Doug Flicker is back! After spending the past several years cooking for other people, the chef-partner of the late, lamented Auriga is now cooking at his own wee little 36-table restaurant. Piccolo presents a dining style new to the area, a mini-entrée menu we've been hard-pressed to name: Coursed dining? Fractional eating? Tasting plates? Eh, we'll keep working on it. Until then, we do know what the concept does for chefs (allows them to stretch their creative muscles) and diners (experience as much of that excellence as possible). For about $10 a pop, diners receive the sorts of plates that chefs might whip up for themselves after a long day's work (scrambled eggs with pickled pig's feet and truffle butter; gnocchi with white beans, robiola cheese, and house-cured guanciale) or when they're in a fanatic, R&D, recipe-tinkering mode (roast chicken re-imagined for modern times with the help of "meat glue" and a sous vide machine). By the time you make your way to dessert—malted panna cotta with figs and chocolate-milk foam, for example—you'll find yourself sated without feeling stuffed. Good things come in small packages, remember?
Will has it wrong. My wife and I just returned from a Fathers day dinner at Piccolo and I would have to say that it makes more sense to spend $125 for two and come away saying "this is the best meal I have ever tasted" than to spend $30 and not eat for the rest of the day. Get off of the bathroom scale and taste a work of art.
I wish for a world where people understood the reasoning for small portions. They're there to eat but not just eat to get full, but eat to experience the art of combining different flavors and textures of food. As stated in "No Reservations", the idea is for people to come in and start with maybe a soup or salad. Next, an appetizer. From there on maybe two different entree's. After that cleanse the palette with a dessert. You eat at places like this to have an experience, not just get full. In America I think we all have the wrong idea of full...we think more along the lines of "when I go out to eat, I need to get stuffed." I have not been to Piccolo yet but my boyfriend and I plan on it very very soon as we just moved here and have recently come to know about this restaurant. Thank you to those who understand the idea of fine dining.
What were you thinking?These portions are NOT small. They are tiny, miniscule. The taste was delicious, then you're done.I have never spent $30 on a 'meal' and come away hungry. Had to rush home to eat something. BTW, I am ideal weight and have a modest appetite. They will survive if they double portion sizes.
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