Within its two or so blocks downtown Ellicottville has about two dozen shops matched with as many restaurants and bars. You have to love that everything is in walking distance. Nick Pitillo, owner of Villaggio and Chalet Valet says it’s a wonderful place for families; there are so many things to do.
It’s a village fielded by tourism. Despite it’s size Ellicottville brings in impressive numbers of visitors locally, nationally, and internationally that is, in a pre-pandemic year.
Nick Patillo says it was one year ago that he had to shut down the restaurant because of the pandemic. He says it was devasting because he has in the neighborhood of 70 – 80 employees. Instead of waiting for restrictions to ease up Nick came up with a different plan. He says we because can’t get everyone in the restaurants so lets bring the food to them and that week they were able to pivot into something called Stock The Freezer.com and basically transforming their staff and kitchen staff into making individually packed frozen meals. He said it was a huge success.
In the following months came Chalet Valet. He said looking at all the rentals, someone has to provide services to them. It is runed by Villaggio, the service pulled together other local restaurants and breweries, their products available all in one place. Patillo says they also partnered with Dash’s and that’s where the groceries come from. He says eventually they would like it to be a full-service concierge.
With summer coming and more and more people getting vaccinated Nick and other business owners can’t help but be excited about the future and welcoming back customers in person.
Anthony Petrilli, co-owner and executive chef of the West Rose on Washington Street says Ellicottville is going to have something for all tastes. There is something for everyone. The West Rose restaurant’s central feature is their wood fired oven. Petrilli says the kids can come in for a wood-fired pizza and mom and dad can try something more foodie like the Nashville hot chicken schnitzel, which is a big seller.
Don’t forget dessert, it is right down the street and when you are walking around Ellicottville make sure to browse the dozens of great shops where you can pick up souvenirs or some one-of-a-kind gifts.
