restaurant's own build-out page still describes an earlier permitting stage, so the end-of-year goal is the latest public target, not a confirmed date. "We hope to have everyone with tiki mugs in hand by the end of the year," Ann Tussey said in March.

The Openings That Don't Fit the Pattern

A few new spots arrived without a local history. Dolce Rosa Cafe opened at 4910 Sonoma Highway, Suite B, with owners Josie Ortega and Martin Chaparro still adjusting an all-day menu. It includes focaccia with avocado, burrata, pistachios and hot honey, tiramisu pancakes with espresso mascarpone and a pistachio latte. Dinner may come later. Kyoto Ramen and Hawaiian BBQ, a California-Pacific Rim chain with 15 kinds of ramen, opened at 1940 Piner Road, Suite 600.

Even so, the rest of the list holds up. Of the eight places in the table, six come from operators with a documented history nearby or in the same room: Carrusel's owners came from La Fondita, Bekci from Mezzeluna, McAlister from her Petaluma shop, Jamerikan and Aladdin from their trucks, and the Tusseys from Sweet T's. Afghan Kabob Cafe adds a seventh, with a track record in Tracy. Seen together, Santa Rosa's 2026 openings look less like newcomers arriving and more like established nearby businesses expanding into the city.

For a night out this month, Capriciano and Olives and Agave are the sit-down options. Carrusel lists hours of 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 to 10 p.m. daily, though Sonoma Magazine suggests confirming before you go. The Spice Queen shop on Mendocino Avenue is a short walk from Capriciano if you want to stop by before dinner.

I keep track of which Santa Rosa rooms are changing hands because the same buildings come up when I walk clients through downtown and the Old Redwood Highway corridor. If you'd like to hear what's opening next, or how these blocks are changing, Kellie Larson is happy to share what we're hearing. Contact Us.