Rittenhouse Gets Italian Third Space Ellen Yin's High Street Hospitality Group has opened Bar Cicci, a neighborhood café and aperitivo bar in Philadelphia's Rittenhouse district. The concept, which soft-opened August 18, draws from years of Yin's travel throughout Italy—particularly the bacari (wine bars) of Venice and Milan—to recreate the rhythm of the Italian day in a single 30-seat, 600-square-foot space. "One of my favorite parts of traveling through Italy is seeing how neighborhood cafes serve as the heartbeat of daily life," Yin said. "People stop in for espresso in the morning, return for a quick snack or lunch, and gather again in the evening over aperitivi and cicchetti. We wanted to bring that same sense of ritual and community to Philadelphia."

Menu Built on Cicchetti Foundation Chef Christina McKeough, Culinary Director of High Street concepts High Street and The Bread Room, helms the kitchen. The name references cicci, Italian for "little ones" or "little bites"—the foundation of the daytime and evening menus alike. Daytime offerings rotate seasonally and include Pizza Bianca on traditional Italian flatbread (varieties include Prosciutto, Pesto & Burrata; Eggplant, Bomba & Basil & Radicchio), sfilatino filled with mortadella, maritozzi, and an array of cornetti and pastries. The evening menu centers on roughly a dozen daily-changing cicchetti served in groups of three or five, alongside freshly sliced salumi from a Berkel flywheel slicer and Wagyu Beef Carpaccio Tonnato. Desserts include zabaglione with seasonal fruit, house-made Campari sorbetto (optionally topped with prosecco), classic tiramisu, and Italian biscotti including gluten-free Sardinian amaretti.

Wine and Cocktail Programs Frank Kinyon, Wine Director of High Street Hospitality Group, oversees the wine program.

Cocktails are built by Omy Bugazia, formerly of The Sergeantsville Inn and Ladder 4 Wine Bar in Detroit. Aperitivi offerings include Classic Negroni, Negroni Sbagliato, Garibaldi, Espresso Martini featuring Onyx Eclipse Espresso, and Martini Sporco—a savory vodka martini garnished with pickled onion and anchovy.

Design and Operations Designed by Marguerite Rodgers Interior Design, the space evokes 1960s Milan with a natural stone bar, marble-topped tables, and a palette of bold oranges, blacks, and blues accented by rustic Italian clay tile. Authentic Italian details—including a Faema Jubile E61 espresso machine and the aforementioned Berkel slicer—anchor the aesthetic, while vintage fashion sketches pay homage to Milan's design heritage. Bar Cicci operates first-come, first-served. Current hours are 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday (adjusted from initial summer schedule). Located at 1620 Sansom Street, the venue is staffed with a dedicated team who hand-slice cured meats, mix cocktails, and prepare sandwiches from behind the counter.

Why It Matters

Bar Cicci represents a deliberate move to establish what hospitality operators call a "third place"—neither home nor work—centered on Italian cultural rituals around eating and drinking. In a market crowded with themed Italian concepts, Yin's operator-focused approach to cicchetti service, hand-sliced meats, and an all-day model mirrors how high-performing European-style cafés sustain traffic and margin across multiple dayparts.

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Written by FBM Publications Editors