February 3, 2005

DiCiccos under new ownership but still serving authentic Italian food

DiCiccos Restaurant, which has been a Campbell fixture on Bascom Avenue for the last 30 years, is under new ownership.

Juan Estrada, the restaurant's evening chef and Sergio Zesati, background, kitchen manager and chef are hard at work. Estrada has been with DiCicco's for six years and Zesati for the past 12.

Allison and Rick Hatzenbuh-ler bought the restaurant last May, closed Memorial Day weekend to clean and reopened the following Tuesday for lunch.

“We didn’t change much because we didn’t have to,” said Allison. “We rearranged some things and we made some changes in the menu, but most of the restaurant’s fixtures remain.”

She noted that they kept the old-fashioned cast iron dough cutters as well as the pizza chef Eleno Bustos. “He’s been making pizzas by hand for 26 years. He makes the dough from scratch and hand throws the pizzas. People love to watch him work.”

Other changes include a new driveway, new landscaping, tastings and the fish. Fresh fish is now delivered daily, she said and the restaurant holds tastings quarterly. To meet their standards, the pair held tastings. “We’ve had cheese tastings, wine tastings and dessert tastings,” she said laughing. “We even had a butter tasting.”

DiCicco's Eleno Bustos is making pizza crust. Bustos, who has been with DiCicco's for 26 years makes the dough from scratch and tosses it just like it’s done in Italy. By the way, Bustos' brother Isidro has been with the restaurant for 30 years.

DiCicco’s has always been known for its pasta. Allison said the restaurant is as close to a New York Italian eatery as possible. It’s well known for its pizza, pasta and calzone as well as eggplant parmigiana calamari appetizers and calamari dore. One favorite she noted is chicken buona dona. It’s a chicken breast with prawns that are sautéed with roasted red peppers and mushrooms in a cream sauce.

“We’re also known for our bread,” she said. “It’s authentic Italian Ciabatta bead. We make it here and it’s awesome.”

When the Hatenbuhlers took over DiCicco’s they also changed parts of the menu. They now offer a chef’s creation page, which changes weekly. They also brought in special homemade Italian recipes from Allison’s family and from friends that have been shared over the years. “We offer things that typically are on an Italian menu as well as homemade special features,” Allison said.

One thing Allison definitely knew nothing about is Italian wines. So she began studying them. She has learned a lot about Italian wines and now offers a four-page wine list with extensive tasting notes “from all the wines I’ve tried.”

“I learned a lot about Italian wines and I learned it quickly. We had our favorite Napa varieties, but I didn’t realize how many wonderful wines are produced in Italy.”

DiCiccos also now offers quarterly wine dinners. They had one in November and a second in January. They plan to do another in April.

DiCicco’s, at 2509 South Bascom Ave., is open seven days a week. It serves lunch from 11:30 a.m. on weekdays when it closes at 9 p.m. On Saturday and Sunday, it’s open from 3- to 10 p.m. For reservations, call (408) 377-5850.