Former Biba Bartender To Open New Restaurant In East Sacramento

A longtime bartender from Sacramento's iconic Biba Restaurant is getting ready to open his own place in the area.

June Chang will soon open a new restaurant, Mattone Ristorante, on Folsom Boulevard in East Sacramento.

Chang worked with Biba Caggiano for more than a decade. He is bringing along previous staff members he worked with at Biba Restaurant.

Biba closed its doors in early May after Caggiano's death and coronavirus-related financial troubles.

Many credit Biba Caggiano as the woman who put the Sacramento dining on the map. Caggiano passed in August of 2019 at the age of 83.

While the new restaurant is heavily inspired by Biba's, Chang said it won't be a carbon copy.

"We're going to serve Italian cooking, but it's not like Biba's," Chang told CBS13. "We're a new restaurant, we're serving new Italian cooking."

The new restaurant will be located the what was formerly the site of Espanol. The restaurant's name in Italian is a reference to the building's brick structure.

Chang hopes to have the Mattone Ristorante open by April.

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