News Nearby: Piccione Pastry Opens in the Loop

It was a full house Monday afternoon at a grand opening party for Piccione Pastry, the new Italian pastry shop in the Delmar Loop. Piccione is located at 6197 Delmar Blvd., at the intersection of Delmar and Skinker.

The menu features a variety of traditional Italian desserts including cannoli, bomboloni, tiramisu, pasticiotti and cassata cake. Biscotti and other cookies are also available. 

For those whose taste buds range more savory than sweet, Piccione offers three flavors of focaccia sticks.

Lavazza coffee and Italian sodas will add to the European feel of the pastry shop. 

Piccione is owned by Richard Nix, president of Butler's Pantry. The Nix family has owned Butler's Pantry for 48 years. 

Nix and wife Elizabeth named the shop after Nix's favorite grandmother, Grace Viviano Piccione, and selected the location for her as well. Piccione once owned the Varsity Theater on Delmar.  

Butler's Pantry Executive Pastry Chef Martin Lopez is overseeing the Piccione's small-batch, made from scratch pastries.

• See a gallery of pictures from the opening on our sister site, University City Patch's Facebook page.

Piccione is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday and from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Thursday-Saturday. The shop is closed on Mondays. 

For more information, see Piccione's web site, follow the shop on Twitter and like it on Facebook.