Steven Licht welcomes any opportunity to showcase the recipes and traditions that have defined Piccolo Authentic Italian restaurant in Mayfield Heights since his father, Christopher Licht, opened the family restaurant in 2013.
The opportunity is especially ripe, says Piccolo manager Steven Licht, during Cleveland Independents’ (CI) Cleveland Restaurant Week—offering $39 prix fixe menus at more than 30 CI member restaurants, starting Monday, March 2 and running through Saturday, March 14.
Licht has a special three-course menu planned, which he says highlights the house favorites that Christopher Licht’s customers have been enjoying for 15 years.
Cleveland Restaurant Week runs Monday, March 2 through Saturday, March 14.“He’s been [in the restaurant business] pretty much his whole life, bouncing around different restaurants before opening Vivo Ristorante in Parma [in 2011],” recalls Steven Licht of his father’s tenure in the restaurant industry. “He had the opportunity to open up another store, which is Piccolo, and we just moved everything here and closed Vivo down a little after Piccolo opened.”
Through both Vivo and Piccolo, the Lichts have attracted a loyal customer base with recipes that have been passed down for generations—serving up generous portions, made from scratch and using fresh ingredients and Italian imports.
The Piccolo menu touts dishes that originated in Licht’s great-grandmother’s kitchen in Sicily—such as calamari Giovani, chicken piccata, and homemade meatballs in a homemade marinara sauce.
“These are all recipes that [Christopher] created, and took his inspiration from our roots in Sicily,” says Licht. “Our Gnocchi Rossa has been a staple for the restaurant for a long time now. That one was his grandmother’s recipe, so that one’s been with us for a long time.”
Restaurant Week innovation
Cleveland Independents, which represents nearly 50 locally-owned eateries in Northeast Ohio, is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, so Licht says he’s created an enhanced Piccolo menu for this year’s Restaurant Week.
“For the 20th anniversary, we decided to go with a little bit more, so our customers get a little bit better of a deal,” he says.
The augmented menu includes a choice of the traditional starters—Italian wedding soup, the soup of the day, or a house salad—but Licht also adds an appetizer section, featuring “a small thing of the calamari Giovanni or the fried mozzarella,” he says. “Those are our two most-popular appetizers.”
For entrees, diners can choose from chicken piccata, shrimp Maria, or the popular gnocchi rossa. “I would definitely recommend the gnocchi rossa,” admits Licht. “Out of those three, it’s a little bit more close to home.”
The Piccolo meal is topped off with spumoni or a cannoli as dessert options. Piccolo’s Restaurant Week menu is for dine-in service only.
Pizza perfection
In addition to the Italian specialties offered on the Restaurant Week menu, Licht urges customers to consider Piccolo’s locally-famous pizzas—made with their equally-popular focaccia bread and pizza dough.
“He used to have dough delivered at Vivo, but they were late on the delivery,” Licht recalls of his father’s decision to make his own dough. “He was like, ‘Screw it. I can make my own dough.’”
It ended up being a wise proclamation.
“Then all of a sudden, everybody loved our focaccia bread, everybody loved our pizzas,” muses Licht. “So we’re the self-proclaimed pizza kings of Mayfield.”
Celebrating 20 years
Cleveland Independents stemmed out of Cleveland Originals, which started in 2004 as part of an umbrella organization, Dine Originals—an organization made up of locally owned, independent restaurants located in secondary markets, including Cleveland and elsewhere in the country.
Twenty-two years ago, Cleveland Originals invited area restaurants to a meeting about forming a buying group—claiming it could beat any food costs that the restaurants had with their existing vendors.
Cleveland Originals launched with about 35-40 members, but when protocols started being ignored, a group of owners left Cleveland Originals after two years and formed Cleveland Independents in 2006.
Piccolo owner Chris KichtCleveland Independents grew rapidly. The new organization dropped the buying group component and the organizers decided to solely focus on marketing.
At its peak, pre-COVID-19 pandemic, Cleveland Independents had 95 members. While many member establishments closed because of the pandemic, many others closed as diners’ behaviors changed—white tablecloth restaurants were no longer as popular as they once were, and grab-and-go concepts emerged—Cleveland Independents persevered.
Today, Cleveland Independents has about 60 members and is in an expansion mode.
“I am extremely proud and grateful to celebrate 20 years of Cleveland Independents,” says Karyn Kreps-Frisina, CI vice president and PR rep for Blue Canyon Kitchen & Tavern. “Our collaboration has created a strong group of independently-owned restaurants making a large impact on the CLE restaurant scene.”
Kreps-Frisina adds that CI allows the local restaurants to stretch the marketing dollars, amplify their voices, and implement new industry trends.
“Chains churn out product, we independents are not bound by pre-fab recipes, we create and magnify primarily locally-resourced goods,” she says. “Our members maintain a focus on the health and wellness of the guest rather than quick chow and indigestion.”
“It is excellent to support our own communities,” Kreps-Frisina continues. “Onward and upward. Cheers to 20 more!”
Piccolo Authentic Italian restaurant is located at 1261 SOM Center Road, Mayfield Heights, 44124. Hours are Sunday through Thursday, 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 4 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Dining and Cooking