When the word got out that popular restaurant Piccolino was closing at October’s end, patrons old and new began flocking to eat a last meal there and tell proprietors Orit Dahan and Anat Yazdi how much they had enjoyed the food and the ambiance over the years, and how they will miss the friendly service provided by the two sisters and their staff.
I went on Wednesday evening to order my favorite item on the menu, seared tuna salad, and noticed that several other diners had ordered the same. It was really fantastic value for the money – a generous portion, attractively presented, and very tasty. Orit and Anat came to sit with me for a while, and I suggested that even if they were closing, they should write a cookbook with recipes of the items that were bestsellers.
They said that others had suggested it, and they were thinking about it, but they were not yet ready to get out of the restaurant business altogether. Orit wants to start looking for new premises, but Anat wants to take time out to relax for a while. Running a restaurant involves a lot of mental and physical strain.
Over the past three years, Anat said, in addition to worrying about the welfare of 34 employees, she was also deeply concerned about her son, a company commander, who was seriously wounded in the face while fighting in the current war. She credits Hadassah with doing a fine restoration job, and said that her son had received 124 stitches and still needs some more, even though he was discharged from the hospital and has returned to his IDF unit.
Orit is determined to have as narrow a time gap as possible between closure at one venue and opening up at another. Finding the right location will not be easy. Piccolino was huge inside, and shared the very large outdoor courtyard with other eateries that border it. Finding something of the same size is a challenge, though perhaps less of one than is generally realized. With all the construction going on in the city, a lot of metal doors that were closed for years have either opened up or been removed, revealing alleyways and interiors of unoccupied shops and apartments.
Two white elephants in fairly close proximity to each other
Aside from that, there are two white elephants in fairly close proximity to each other. One is the Bell Tower on King George Avenue, and the other is the Clal building on Jaffa Road. A restaurant like Piccolino could breathe new life into either building.
On the night that I was at Piccolino, smiling waiters and waitresses in black T-shirts bearing the white Piccolino logo on the back moved quickly between tables, bearing trays of plates filled to overflowing with mouthwatering concoctions.
Baskets of souvenir Piccolino T-shirts for NIS 80 stood at the edge of the stage in the square. Snatches of conversation in Hebrew, English, and French emanated from the various tables. Diversity was definitely evident – not only in terms of language and preferred foods, but also in age. The range was from very senior citizens to infants in baby carriages. Some of the older people came in wheelchairs or walked with the aid of walkers or canes, but all were greeted affectionately by the two sisters.
Walking along Hillel Street to catch a bus back home, I noticed that all the coffee shops were either empty or very sparsely populated. On the bus was a woman carrying two large takeaway bags from Piccolino.
Orit had invited me to come back on Friday, the last day Piccolino would be open for business. When I showed up at 10:30 a.m., there were already some 30 people seated outside, and some others inside.
Ten minutes later, lone soldiers, who have been fed free of charge every Friday for well over a decade, began to take their places at the very long table that ran almost the whole width of the square. They were enthusiastically greeted by Orit and Anat.
This time, the soldiers brought a gift – a very large plate on which there was a painting of a group of soldiers, their faces slightly obscured.
Speaking on behalf of all, their leader said that they had been to other places where they were well treated, but nothing could compare with the warmth and the generosity of spirit they had experienced at Piccolino.
The key to the success of any restaurant, be it a hole-in-the-wall or an elegant dining room, is in the quality of its cuisine. But beyond that is the special ambiance of the kind provided by Orit and Anat.
They remember every face and every name, and greet people affectionately, as if they were best friends or family members. They also know what their customers like to eat, and sometimes bring it to the table themselves instead of sending it with waitstaff.
There’s a certain pull to a restaurant where the proprietors instantly recognize you, embrace you, and sit down at your table for a minute or two to chat. There was also the sumptuous Friday buffet, with its extraordinary variety of choices that outdo the breakfast buffets of luxury hotels.
Meanwhile, as of this month, Orit is scouting for a new venue in the downtown area. She is reluctant to relaunch in suburbia and is adamant about relaunching somewhere downtown.
Nostalgia time at Beit Avi Chai
■ IT WAS nostalgia time this week at Beit Avi Chai, with the opening of a photo exhibition of some of the many images of Jerusalem captured through the lens of the camera of photojournalist Aliza Auerbach, who died 10 years ago.
Auerbach’s photos frequently appeared in The Jerusalem Post, and her legacy gives future generations a visual concept of Jerusalem of yesteryear, most of which has disappeared or will disappear over the coming decade.
Today, there are still residents of the capital who remember pre-state Jerusalem and the gradual development of the city. For some, the rapid changes that have taken place since COVID are painful, because so many former landmarks are no longer visible, so many bus routes have been diverted, and so much of the city has been uprooted to make way for the new Jerusalem.
The photographs taken by Zvi Oron, Werner Braun, David Rubinger, and Rachamim Israeli refresh memories of a Jerusalem that once was, and is no more.
English-language guided tour of the exhibition: Thursday, November 12, at 6 p.m. Learn more: www.bac.org.il/en
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