Seppia, a Hampden trattoria that opened its doors in April, gets its name from the humble cuttlefish. While naming a restaurant after a tiny cephalopod may seem like a nonsequitur, for owner Ben Lefenfeld, it’s indicative of the restaurant’s mission.
“I’ve always had a mild obsession with cuttlefish,” he notes. “It’s a very difficult fish to prepare, but it lends itself to simplicity, which really reflects our style of cooking. I find it to be a very intelligent creature.”
While it was named for Ben Lefenfeld’s passion, Seppia is a family affair. He co-owns the restaurant with his wife, Amy, and his brother, Jake.
The Lefenfelds previously made a name for themselves with La Cuchara, which specializes in cuisine from the Basque region of France and Spain. With Seppia, they are expanding their horizons across the Mediterranean to the Italian coastline, using the country’s trattorias as a source of inspiration.
“We did some traveling around Europe to several different countries,” Ben Lefenfeld explains. “I’ve always loved Italian cuisine. What we do at La Cuchara is that we use Basque cuisine as a basis, but we put our own technical spin on it and use local ingredients. I thought that [opening a new restaurant] would be a great opportunity to do that with Italian cuisine as well.”
For Baltimore foodies, Seppia’s opening has been a long time coming.
The Lefenfelds announced their plans to open the restaurant in April 2024, a year after the building’s previous residents, Five and Dime Ale House, ceased operations. The historic building on the corner of Elm Avenue and West 36th Street was immediately attractive to the Lefenfelds, not only due to its proximity to La Cuchara, but because of its storied history.
Seppia occupies a former five-and-dime store built a century ago, first opening its doors in 1926. The site has changed drastically over the past 100 years, but in renovating the space, the Lefenfelds and SM+P Architects preserved original features such as the terracotta wall behind the restaurant’s bar.
It’s far from the owners’ first time converting a historic building into a modern restaurant, as La Cuchara is housed in a former raincoat factory dating back to 1877.
Seppia is currently the Lefenfelds’ primary focus, as La Cuchara has not yet reopened after a fire in January. The Italian restaurant was already far along enough in development that the fire did not affect its opening in April, and many of La Cuchara’s staff are currently working at Seppia in the interim.
“We had an outpouring of support from the community, who were worried about us and our staff,” Jake Lefenfeld recalls. “It’s been special for our family, because it shows that after 11 years, we really did make an impact and develop a close bond with the community. We’re excited to continue that at Seppia, and to reopen La Cuchara to the way it was so we can host all of those wonderful faces again.”
Seppia’s menu is highly seasonal, and changes nearly every day. This allows the restaurant’s chefs to experiment with ingredients that are in-season, and to offer dishes from different regions of Italy. The menu is small, but emphasizes freshness in both the produce, meat and fish that are sourced from local purveyors and the handmade and hand-extruded pasta made from scratch in the kitchen each day.
Diners are expected to start with lighter fare, such as the Burrata di Bufala, which can be enjoyed with add-ons like roasted garlic and olive tapenade; or the Tuna Crudo, which balances sweetness and spiciness from Calabrian chili peppers. Then, it’s onto pasta dishes and larger plates. At a recent visit, Seppia’s menu featured gnocchi from Sardinia with a light, dairy-free sauce to represent the lighter cuisine of the region.
Some dishes have become fan favorites, sticking around past their debut on the rotating menu. The Agnolotti, a Piedmontese dish served with a rich red wine beef ragù, has been on Seppia’s menu since the restaurant first opened its doors.
“It’s a little bit heartier, but we’ve found that it’s a favorite of guests,” Ben Lefenfeld says. “We’ve decided to not take it off the menu, even though it’s warmer out now [weather less suited to heavy dishes].”
Dining at Seppia is meant to be a more approachable and affordable experience than dining at La Cuchara, with a lower price point, but featuring filling dishes that are sure to satisfy. It’s also meant to fill a niche that La Cuchara was not: acting as a setting for family dinners.
“La Cuchara has two types of dining: going to the bar and getting some food and a cocktail, or celebratory private dining experiences with higher-end, multi-course dinners,” Ben Lefenfeld says. “With Seppia, I feel like you can really come in and feed a family of three or four. You can bring your kids in and it’s a little more approachable.”
Private events are still in Seppia’s future, however. The Lefenfelds plan to host private wine dinners in the restaurant’s wine cave, which is housed in a restored basement area. Similar to the bar, this room also features original stonework from when the building was first constructed in 1926.
“It’s not lost on us that this building was here long before us, and it’ll be here long after us,” Jake Lefenfeld says. “We’re really excited that it’s a place where the neighborhood can come and dine and enjoy the beauty.”
