With its elegant atmosphere, low lighting and jazzy vibe, Il Pizzico is a quintessential Italian restaurant hidden in plain sight. It sits along Frederick Road in Rockville, which is home to a large number of restaurants, and is tucked away in an otherwise-unassuming shopping center.
But Il Pizzico’s origins are more humble than its classy atmosphere and focus on fine Italian dining would lead you to believe. When the restaurant, whose name is Italian for “The Pinch,” opened in June 1990, it was a small deli that stocked imported Italian goods and casual fare.
The decision to transition from a small deli into an authentic Italian restaurant was actually more influenced by the customers than the ambitions of the owners, says owner, proprietor and chef Enzo Livia.
“We started off as a deli, trying to get people to come in and buy Italian goods,” Livia recalls. “Unfortunately — or fortunately, depending on how you look at it — our customers did not want to order their food to go. Many of them would sit do
wn and eat their meal in
the deli.”
When the opportunity came in 1992, and again in 1994, to expand the building, Livia gladly took it, as it meant that their customers would have more space to sit and dine. From there, the transition to become a fully-fledged restaurant was simple.
Livia and his wife, Sandra, have been with Il Pizzico since its inception. Livia cooks while Sandra works in the front of the restaurant greeting customers.
Opening an Italian restaurant in Rockville was a matter of convenience more than anything, he says, as he just bought the space because it was available at the time. But Il Pizzico helps to fill an important niche in Rockville’s culinary ecosystem. The area is well-known for its wide selection of Asian restaurants, but has surprisingly few Italian restaurants. Many of the businesses in Rockville that offer Italian food are chain restaurants or pizzerias. Il Pizzico may be a bit off the beaten path, but that contributes to its reputation among customers as a hidden gem.
“Imagine you’re in New York City, and you go onto one of those off streets,” Livia explains. “You walk into a restaurant and you find something you never expected. That’s kind of the idea.”
Livia describes himself as “self-taught,” as he never attended culinary school. But restaurant ownership has always been a sort of family business for him. His father owned several restaurants and a piano bar, so he learned about restaurant management and cooking by helping out at his father’s businesses.
Il Pizzico’s menu changes fairly frequently, with new specials available every night featuring different kinds of fish and seasonal meats such as duck, venison and more uncommon picks like quail. But some dishes have remained on the menu since the restaurant first opened as beloved fan favorites. The ravioli di funghi al pistacchio (ravioli stuffed with mushrooms and ricotta, slathered in pistachio cream sauce) is especially well-liked, as is the stracotto di manzo e polenta (red wine-braised short ribs with polenta).
“If I took those out of the menu, I’d be hung up somewhere in Rockville,” Livia quips.
Everything is made from scratch, including the bread, desserts and sauces. Il Pizzico often buys ingredients from local farmers and fishermen, incorporating seasonal vegetables, meats and fish into its dishes.
This consistency is one of the things that customers and staff find most appealing about Il Pizzico. Some of the people currently employed in the kitchen and wait staff have been working for the restaurant since it first opened, says manager Milton Dhimas.
“The consistency of the food is incredible,” Dhimas says. “It’s the number-one thing that brings people back. The second thing is the service. We have servers here who have been with us since the restaurant first opened.”
While that stability is a charm point for customers, the area where Il Pizzico operates is often tumultuous. Things have changed a lot in Rockville in the past few years. Livia notes that the COVID-19 pandemic affected many restaurants in the vicinity. That part of Rockville used to be a hub for pharmaceutical companies, but as some of those companies started to operate remotely during the pandemic, many of the workers who would regularly dine at Il Pizzico are no longer in the area. Supply chain issues and increasing prices of ingredients have also been something of a challenge for the restaurant.
But Il Pizzico’s regulars continue to remain faithful to the restaurant regardless of what’s happening in the area.
“I’m born and raised Italian, and I come here because it’s very authentic,” says Giovanni Impeduglia, a local who has been dining at Il Pizzico with his wife for nearly 35 years. “Most Italian restaurants in the states don’t have very authentic Italian food, but this is some of the most authentic food you can find.”
With so many restaurants coming and going along Frederick Road, Il Pizzico remains as a constant and a favorite among its frequent customers.
“We’re not here to please everybody,” Livia says. “But the ones that we do please, we like to make sure that they’re happy and that they come back.”
