Chef and restaurateur Fabrizio Cercatore opened Hot Italian Pizza Bar in San Rafael. (Photo by Robert Durell Photography)
Hot Italian Pizza Bar recently opened in San Rafael. (Photo by Robert Durell Photography)
A pizza from San Rafael’s Hot Italian Pizza Bar. (Courtesy of Hot Italian)
The interior of Hot Italian Pizza Bar in San Rafael. (Photo by Robert Durell Photography)
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Chef and restaurateur Fabrizio Cercatore opened Hot Italian Pizza Bar in San Rafael. (Photo by Robert Durell Photography)
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After quietly debuting in February with gelato and a limited menu while awaiting permits for his Italian pizza oven, chef and restaurateur Fabrizio Cercatore marked the launch of Hot Italian Pizza Bar last month with a celebratory party at the downtown San Rafael restaurant.
The Italian-born chef channels the spirit of an all-day European cafe, a casual place to gather for lunch, dinner, wine, espresso or dessert, but in a setting that’s urban and streamlined. He draws on a long legacy of pizza making and offers two types.
Roman-style pizza, or pinsa Romana, uses a high-hydration dough made with a blend of wheat and rice flours that ferments for up to 72 hours, producing a thin, crisp crust that’s hand-pressed into an oval shape. The more familiar Neapolitan pies have a softer crust with a pillowy interior and charred edges.
Gluten-free diners can opt for an organic crust made from cornmeal and rice flours.
Toppings feature combinations of imported Italian meats, seasonal produce and a variety of cheeses: San Marzano-style and sun-dried tomatoes; Calabrese salami; prosciutto di Parma; fennel sausage; smoked salmon; grilled summer squash; mushrooms; arugula; pears; ricotta; gorgonzola; and fresh or smoked mozzarella.
Other menu highlights include eggplant Parmesan, lasagna with meat sauce, mushrooms or pesto, and panini with fillings such as oven-roasted salmon with fennel-lemon mousse; smoky speck with fontina and mushroom truffle sauce; slow-roasted porchetta with sautéed broccoli rabe and melted provolone; or grilled vegetables with pesto.
Near the entrance, a circular case displays small-batch, house-made gelato in seasonal and classic flavors like strawberry and mango sorbet, pistachio, mint chocolate chip and stracciatella. Other desserts include tiramisu, chocolate soufflé and ricotta pistachio cake.
Cercatore jumped on the opportunity to take over the former Perry’s Deli location when it became available.
“San Rafael is a place I’ve always wanted to be,” says Cercatore, adding that he tried to open a location in the area 10 years ago.
The long, narrow space had been fully renovated by Kaity and Roberto Galvez, co-owners of LJ’s Deli in Terra Linda, when they took over the longtime sandwich shop in 2020. The wide-plank wood floors, charcoal-toned wainscoting and crisp white counters and subway wall tiles remain, and white molded plastic café chairs have been added around black square pedestal tables. Along the wall between the front and back dining rooms, glass-front refrigerators hold to-go items like Italian meats, pizza crusts, focaccia, tomato sauce, olives, burrata and beverages.
Bifold doors in the rear open to a dog-friendly patio with bike parking, picnic tables and bright yellow umbrellas beneath string lights.
Growing up in La Spezia on the Italian Riviera, Cercatore learned to cook from his mother and grandmother.
“They made it like a game when they’d have me making the gnocchi,” he said.
After training at a regional vocational culinary school in Italy, he opened La Tavernetta pizzeria in Cinque Terre and ran it for 17 years, creating 90 pizza varieties and earning maestro pizzaiolo status.
By 2008, Cercatore was intent on bringing authentic, high-quality Italian cuisine to the United States and co-opened the first Hot Italian in Sacramento in 2009, followed by a second in Emeryville in 2012 and a third in Davis in 2016.
By 2019, Cercatore split with his investors after all three locations had closed but continued to operate Passione Brands, a Berkeley-based wholesale production and distribution company for pizza dough balls, pasta and gelato he established in 2012. In 2020, he opened the Passione Emporio restaurant in the same building.
Hot Italian Marin is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Wednesdays and 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays, with lunch specials from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and happy hour from 4 to 6 p.m. daily, at 909 Lincoln Ave. in San Rafael. Find details, reserve a table or find a link to the What’s In the Kitchen blog at hotitalian.net.
Leanne Battelle is a freelance food writer and restaurant columnist. Email her at ij.lbattelle@gmail.com with comments and find more local food news at therealdealmarin.com.
Originally Published: August 12, 2025 at 11:40 AM PDT
Dining and Cooking