Anthony and Tracy Palombo say the place they're opening in two weeks will be more than just a restaurant.

Husband and wife want 5th and H Café to be a place for friends and family to gather around good food and a glass of wine — a space like his uncle's café in Italy, where Anthony first started out in the restaurant business one summer when he was 24.

His uncle's trattoria sits in Montepertuso, a small town hidden in the cliffs above Positano on the Amalfi Coast. The name of his uncle's restaurant: Il Ritrovo.

"That means in Italian, 'Where Friends Meet,' " Anthony Palombo said. "It's the most beautiful place on earth."

Palombo worked at the restaurant for a year and a half. He did everything he could to learn the restaurant business inside and out.

"I was working in the kitchen day and night," he said. "Those stories you hear about chefs working 16, 17 hours a day — that was me.

"From waking up early to make fresh pastas to going down on my scooter to the market for fresh fish, pretty much right out of the sea," he said. "It was something you dream of."

Palombo has dreamed of opening his own restaurant for 15 years. After moving to the area four years ago, he helped open Spataro Restaurant and Bar as the sous chef. He worked at the downtown Bistro 33 for a year, then went back to Spataro as the chef. After two more years there, he began to put his dream into motion.

Now he and his wife are opening a restaurant like his uncle's in the back corner of the historic Railway Express Agency Building, between the train station and the federal courthouse.

With minor modifications, they're taking over the space vacated by Soups in the City and leased out by Johan Otto, who restored the building with another developer, Lynn Pomeroy. The café, decorated with a terra cotta floor and walls in autumn shades, will hold 10 tables.

He has a lot of family support. He and Tracy found a new deli case through Craigslist. His uncle, an electrician, drove down from Santa Rosa to install more electrical wire. His dad, a bricklayer, may help build a brick barbecue in an outdoor patio.

The café will be much like his uncle's, he said. Palombo will run the place himself, offering friendly, one-on-one service with help from two people in the kitchen. He said he doesn't want to put a label on his food.

"I just want to be able to do what I want to do; make what people want to eat — fun stuff," he said. "I'm going to really focus on my food. There's not really a place where you can get good, fresh food around here."

The 5th and H Café will serve breakfast and lunch, along with wine by the glass and bottles of beer. The focus will be on seasonal, locally-grown ingredients, with plenty of vegetarian options, Palombo said.

His dad's garden will supply some of the produce for the café. Palombo will also use fruits and vegetables from growers like Soil Born Farms and Full Belly Farm.

The breakfast menu will include lavender waffles and apple pancakes. Lunch items will include seasonal soups made from scratch each morning, paninis, whole wheat wraps, Niman Ranch burgers and rustic tuna salad poached in olive oil with arugula and beets.

The café will also serve artisan cheeses, cured meats, housemade antipasti and seasonal fruit plates.

The restaurant will open the fourth week in November. Hours will be from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday. Catering will be offered and outdoor seating may be added in the future. Palombo said he's starting with the basics, and then will develop the menu based on what customers want.

They expect to serve travelers using the Sacramento Valley Station, judges and lawyers working in the courthouse and state workers, he said.

"I want to cater to the people around here. I want them to feel comfortable," he said. "I want this to be a place where friends around the area come to meet."

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.