An Italian restaurant where Silicon Valley’s power players once dined and struck deals will close this weekend.
Palo Alto’s outpost of regional Italian restaurant chain Il Fornaio, which has operated at the El Prado hotel, at 520 Cowper St., for the last 36 years, will serve its last woodfired pizza on Sunday. Palo Alto Online first reported the news.
The Il Fornaio location was well known to be frequented by tech and venture capital leaders. In a 2007 feature, the Wall Street Journal reported that regulars included leaders from Silicon Valley Bank, Sun Microsystems and Apple — including founder Steve Jobs, who would order pizza with no cheese as part of his fruitarian diet. “The backroom is where business is discussed,” the Journal wrote, “while the front attracts the see-and-be-seen crowd, like U2’s Bono and Condoleezza Rice (once the provost at nearby Stanford).” Table 11 was the most sought-after, for its high visibility…