The team behind San Diego's hit Italian restaurant group Buona Forchetta has unveiled GP Diner, a Roman-style pizzeria, gelateria and drive-through diner now serving in Encinitas.
Native Italian Matteo Cattaneo opened his award-winning Buona Forchetta in San Diego's South Park neighborhood in 2011 and has been expanding his restaurant empire ever since. In March 2017, the company opened an offshoot dubbed Officine Buona Forchetta in Liberty Station, which coincided with the announcement of an Encinitas Buona Forchetta that debuted in October 2018. The team also operates Enoteca Buona Forchetta, an Italian bodega and bistro that sits two doors down from the company's flagship South Park restaurant.
In early 2020, Buona Forchetta ownership opened Matteo, a non-profit breakfast-centric restaurant in South Park, as well as Garage Buona Forchetta in Coronado and Roman pizzeria Gelati & Peccati in North Park. Last year, Cattaneo also opened a Buona Forchetta branch in the 3,000 square-foot space that last housed a location of the now-defunct PrepKitchen chain within Block C at the North City mixed use residential and retail development in San Marcos, with another branch opening in San Clemente, CA later in 2022. In order to host private events, the Buona Forchetta team took over the former Moose Lodge at 1648 30th Street in South Park and is in the process of constructing an event venue and restaurant dubbed Meraki. This past February, Cattaneo opened casual, NYC-style pizzeria concept Forchettabouddit in Encinitas's El Camino Promenade that previously housed Pizza@Portafoglio and later this year will open a Texas-style barbecue restaurant called Carbón in South Park.
Last spring, Cattaneo took over the 2,138 square-foot space that long housed a location of Angelo's Burgers on Coast Highway 101 in Encinitas. Being the unit has a drive-through component right in the center of the building, the group decided the best way to maximize use of such an asset was to offer an eclectic array of food and beverages that would be good for take-out. Dubbed GP Diner, the eatery offers a menu of Roman-style rectangular pizza from Luca Zamboni, homemade gelato by Giovanni Bonomi, and diner classics with an Italian flair from Executive Chef Hanis Cavin, all available for breakfast, lunch and dinner. There is also a full coffee menu with a selection of pastries, croissants and more baked goods.
GP Diner is now open Tuesday through Sunday from 11am to 10pm at 608 South Coast Highway 101 in San Diego's North County community of Encinitas. For more information, follow GP Diner on Instagram.
