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Date: 4/21/2021
EAST LONGMEADOW – The familiar taste of Italian food from Typical Sicilian in Springfield has moved to East Longmeadow at the reimagined Typical Sicilian Takeout. The new location, at 192 North Main St., offers many of the same appetizers, panini, pasta and salad – just, to–go.
The restaurant has been open for just over two weeks, said Enzo Amore, who co-owns the restaurant with his wife, Amy Amore. The couple talked to Reminder Publishing as they stood behind the small counter area with its smooth white subway tiles. The minimalist Italian decor reflected the simpler take-out only model.
“We’ve been very busy, overwhelmingly busy. We started out doing lunch and it was so busy we couldn’t even prep for dinner,” Enzo said.
The menu for Typical Sicilian Takeout is available at https://typicalsicilian.com. Amy said that because the menu changes frequently, it is hard to stay up-to-date with printed menus.
“Enzo buys based on prices and what’s fresh,” Amy said, “so if something doesn’t look good, he won’t buy it and then, it’s not on the menu.”
While the square footage at the East Longmeadow location, with its seven employees, is significantly smaller than the Springfield restaurant, the building is set up more efficiently. “The architect gave me every square inch of space,” Enzo said. The smaller set-up also keeps overhead down, with no wait staff to hire or tablecloths to launder. Items that have been eliminated from the menu, like seafood and alcohol, have cut down costs as well.
Enzo and his parents opened the original Typical Sicilian in Springfield in 1998. Amy and Enzo met in 2000 when she began working at the restaurant.
“There was just something about the restaurant,” Amy said of the atmosphere. Enzo described it as “a Cheers type of place,” referencing the fictional Boston bar where everybody knows your name.
Enzo’s father died a couple of years ago, and he said that he lost his love for the business. “After 23 and a half years there, I decided to call it quits. This re-energized me, here,” he said of the new model and the new location.
While the couple had toyed with the idea of running both restaurants, Enzo said that the pandemic pointed him towards focusing on the take-out business. With two daughters, he said, he wanted to be able to spend more time with family. At the sit-down restaurant, he was putting in an average of 65 hours per week. After the new business settles, he hopes to work closer to 40 hours each week.
"I have young children. I wanted to be able to go to sports events, get out a little earlier,” Enzo said.
The couple said they were not concerned about moving locations. Many of their customers are from East Longmeadow, as well as Longmeadow, Springfield and northern Connecticut. The concern, Amy said, was disappointing their longtime regulars. She said that customers have told them that they’re happy they can still get the food, but miss the ambiance and are disappointed that they can’t sit at the bar and talk.
As Enzo pointed out, however, that hadn’t been an option in the last year, due to COVID-19. The restaurant stopped indoor seating in April 2020 and was relying on take-out service. Amy added that the pandemic was helpful in that it allowed them to work out a take-out only model and spend time opening the new location, which they wouldn’t have had if the restaurant had been open for indoor dining.
The process of opening the restaurant took about six months longer than the two had anticipated. “There were a lot of setbacks. Material costs went through the roof,” Enzo said. Also, fewer people were allowed to work inside at the same time and there were delays when members of the construction crew had to quarantine.
Now that the restaurant is open, however, it’s full steam ahead. Once the business gets established, the Amores plan to bring back a small lunch menu and catering platters.
Typical Sicilian Takeout is open from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m., Tuesday through Thursday; from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday and from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday. To contact Typical Sicilian Takeout, visit the website or call 224-2900.