If you want extra special service at the newest restaurant opening in Modesto’s Village One, you’d better brush up on your Italian. Gusto Italiano is opening in the former Rusty Red Grill space at the corner of Claus Road and Sylvan Avenue, with two native speakers at the helm. The Italian eatery is the first restaurant from longtime Modesto business owner Calogero Sacco, who also owns Cornucopia Natural Foods on Coffee Road.

Sacco, whose parents both immigrated to America from Sicily, has brought in an Italian chef originally from Calabria to help make his 30-year dream of opening an authentic Italian restaurant a reality. The San Diego native had been working as a musician in San Francisco three decades ago, when the opportunity to open an Italian spot in Modesto arose.