Sauci Pasta opens second location in Des Peres, expanding St. Louis reach

Sauci Pasta expanded its St. Louis footprint by moving into the former Porano space at 13323 Manchester Road in Des Peres, a 3,400-square-foot spot in a Trader Joe’s-anchored shopping center just west of I-270. The site choice says a lot about where diners are spending: on fast-casual food that feels fresher than standard takeout, but still easy to grab on a suburban errand run.

Ben and Adam Alagna own the concept, and the business still reads like a family operation first and a growth story second. Sauci grew out of Fratelli’s, the longtime Italian restaurant their father, Joe Alagna, started with Tom Alagna in Delwood in 1983. Adam Alagna had pitched a fast-casual version of that family idea to Ben years before the first Sauci opened, and the brand has leaned into that backstory instead of trying to look like a disposable chain.

Sauci debuted in St. Charles in July 2024 at 1990 First Capitol Drive, where it quickly drew strong local interest. The restaurant describes itself as a modern pasta shop serving fresh pasta bowls and thoughtfully made salads, and coverage of the opening said the kitchen makes pasta daily and offers six different shapes from a visible prep area. The St. Charles location runs Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., a schedule that fits the lunch-and-dinner rhythm of a concept built around speed without giving up the made-fresh appeal.

Des Peres was already familiar territory for fast-casual Italian. Porano opened there on July 29, 2024, in a 3,200-square-foot space next to Trader Joe’s, with plenty of parking and easy access to major thoroughfares. It closed on March 31, 2026, and Gerard Craft said the decision was not about the location or the concept, but about Niche Food Group not wanting to keep growing a fast-casual chain.

Sauci’s move into that address makes the second location feel bigger than a simple swap of names on the door. It points to a customer base in St. Louis that will support scratch-made pasta in a shopping-center setting, especially when the brand comes with a family name, a daily prep story and the kind of convenience that turns dinner into an easy stop instead of a production.