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Wander to Richmond for Some Worldly Wonders 

By Anya Soltero

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PHOTO BY ANYA SOLTERO - Café Gran Milan offers savories and sweets.
  • PHOTO BY ANYA SOLTERO
  • Café Gran Milan offers savories and sweets.

Richmond is experiencing great transformation including a new ferry terminal and a burgeoning food scene. In the Contra Costa coastline city, you can devour Italian donuts, put away blazing-hot pupusas, slurp Southeast Asian soup, savor some soul food, and more. Here’s a Richmond culinary sampling.O

Gran Milan Is The Bomboloni

Café Gran Milan is a petite café concealed in an industrial lot amid automotive shops, but it has a mighty and loyal following for its warm welcome and generous selection of sweet and savory delights, including warm pizza and panini, a host of homemade Italian pastries, and strong espresso. Gran Milan is clearly a labor of love for Rufo Verga, the affable owner from Varese, Italy, who can be overheard carrying on animated conversations in Italian with his Italian-speaking clientele. His gracious café manager, Myra Maldonado, keeps the operation running like a, well, well-tuned engine. Cannoli curious? Verga’s are not to be missed. Loosen your belt for other not-too-sweet delights like the berry and custard tart, thousand-layer cake, tiramisu, and bomboloni — an Italian custard-filled donut. Craving savory? Try the cherry tomato or eggplant focaccia warmed to order, take home a heavenly half-baked pizza like the house-made sausage and mushroom, or choose from a selection of panini offerings. For those with a hunger for Italy, Café Gran Milan can satisfy it. Café Gran Milan, 5327 Jacuzzi St., Richmond, 510-984-0679, GranMilan.com.