A top Italian restaurant in the Triangle is expanding with its most casual spot yet
When the first Cucciolo Osteria opened in downtown Durham, the narrow Italian restaurant offered an opulent view into one of America’s most beloved cuisines. Amid delicate handmade pastas, one of the menu’s signature dishes was a paper thin beef carpaccio made from shaved filet mignon, served with a small dollop of mashed black truffles.
For its third act in the Triangle, Cucciolo is reaching out to the families. Cucciolo Famiglia will open in South Durham next spring, in the residential Woodcroft neighborhood.
Cucciolo Famiglia will open in the former Bocci Trattoria & Pizzeria, which closed in May after 20 years in business. The vacant restaurant’s location, surrounded by South Durham neighborhoods, helped inspire its identity, Cucciolo owner Jimmy Kim said.
“It was all about the location,” Kim said. “We were having a glass of wine at Nantucket Grill nearby and just wondering what was going to happen with Bocci. There’s a lot of work there, but the kitchen size and the patio potential in that space is amazing.”
Cucciolo Famiglia will be around 4,000 square feet and lean into its outdoor patio, with 70 seats inside and 70 outside. Of the Triangle’s three Cucciolo restaurants, Kim said Famiglia will be by far the most casual.
“I live in the area and really wanted to create a place where families are welcome, that’s kid friendly, where parents can have a glass of wine and catch the game,” Kim said.
Yes, Cucciolo Famiglia will have a television, a first for the brand.
Owned by Jimmy Kim, Cucciolo Osteria came to Durham in 2018 as a sister restaurant for an established brand in Seoul, South Korea. It immediately impressed, earning a four star review from former dining critic for The News & Observer, Greg Cox.
Last year, Kim expanded to Raleigh in 2021 with the larger and more extravagant Cucciolo Terrazza in North Hills.
With Cucciolo Famiglia, Kim said the restaurant will cater more to neighborhood families, influenced by the red sauce palaces in New York and New Jersey, perfecting Italian-American dishes.
There will be chicken and veal parmesan, veal scallopini and marsala, plus a Cucciolo favorite, spicy vodka rigatoni, which can have its heat tempered for toddler palettes.
On the patio, there will be fire pits and the restaurant plans to serve s’mores kits.
“We wanted this project to be fun and have a garden feel,” Kim said, noting the patio will be lined with planters and will likely feature a fountain. “The focus here is the outdoors.”
The closing of Bocci left behind a pizza oven, but Kim isn’t sure if pizzas will be a new addition to the Cucciolo repertoire.
For the name, Kim said it nods to the new restaurant’s casual ambitions and the promotion of two Cucciolo employees to partners, Josh Womer and Andrew Robinson. The new Cucciolo Famiglia is aiming to open in March or April of 2025.
