The Big Heart of Piccola Cucina by Chef Philip Guardione

Piccola Cucina is Italian native Philip Guardione's restaurant chain that has celebrated the true Sicilian tradition for more than fourteen years in New York. Experiencing the Big Apple for the first time during vacation, Guardione fell in love with the energy of the “city that never sleeps” and made it his own mantra. "Here, every single day there's something new, every single day you have to invent something new, and you can't just freeze; you have to be constantly thinking, creating, doing," he said with the Sicilian accent that he fortunately hasn't lost. Born in 1981, Guardione speaks with a great sense of passion about his American adventure -- that has realized four restaurants at present with three in New York and one in Ibiza. It all began in 2008 when he opened his first restaurant with the ambition of sharing the true tradition of Sicilian cuisine with American foodies.

The three venues in Manhattan are Piccola Cucina Enoteca, Osteria, and Estiatorio. These restaurants are located in the neighborhoods of the Village and Soho, frequented by New York’s upper echelon of gourmands. For good reason, Piccola Cucina is at the top of Tripadvisor's list of top restaurants In New York City and it’s included in Gambero Rosso’s restaurant recommendations, as well. Piccola Cucina Osteria also won the prestigious 100per100 Italian Restaurant award as the best “Made in Italy” restaurant in New York. And here’s why: the cuisine is traditional yet contemporary in the true Sicilian style. Each restaurant may offer a different menu, but all dishes are characterized by the unique history of Sicilian gastronomy – with a modern twist. Swordfish rolls, sardine beccafico with a fennel and orange salad, maccheroni alla norma with salted ricotta, cavatelli with lamb ragù, Etna porcini mushrooms and Ragusa cheese, fried calamari with mayonnaise and citrus, cannoli… these are just a few of the authentic Sicilian dishes that have conquered culinary connoisseurs the world over -- from Italy to the United States.

Guardione attributes much of his culinary success to the quality of the ingredients: "We make a very simple cuisine only and exclusively with great products, we buy only the top of what the market offers and actually do very little because it's the quality of the products that speak for us," he explains. "We realized that the great success is not only in us, but lies in those who produce these great products, from the farmer to the breeder and so on,” Guardione points out. The products are mostly imported from Italy, but also from the Mediterranean as a whole, following the seasonality.

Regarding the success of his Piccola Cucina restaurants, Guardione feels the need to underline the concept of family because, in the end, you find yourself spending more time with your colleagues than your real family. This happens especially in an industry like the catering world where many hours and great sacrifices, in every sense, are necessary. That’s where the passion behind the sacrifice and the feeling that you belong to a big family comes into play. The Sicilian chef knows this very well – which is why he has even decided to place his employees, all strictly Italian, in a large four-story apartment building.

Philip Guardione started his career early and he now admits that the “unconsciousness” of youth played a significant role in his decisions: "It's a very complicated adventure. The risk is not only economical; it's also very high on a personal level. I don't think I'm an entrepreneur; I'm like a craftsman. A cook decides to open a restaurant to do his passion well; an entrepreneur puts the economic result in first place [of importance]. If after 14 years Piccola Cucina is still standing, maybe it's for having put in front the customer and not the profit.”

Philip Guardione's clients come from varying backgrounds, including wealthy people like the billionaire who recently requested Philip Guardione's catering for a private event in Maine. "I wondered why, of all the great chefs, she called me. And I gave myself a logical explanation. Today, humility and simplicity are not common qualities. So, she came to me for this reason. The fact is that we are like that; we're not putting on airs. Maybe that's our added value.”

Guardione explains this with the same sincerity he uses to show us that Piccola Cucina is among the few companies that invest their money in training its chefs. Not your average cooking course, it’s the real school of life: every three or four months, Guardione’s chefs travel abroad to try at least five Michelin-starred restaurants and as many trattorias to update and inspire their own menu, explore new tastes and understand how Mediterranean cuisine is evolving. Because the secret of Piccola Cucina's success lies in its people -- and in the great, big Italian heart of Philip Guardione, I might add.