"The primary reason was the kitchen, we needed a bigger space," Ricky Pinocchio told the Union Democrat on the day his family's restaurant reopened on Mono Way. A few months later and a couple of miles west, Sunny Pence gave What Now Sacramento a shorter version of the same idea about her bakery on Washington Street. "We're moving, and we're making it bigger and better."
Two of Sonora's best-known places to eat changed addresses this year. Neither one closed or rebranded. Each moved into a larger space it could build around. The open question now is what happens to the rooms they left behind.
A former Dairy Queen, rebuilt around a kitchen
Pinocchio's has been part of Tuolumne County dining since 1975. Before this year, it had spent nearly three decades at Sonora Plaza Shopping Center, in two different spots there since 1997. The last one was next door to the Donut Factory. In early 2026 it reopened at 14619 Mono Way in East Sonora, in a building put up in the late 1980s or 1990s as a Dairy Queen.
The seat count changed the most. The Sonora Plaza location held 44 diners inside and eight outside. The new one seats 74. Ricky Pinocchio, 42, who owns the restaurant, said the family had been aiming for around 60 seats. Once the kitchen was laid out the way they needed, the rest of the floor plan fell into place.
His sister Corinne Pinocchio, 41, is the general manager. She pointed to a change regulars will notice quickly. The old space had one small section that could hold a group of 12, and even that was hard to arrange because the restaurant was so busy. The new space has several areas for large parties. "We're all about family, so here we have multiple options where people can bring everybody," she said.
The menu stayed exactly the same, on purpose. Before opening, the family and staff cooked every item in the new kitchen, then held a friends-and-family night on a Sunday. The oven-baked sandwiches go back to 1959, when Joe Sr. and Alyce Bogosian Pinocchio opened an Italian delicatessen in Lakewood, in Los Angeles County, and later added a kitchen. On opening day, two longtime customers ordered half a Dad's Italian Sausage and a large New York Grinder. One of them said, "We grew up back East and it really is pretty close to a New York grinder."
A photo of Grandma Alyce, whom everyone called "Mom," now greets customers at the new location. Corinne said the bigger room is meant to feel more like her grandmother's large restaurant from the 1980s, though without the pizza. "We don't do pizzas, we do the sandwiches and the pastas, but we really wanted the family feel," she said.
The move also added jobs. Pinocchio's hired about eight more people, bringing its staff to 34. Corinne said a typical social media post from the restaurant gets 4,000 or 5,000 views. The post announcing the opening got about 75,000.
On Washington Street, the same reasoning with a full bar
Pence Farm Sourdough made a shorter move, from 147 S. Washington Street to 123 S. Washington Street. In early July, What Now Sacramento reported that owners Sunny and James Pence had applied to the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control for a liquor license at the new address. A temporary permit let them start operating there while the permanent license was pending. They also filed for a caterer permit and an event permit.
By late September, the bakery's myMotherLode dining listing described the move as done. The menu has grown well past the loaves, focaccia, avocado toast and build-your-own toast plates that built its following. It now includes sourdough pizzas, sandwiches, salads, cookies, take-and-bakes and a full bar. The listing says bread and dough are still "the main get-down."
The bakery has also changed what goes into the food. It switched to organic flour, and its cookies are made with organic flour and sugar, farm-fresh eggs and beef tallow. The bakery has also partnered with local restaurants, bars, casinos and chefs to get its sourdough onto more tables. The business started with a year of baking at home, followed by two years of building the business downtown, before this expansion. Those downtown years were at 147 S. Washington.
The new address has its own history. In earlier coverage, the Union Democrat reported 123 S. Washington as the new home of Flappy's Pizza Co., in the space Intake Grill had used before that. The room has served food for years under several names, and it now has a bakery bar in it.
Side by side, here is how the two moves compare:
| Pinocchio's | Pence Farm Sourdough | |
|---|---|---|
| Old address | Sonora Plaza, 736 Mono Way | 147 S. Washington St. |
| New address | 14619 Mono Way, East Sonora | 123 S. Washington St. |
| What the new space was before | A Dairy Queen built in the late 1980s or 1990s | Previously reported as Flappy's Pizza Co., and before that Intake Grill |
| Stated reason | Bigger kitchen | "Bigger and better" |
| What changed for diners | 74 seats, up from 44 inside plus 8 outside; room for large groups | Pizza, salads, take-and-bakes, full bar; catering and event permits |
| What stayed the same | The full menu | Bread and dough as the core |
The rooms left behind
Both businesses moved on their own schedules, which leaves two vacant spaces with different stories.
- 736 Mono Way, the former Pinocchio's at Sonora Plaza. In April, What Now Sacramento reported that Samir Fadel, who owns Divine Market in Soulsbyville and Columbia Market & Deli in Columbia, had applied for a beer-and-wine license there for a concept called Divine Bistro. Fadel said the plan was still early. "I don't even know what the menu's going to be yet," he said, and he expected to have a clearer picture in about a month. As of the end of September, we have not found any public report that Divine Bistro has opened or that the plan has changed. For now, it is a proposal.
- 147 S. Washington Street, the original Pence Farm. We have not found any public report of what comes next at this address.
Fadel's current businesses give a sense of what a Divine Bistro menu could look like. Divine Market serves breakfast burritos, sandwiches, pizzas, burgers, gyros and wings. Columbia Market & Deli focuses on sandwiches, Mediterranean dishes and house-made specialties. A third location at the old Pinocchio's spot would be another case of a local operator expanding into a room a local restaurant had already set up.
The one Mono Way project starting from scratch
Sonora's other food-and-drink project this year is a new build rather than a move. On February 10, the Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to approve the zoning changes and a site development permit for a Dutch Bros Coffee and a Take 5 oil change. The site is a 1.14-acre parcel about 1,300 feet northeast of Greenley Road and Mono Way. The developer is Michael Fillebrown.
That parcel holds the building many locals call the Bird House, a red house with a steep roof once owned by Hal Bird, a former business leader. Supervisor Jaron Brandon voted no. He had asked to send the project to the Historic Preservation Review Commission before the building could be demolished. County staff said an outside firm hired by the developer, as the county requires, had found the building did not meet the criteria for a historic structure. Supervisor Mike Holland said the developer had already met every county requirement and argued against further delay.
The Union Democrat reported that the developer hoped to have both businesses running before the end of 2026. With three months left in the year, we have not found a public update confirming that construction has started, so that target is still a hope, not a date.
That makes three different kinds of change along Mono Way this year. A former fast-food building became a 74-seat family dining room. A shopping-center space is waiting on a bistro whose menu its owner hadn't decided as of April. A historic-looking house is approved to give way to a drive-through. On Washington Street, a bakery moved a few doors down and now serves pizza and drinks.
At Vass Haus, we watch how a building gets reworked for a new use, because the same questions come up in homes. Yana Vass's construction background goes into every valuation she does. That means looking at how a kitchen works, how the layout fits the way a household lives, and what a space could become. If you're curious how your own floor plan and kitchen affect what your Sonora home is worth today, Yana Vass would be glad to walk through it with you. Schedule a Free Home Valuation & Consultation.
