Amaro Bistro & Bar, the latest venture from the team behind Shady Lady Saloon, opened three months ago in the revamped, early 20th-century B&G Rochdale Building at 11th and R streets, in Sacramento’s hottest dining and drinking neighborhood, R Street Corridor.

The figurative space Amaro occupies, as a restaurant serving spaghetti and meatballs, lasagna, linguine carbonara and pepperoni pizza every day, is just as important. Amaro is that piece that was missing from Sacramento’s Italian restaurant scene, in which one can count on places such as Hot Italian or Masullo for gourmet pizza but must seek pasta elsewhere.