After the upper Fillmore lost its longtime mainstay Elite Cafe in April, the story of another legacy restaurant calling it quits joined a number of others across the city. Now we finally get word that the space has a taker and it's prolific restaurateur Adriano Paganini and his Back of the House Restaurant Group — the team behind Beretta, Delarosa, Barvale, A Mano, Starbelly, and the recently opened Wildseed, to name a few.

While Paganini, who was a founder of Pasta Pomodoro, began his career focused mostly on Italian food, his local restaurant empire has expanded to include Mexican (Uno Dos Tacos, Flores), Argentinian (Lolinda), Spanish (Barvale), and vegan cuisine (Wildseed), in addition to the Super Duper burger chain, and fried chicken sandwich spot The Bird.

A rep for the restaurant group confirms to SFist that it's taking over the Elite Cafe space at 2049 Fillmore Street, saying they will not be keeping the name (or the iconic sign outside). And they confirm that the new concept will be Italian, returning to Paganini's roots — further details are still TBA.

The New Fillmore blog reports that Back of the House had been in some lengthy negotiations with Andy Chun, the leaseholder and restaurateur behind Elite Cafe's final incarnation. And they report that building owner Rick Howard plans to strip off the newish black paint on the facade and restore some of the exterior's Art Deco detailing.

The turnaround may be quick, but no opening date has yet been announced.

Photo: Molly DeCoudreaux via Facebook