The owners of Sampino's Towne Foods will open a Mexican restaurant next door to the deli in September, reports the Sac Bee's Allen Pierleoni.

The space next to Sampino's was long occupied by a Chinese restaurant that closed. Michael Sampino wasn't specifically thinking of opening a new restaurant there when he began negotiations to buy the space.

"I bought it because I wanted the 20-foot hood system in its kitchen and to have more electricity," he said. "We've maxed out every ounce of electricity this building (that houses Sampino's) will allow. The (next-door) kitchen will let us double our capacity of (the foods) we can prepare for Sampino's."

Read the entire story in the Sac Bee.

Since we're on the subject of Sampino's, I hear great things about their lunch, but have never made it out there myself. I have, however, been able to make their Friday Night Dinners.

I went once at the end of last year, and while I could tell the family who runs the restaurant was really trying, I was a little underwhelmed. At $35 or $40 per person (depending on what you order), they offered a lot of food, but the quantity didn't make up for its inconsistent quality. Between the 3 of us and an inexpensive bottle of wine, we spent $164, including tax and tip. For that amount of money, we should have gotten a great meal and not just a lot of food.

I'm not sure if I'll try their dinner again, but I do look forward to trying their lunches.

Sampino's is located at 16th & F streets.

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