ANGELO RICCI was a second-generation American, descended from a family in Pisterzo, Lazio, in the Monti Lepini—about 100km southeast of Rome. In May 1957, Angelo Ricci opened a delicatessen on the corner of SW 153rd Street and 6th Avenue SW in Burien. At first it was just a small counter and a few tables next to the only liquor store in town. Angelo learned his family’s method of Italian cooking from his father Michele, a grocer who had immigrated from Italy to Osawatomie, Kansas in 1911. Michele always emphasized the importance of the quality and freshness of ingredients. Angelo and his family rapidly expanded, offering a full dining room and lounge by the early 1960s. Angelo made a name for himself by bringing food from around the country and world to Burien.
