Da Boccery: Local restaurateurs bringing bocce back to Livermore

The Livermore Valley will again have a space that offers food, drink and bocce as the owners of Sauced BBQ and Plucked Chicken have announced plans to open Da Boccery, a new entertainment and restaurant venue at the former site of Campo di Bocce, which closed earlier this year.

The announcement of the new establishment started circulating on social media on April Fools’ Day, causing some to question its veracity in their comments. Kristina Wulff, director of brand development for Sauced and Plucked, said the timing was strategic to create more buzz and public interest in the new business slated to open this summer at 175 E. Vineyard Ave.

In addition to bocce courts, Da Boccery will offer ax throwing, shuffleboard and footpool — an activity that blends pool and soccer. Wulff said that they learned one of the questions people often asked when booking events at Campo di Bocce was whether they had more than bocce ball. The new owners, cousins Brenden Scanlan and Barrett Gomes, are responding to that need by expanding their activities.

The chefs and general manager from Campo di Bocce will transition to Da Boccery staff members but instead of Italian-style food, American cuisine — described in the initial announcement as “elevated pub food” — will be on the menu now.

“There will be something for everyone,” Wulff said, adding that there will also be a full bar, featuring craft beer and cocktails.

After being a part of the community for 15 years, the owners of Campo di Bocce closed the doors of its Livermore location permanently in January, citing financial impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Fremont site was also shut down, but the original Campo di Bocce in Los Gatos remains open.

While the pandemic took its toll on many local businesses, Fat Chance Entertainment, Inc. — the local company that operates Sauced and Plucked — has been able to thrive and expand with the opening of Plucked in October and another Sauced in Orange County, according to Wulff.

“This pandemic has had a lot of effect on our industry and with a lot of places closing down, I think it’s refreshing to see places opening,” she said, attributing the progress of Sauced, Plucked and now Da Boccery to the determination of the executive management team. “All of our restaurants were affected by this but we somehow managed to pull through it.”

Da Boccery is currently in the renovation stage and Wulff said there are permits and other requirements that still need to be fulfilled but the process is underway.

“We’re able to turn things around pretty quickly because it’s our same team of people (from Sauced and Plucked) doing all of these things,” she said. “It seems like an advanced notice but there’s a lot of work that’s going to go into getting this open in that period of time. We just wanted to get the community excited about it and it seems that people really are very happy that something went in there so quickly.”