BRICCO is the brainchild of Bill Kohl, president and CEO of the Harrisburg Hotel Corporation which operates multiple properties including the Harrisburg Hilton. Kohl wanted to add a restaurant to the international youth hostel already in operation at International Place.
But Kohl was looking to do more than just add another restaurant to Harrisburg's growing restaurant row. He wanted to help secure the future of the culinary arts in Harrisburg.
So, he approached HACC, Central Pennsylvania's Community College, with a concept for an instructional restaurant that would allow HACC culinary students to learn all aspects of the restaurant business.
The idea was well received at HACC and - more importantly - sparked the imagination of Benjamin Olewine III and his family. The Olewines were already long-time benefactors of HACC's culinary program and the family solidified the deal with a gift of $1 million to HACC. With the addition of the Olewine gift to help fund the concept, BRICCO was born.
"BRICCO is urban, upscale, and contemporary. We developed a concept with high energy - almost like a theatre in a restaurant," said Kohl. "Our employees and HACC students will provide energy, as will the food, the music, the raw bar, brick pizza oven and display kitchen."
The restaurant will serve lunch Monday through Friday, dinner Monday through Saturday and will feature top quality Mediterranean-inspired foods. "We chose a Mediterranean theme so it won't be monochromatic for the students. The menu will rotate seasonally and deliver flavors from the South of France, Italy, Greece and Spain," says Kohl.
Integrating the culinary students into the operation came naturally for Kohl. Already a member of HACC's adjunct faculty, he established many relationships with the senior staff and the college's faculty. What's more, his staff at the Harrisburg Hilton is already peppered with HACC graduates.
"The college took the concept to heart and worked to tailor their program to work in a coordinated fashion with a restaurant that still needs to make a profit in order to sustain itself," he said. "In the end, we created a unique model which dovetails the programs of the college with an efficient restaurant operation."
Chef Instructor Tim Harris from HACC says that the new operation builds on the concept of restaurants run by other culinary schools like Johnson and Wales University "except that we're not a private school. We have students of all ages and backgrounds. We run smaller classes with more care and we teach the entire restaurant operation rather than just train line chefs."
A group of more than 20 students works with more than 35 permanent staff members at BRICCO. That group has the potential to grow - by the fourth or fifth semester - to 60 to 80 students rotating through BRICCO's kitchens.
"It's actually going to be a very fluid staff," according to Kohl. "A fair number of the permanent staff are current or former HACC students.
"Students will be trained in rotating stations with an internship final and will have the benefit of an associate degree from HACC," Kohl said. "They will get an extraordinary culinary education and will learn to communicate and write well, manage numbers and budgets, and be good leaders and managers, as well," he said.The culinary staff will utilize Pennsylvania products in a global cuisine, emphasizing the use of fresh, locally grown produce. "We'll teach the students the importance of working with local producers in using fresh and seasonal products, cultivating partnerships with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture through the Pennsylvania Preferred® program," says Kohl.
One of the restaurant's highlights is an open kitchen serving a sophisticated menu much like Babbos in New York. Signature dishes will include the house specialty seafood tower featuring oysters, shrimp, clams and lump crab, lamb "due sensi" - a grilled Pennsylvania lamb chop and slow roasted lamb leg with fava beans and cremini ragout, and roasted monkfish tail wrapped in prosciutto with marinated artichokes, capers, cannellini beans and preserved lemons.
Featuring a Tuscan décor, the colorful restaurant includes uniquely textured walls featuring seven layers of paint. The stylish oval bar near the entrance seats 20 and offers a raw bar. Directly behind the bar is a California-style gas-burning stone oven for pizza and homemade pasta. A private dining room for 24-30 is available and also will be used for continuing education culinary classes on Sundays.
And, as part of their hands-on learning experience, HACC students also will learn about wine since BRICCO will feature a wine list of more than 200 selections. Bottles are priced $10 above retail and about 25 wines are available by the glass. "This is a great value for all of our customers who have an appreciation of wine; typically restaurants charge a significant amount more for wine," says Kohl.
The restaurant has already hired Tony Salomone who will serve as the operation's general manager. Jason Viscount, former chef de cuisine at the Hilton Harrisburg, will serve as executive chef and Cassandra Callahan will serve as pastry chef. They will be joined in the kitchen by HACC Chef Instructor Mike Finch who will supervise and teach students on their restaurant rotations.
In the next few months, the 150 seat restaurant will add two retail operations in adjacent storefronts. Ciao!, A Bakery will provide pastry for the restaurant as well as offering retail sales. Olewine's Meat and Cheese Store will provide butcher services to the restaurant while offering a retail sales counter as well.
"The Olewines were particularly pleased with the meat and cheese store," said Chef Instructor Tim Harris. "The family's original cheese stand was on the corner across from BRICCO and it helped make BRICCO a living tribute to Ben and his family."
But, more than anything, BRICCO will help continue the growth of International Place and the revitalization of Chestnut Street - one of the prime goals of Harristown Development Corporation - the parent corporation of the Harrisburg Hotel Corporation.
"Harristown Development Corp. has had a mission to revitalize Harrisburg for 31 years," said Bradley Jones, Harristown's vice president for business development. "As part of that mission, our focus has always been on creating partnerships with local and regional organizations that have the ability to dramatically enhance the city.
"Higher education has been a part of that effort, and we see this as a tremendous partnership with academia, with incredible appeal to attract more people to downtown, to develop one of the first mixed-use establishments in downtown.
"Our normal way of approaching a development project would be to look at underutilized buildings and see what kind of adaptive reuse is possible," said Jones. "At International Place, there's plenty of demand for more international housing, but we were looking for something to put on the first floor that would help revitalize the street."Revitalization of the building and the development of BRICCO are expected to kick-start development of other under-utilized buildings in the area of Chestnut and South Third Streets.
"It's contagious," said Jones. "We're working with the City and state to have a new streetscape, with new brick pavers, new granite curbs and new historic street lights and street trees on Chestnut, and new concrete sidewalks on South Third. We're hoping that this will help bring the neighborhood back."
The operation couldn't have a stronger booster than Harrisburg Mayor Stephen Reed.
"BRICCO and the International Place complex are an exciting and important addition to Harrisburg's educational, dining and nightlife experiences," he said. "It is a truly unique attraction that will provide lasting benefit to our culinary and tourism industries and we think it will be a smashing success."
The telephone number for BRICCO is 724-0222. Visit Bricco's Website by clicking on the Website address below.