The team behind Noto Italian Restaurant will open Bacaro, a Venetian cicchetti bar, in early March. Bacaro will be located in the same building as Noto at 5105 Westwood Drive in St. Peters. The restaurant borrows its name from the Venetian taverns where patrons sip on wine or aperitifs accompanied by cicchetti, which are essentially Venetian-style tapas.

Indeed, it was a trip to Venice last year that inspired Noto owners Wayne Sieve and Kendele Noto Sieve to create the concept in their own little corner of the world. “We wanted to come up with a concept of an aperitivo bar where people can come and have small bites, have spritzes, have Italian wine and just casually hang out and eat,” Kendele said.