When the Cricchios, Chef Mimmo and Mary Ann, close up their award-winning trattoria for the night, they do something quite different from most other restaurant owners in Little Italy. They walk home.
"Home" is next door to the business that has become their life's commitment, in a neighborhood they embrace on every level. The two are one, and "home" represents the culmination of patience, savings and hard work.
Da Mimmo Finest Italian Cuisine is in the heart of Little Italy on High Street and is best noted for its veal chops and Sicilian dishes. The restaurant's cozy "Star Lounge" features nightly entertainment and is conducive to long chats. The walls gleam with framed, autographed photos of the hundreds of celebrity diners over the years, many of whom posed with the Cricchios. Several are repeat visitors.
Mary Ann Cricchio is wed to her home life, their restaurant, the Little Italy neighborhood and Baltimore tourism -- usually in that order. Her priorities are clear. The office at 213 S. High St. is on the ground level of their house, and it is here that she can be found for at least part of the day, sorting through engagements and prioritizing.
"I like positive things," she says, "things that work for the good of the city and our state."
As president of the Little Italy Restaurant Association (LIRA), this community activist is proud of her work with the annual "Taste of Little Italy" festival, as well as the yearly summerlong Little Italy Friday Night Film Festival.
Mary Ann Cricchio knows how lucky she is to have acquired four adjacent rowhouses, along with two parking lots, in a neighborhood where houses rarely go on the market. (Most properties are passed down from generation to generation or sold to "friends of friends of friends.") She laughs when recalling how it all came to pass.
From 1984 to 1989, Da Mimmo Restaurant consisted of the first floor of a 20-foot-by-20-foot rowhouse, at 217 S. High St. The kitchen was on the lower level and living quarters were on the second floor. Eight years later, the Cricchios were able to purchase houses 211 and 213. The problem, from a growth point of view, was house No. 215. The retired gentleman living there had little desire to move until Mary Ann Cricchio offered to buy him a ranch-style home in the suburbs. He accepted the offer and the Cricchios were expansion-bound. Rowhouse No. 215 was refurbished and, in October 1989, became the long-awaited lounge, with restaurant space atop it.
"I hated seeing people waiting outside for a table," Mary Ann Cricchio says. "Now they could be inside enjoying the lounge until we had a table ready."
And what of rowhouses 211 and 213? A front office and a marble bath, large laundry room, playroom with wide-screen TV and garage occupy this 40-foot-by-40-foot space.
"Just keep thinking two rowhouses, 20 feet by 40 feet each, combined into one," Mary Ann Cricchio reminds as we climb the staircase to the second level. The walls here are chronologically filled with family photo Christmas cards, pictures of the restaurant staff, and framed news clippings, many of personal significance to her husband and his Sicilian homeland.
On the second level, diffuse morning light comes through a large front window and bounces off mirrored walls. Romanesque columns define the living and dining area. The entrance hall has recessed marble flooring and a winding staircase. A canary whistles greetings from its cage by the window as Mary Ann Cricchio continues her story.
"While gutting the houses [211-213], we discovered how weak the structures really were; everything literally crumbled," she says.
The Cricchios had no choice but to demolish and build from the ground up. This decision allowed them the freedom to design an Italian-style villa they could call home, while evoking a true sense of Mimmo Cricchio's Sicilian background. Indeed, the luster of polished marble peeking from Persian carpeting, two large urns flanking the working fireplace, and two original lithographs by Erte, the Russian-born fashion designer and artist, lend a timeless, Mediterranean feel to the living room.
Yet this is not a storybook villa, nor a model home devoid of personal possessions and sentimental belongings. This home is a testament to the strong Catholic faith of its inhabitants. A statue of St. Francis of Assisi is in a grotto inside the main entrance, while statues of the Madonna grace several tabletops.
A striking feature of the Cricchio dining room -- aside from a long table to accommodate family gatherings -- is a hand-painted ceiling mural of The Last Supper. Recessed lighting in the elaborate cornice molding casts a subtle glow on the mural. Mary Ann Cricchio recalls that the artist, Cliff Olson, was 78 when he began the project in 1990. He put roughly 228 hours into the work.
In a corner of the dining room, atop a marble pedestal, rests another Erte piece, a magnificent sculpture titled Vigne. Long before the Cricchios acquired it, this treasure graced the cover of Harper's Bazaar in 1920.
At the top of the china closet, a scale model of the Jefferson Memorial is displayed as though it were the Hope Diamond.
The model was a class project of her son, Mimmo Jr., and he and his father worked many hours at the kitchen table. Among the distinguishing features of the monument are columns made from thick, tubular pasta and a dome created from a halved soccer ball painted white.
Mary Ann Cricchio admits to saving everything; Mimmo Jr.'s work is as prominently featured on the walls and refrigerator as are the photos at every stage of his life.
The dining room flows through a columned entrance into a large, bright kitchen where Chef Mimmo is preparing fresh zucchini soup. This dish is not for the restaurant but for home, where on many occasions neighbors are invited to dine.
Mimmo Cricchio is clearly comfortable in his domain, which includes a large kitchen island, a back wall of windows to let in light, and gadgets galore, including a fancy meat cutter.
"I prepare as my mother used to do," he says. "Every day I change soups."
For those who wonder why a chef would cook in his off hours, a plaque over the kitchen arch puts it in focus: La Vita e Bella. Life is beautiful ... cooking is Mimmo's life.
Bedrooms on the third floor are spacious. A towering brass grandfather clock at the top of the staircase stands between the bedrooms. Mimmo Jr. has decorated his with Ravens posters and paraphernalia, while his parents' room boasts a huge marble bath and shower. Over the bed hangs a delicately embossed silver and gold Franciscan crucifix from Palermo.
The garden is on the roof, accessible by a spiral staircase. Here, Mimmo Cricchio tends his garden -- vines of Italian zucchini, green peppers, tomatoes and eggplant. Mary Ann Cricchio has kept her son's baby swing hanging, eager to save everything.
There is a mammoth satellite dish so Mimmo Cricchio can watch his favorite shows from Italy. Music is piped in when the Cricchios entertain.
Mary Ann Cricchio surveys the street below. "We enjoy our house," she says, "because it's located next to the business that is our life. We find we can only do one restaurant, and to do it right, we must be on the premises."