The new coffee roaster at Tootsie's allows the restaurant to offer coffee as fresh as its food. (Photo courtesy Rocco Scordella)

By Kate Bradshaw

Since opening Tootsie's in the Stanford Barn 13 years ago, it's been a dream for owner Rocco Scordella to be able to roast coffee on-site, he says.

After a several-month closure, the interior of the Italian breakfast and lunch restaurant has been freshened up with new tiles, paint and counters. And more importantly, Tootsie’s has purchased a small coffee roaster, allowing the restaurant to roast its own coffee beans. It's now open again to serve customers weekdays from 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

The restaurant had for years sourced its coffee beans from Italy, but due to shipping delays, the beans they were receiving were getting older and older – "not the high quality we used to get," he says.

"With the machine we have now in-house, we can have fresh coffee beans every 72 hours," he says.


Tootsie's at the Stanford Barn has a new coffee roaster and now offers freshly-roasted coffee beans. (Photo courtesy Rocco Scordella)

Since reopening the restaurant about two weeks ago, Scordella says that visitors have been enjoying the new interior – much of which was designed by his wife, Shannon.

"She has a vision that I cannot take credit for. I can barely put two colors together," he says. "She did that."

Moving forward, he says, not only will all of the food be made in-house that day, but the coffee will be as fresh as the food. He's hoping the roasting will add more flavor to their coffee beverages, from espresso to drip coffee. They're also planning to develop special blends available for purchase.

Tootsie's at the Stanford Barn, 700 Welch Road, Palo Alto; 650-521-0254. Instagram: @tootsiesbarn.