Two Popular Elmhurst Restaurants Work in Concert by Sharing the Space Between

Sharing a Mediterranean tie in their cuisine, Cafe Amano and Pazzi di Pizza are hoping a space between their businesses will help expand their clientele.

The space was made available when Amano Boucherie, a European-style butcher shop, closed in October. Cafe Amano will use the back side of the space, which includes a complete kitchen, to expand its catering business, while Pazzi di Pizza will take over the front, window space to expand its bar, seating and waiting areas.

Both eateries have established strong followings.

Cafe Amano will celebrate its seventh year in Elmhurst, said Marco Conte, the eatery's executive chef and proprietor. Bathed in warm tones, the Euro-style cafe caters to a diverse customer base with its continental breakfast items, and lunch and dinner offerings that include small plates, salads, soups and entrees of veal, chicken, lamb chops and seafood. The cafe also offers prix fixe, seven-course dinners and wine pairings for 10 guests.

Amano Boucherie debuted in November 2010 as a way to attract at-home chefs who don't want to travel far for gourmet items like free-range meats and specialty, top-shelf ingredients, Conte said. While there were “very good sales in the butcher shop,” competition from other stores, such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, made it hard to stay open, he said.

“All of the meats that we served in the shop were natural, grass-fed meats, which are naturally more expensive,” Conte said. “We had a tough time competing with stores such as Whole Foods on prices because we were a smaller shop."

He also said the timing was wrong to open such a business.

“People are watching their money,” he said. “The economy hurt us, definitely.”

While the butcher shop didn't stay open long, the cafe is going strong.

“This should prove to be our best year yet,” he said. “A couple of years ago we started concentrating heavily on catering, weddings and birthday parties. Our bookings are through the roof.”

The larger kitchen, purchased by Conte when Dinner by Design closed several years ago, will give the restaurant ample room to prepare catering requests. Conte is pleased with the arrangement made between his restaurant and Pazzi di Pizza.

“Using that kitchen is actually what we planned on doing from the beginning,” he said. “We didn't have a taker for the front space because we needed to expand our kitchen for catering. Sometimes, we'll feed 500 people a day out of our kitchen at Cafe Amano. It's overwhelming in our kitchen here, because it's not a large kitchen at all. Now we have a lot more refrigeration, cooking and prep space.”

Conte has nothing but positive energy entering 2012. He brought back Amano's continental breakfast after stopping it briefly last month. It was too much for Conte and his manager to run the morning shift by themselves but, by popular demand, Conte brought it back with enough staff to handle the orders.

When spring arrives, the cafe will serve new menu dishes and will explore the cuisine of Spain. On Wednesday evenings, it will transform into a Spanish tapas restaurant with live flamenco music.

Pazzi di Pizza has already started construction on its expansion. The family-owned eatery opened last May. Vincent Marino, whose family comes from Naples, Italy, works alongside his father, Mario Marino, and four other relatives who are owners.

It was their lifelong dream to open a restaurant featuring old-fashioned dishes from Naples and Sicily, wood-fired pizzas cooked in an imported Italian brick oven, and salmon, sea bass and seafood linguine entrees, Vincent Marino said.

“Sicily does a lot more fish, being in the heart of the Mediterranean region,” he said. “Naples is big on pizza. The people there perfected this item.”

The expansion will not only make room for a full-service bar, waiting area and high-top tables, but it will provide extra room for private parties up to 100 people. Completion is expected around April.

“One of the problems we had was that there wasn't enough space for customers to wait for tables,” he said. “We think we can make customers feel more comfortable while they're waiting.

"We were lucky that the space opened up. When the opportunity presented itself, it was kind of like a calling. We're very thankful for it and we're excited about it.”

The eatery has grown in popularity with diners. It also attracted the attention of Chicago Magazine, which named it to its Top Ten list for restaurants in Chicago.

The warmer months also draw diners who patiently wait to eat al fresco or relax with a cocktail under the umbrellas on the patio.

“On Fridays and Saturdays, we would stay open as late as some of these bars here,” he said.

"The summer here is something to see. It's always a good atmosphere."