Bar Citra Welcomes Head Chef Marcos Puglielli + Brings Back Dinner Service
ST. AUGUSTINE, Florida (Oct. 8, 2026) – Bar Citra will resume weekend dinner service beginning Friday, Oct. 16, following a seasonal summer pause and expansion of the café’s culinary team. Dinner will be served Friday and Saturday evenings, from 5 p.m. until 9 p.m., bringing back favorites from the restaurant’s earlier menus alongside new dishes and rotating seasonal specials.
“We always wanted Bar Citra to be a place people can return to again and again, morning or night, and for the food to feel ambitious without becoming precious,” says co-owner Andrew Deming. “Marcos brings a real depth of craft and attention to detail. Dough and fermentation are central to what we do, and he has an incredible depth of knowledge in that area. At the same time, he can zoom out and think about the kitchen as a whole system. We run a bakery, a full daytime kitchen, and now dinner service again from a pretty small space, so everything has to work together. That combination feels really right for Bar Citra.”
Dinner service is returning following the arrival of new Head Chef Marcos Puglielli, who joined Bar Citra this summer. He brings more than 15 years of restaurant and hospitality experience, with expertise in pizza, bread, and dough. Most recently, Chef Puglielli served as General Manager and Chef at Perla’s Pizza in Winter Park, where he developed and launched the restaurant’s menu. He previously served as Operations Manager at Mister 01 Extraordinary Pizza in Lake Mary. The addition of Head Chef Puglielli is part of a larger investment in Bar Citra’s food program, including a growing in-house bakery that produces daily sourdough alongside cardamom buns, cinnamon buns, and an expanding range of salt breads.
Dinner service will retain Bar Citra’s casual, counter-service format, with a new menu designed to complement the café’s natural wine program and its seasonal approach to food. The return of evening service will also bring back many of the dinner dishes that have become guest favorites, along with new specials and seasonal additions from Chef Puglielli and the culinary team. After 5 p.m., guests can enjoy Meatballs + Polenta, with large grass-fed beef meatballs served over creamy polenta grits; savory Ricotta Gnudi, featuring house ricotta dumplings served in a Parmesan broth with remoulade, chili paste, and a thick slice of Citra’s sourdough. Chef Puglielli will also offer rotating specials, including a new Housemade Pasta every Friday, Pizza al Taglio with a sourdough crust and chef-inspired seasonal toppings, and a Focaccia Sandwich with hand-dimpled focaccia and rotating seasonal fillings, served with olive oil chips.
