ELLICOTTVILLE — An Ellicottville native is returning to the village and he’s bringing with him a new restaurant fresh from his time in the Queen City.

Nick Pitillo, owner of Osteria 166 in Buffalo, has announced plans to open a restaurant at 7 Monroe St. in Ellicottville. The location was the longtime home of The Barn Restaurant before it closed this month.

The new restaurant — with a name yet to be determined, Pitillo said — is expected to be open in time for the village’s Fall Festival which begins Oct. 10.

The new restaurant operators are waiting until Sept. 1 when they acquire the lease on the property to begin extensive interior decor changes.

“You can only do so much because it’s actually a barn,” Pitillo said about any changes to the exterior of the building. “But we will not be The Barn Restaurant as it has been historically known. We will be a completely different restaurant.”

Pitillo is working to open the restaurant along with his business partner and executive chief, Jeffrey Cooke.

The Ellicottville location will be larger than Osteria 166, located at 166 Franklin St. in downtown Buffalo, but is expected to have a more streamlined menu. Osteria 166 has seating for less than 100 people, compared to roughly 160 people at the location in Ellicottville, Pitillo said.

Pitillo said the restaurant will feature a similar Italian theme but the menu will be customized for Ellicottville’s small town charm and ski resort characteristics.

“It’ll be our most popular items and some traditional items we think fit the resort setting as well as extensive specials,” he said. “It will be a more streamlined menu than what we have here (in Buffalo).”

A graduate of Ellicottville Central School, Pitillo worked for Seneca Casinos more than seven years in the food and beverage division. He ran La Cascata, the Italian restaurant at Seneca Niagara Casino, and helped lead the effort to open Patria, Seneca Allegany Casino’s Italian eatery.

He said he has operated Osteria 166 for about two years and has “always been looking for an opportunity” to bring a restaurant to his hometown of Ellicottville. Plus, the move back to his roots extends beyond his restaurant business.

“We are looking to raise our daughter there,” he said. “It’s a wonderful place to raise a family.”

The opportunity to operate out of The Barn Restaurant’s former location came following that restaurant’s closure. According to its website, The Barn Restaurant had been in operation in Ellicottville since 1963 — the building itself was built in 1895.

Owner Roger Spell told The Ellicottville Times he and his partner, Kevin Watt, were unable to come to terms on purchasing the building.

(This story appears in the Aug. 20, 2015 edition of The Salamanca Press.)