When we talk about restaurants that have been around for a long time, menus that have never changed, customers that have been visiting for half a century, it all starts to seem like an eternal party. But we rarely hear about owners’ monumental efforts to keep those institutions’ infrastructures not only functional but also looking good. “This building is from 1901, and when we took it over, it was in poor repair,” said Nick Collida, who co-owns The Piccadilly at Manhattan alongside his wife, Maggie Collida, and his daughter, Molly Cooper. “Everything was kind of run down. The electric was old, the plumbing was old. Everything was old.” They went all-in on a renovation in the mid-’00s that included new drywall, windows, floors and pretty much everything else in between. “My joke is – if it’s even a joke – is that the restaurant was good for 100 years, and now it’s good for another 100,” Nick said. “We’re in good shape.”
So, you wouldn’t know from looking at The Piccadilly at Manhattan that the Collida family is in its fourth generation of ownership. The building might not tell you that they likely took it over in the 1920s, and that Nick is actually unclear about exactly how or when his grandfather bought the restaurant. And you definitely wouldn’t know about the stories Nick’s heard about the restaurant being involved in the bootleg whiskey game during Prohibition. No, it just looks like a nice restaurant that serves good food.
And that’s perfectly fine, because people love the food. “Probably, it’s best described as classic American comfort food,” Molly explained. “Potpies, meatloaf, fried chicken … things like grandma used to make.” Specials include smoked spare ribs and pot roast, while the customer favorites are the fried fish sandwich and the chicken potpie. But her parents love the chicken and the burger. “My dad is a fried chicken lover. He always says that would be his last meal,” she said, laughing. “My mom, she’s been addicted to the cheeseburgers. They’re really simple, classic smashburgers, but they’re just so good.”
At The Piccadilly at Manhattan, the walls may get updated and the floors might be new, but some things never change. “Customers can’t move on from the things they love,” Molly said, pointing out that some patrons are so devoted to their favorite dishes that, year after year, they never order anything else. “You know what you’re craving, and that’s why you’re coming here,” she said. For her, the restaurant’s longevity is about continuity more than anything; and for the Collida family, that continuity comes in staying attentive and remaining part of the community. “Myself and my husband, we live in the neighborhood. My parents live in the neighborhood. We take care of the restaurant like a business, but we also take care of it like it’s our home.” For a family that’s been there almost a century, it pretty much is.
7201 Piccadilly Ave., St. Louis, 314.646.0016, thepiccadilly.com
This article appears in January 2022.