Feed Me
The dish on Long Island's restaurant and food scene
Tanger Deer Park outlet Italian restaurant closes
Photo credit: John Dunn
Fratelli Trattoria, which served pizza, pasta and parms in snazzy bi-level digs within Tanger Outlets at the Arches in Deer Park, has closed.
The restaurant garnered a one and a half star rating, with praise for its puffy yet crisp crusted individual pizza and herbal linguine with white clam sauce but censure for its Gorgonzola salad with an artificially sweet-tasting raspberry vinaigrette.
Outlet...
Read more »Basil Restaurant - fresh and Italian in Bellport
Photo credit: Handout
New to the Bellport dining scene is Basil Restaurant & Spirits, with a repertoire owner Richard LoGrippo describes as Italian American. Chef Richard Doxsee previously cooked at Mamma Lombardi’s in Holbrook as well as Lombardi’s on the Bay in Patchogue, Lombardi’s on the Sound in Port Jefferson and Giorgio’s in Baiting Hollow.
On Doxsee's menu: fried calamari ($10), stuffed meatballs ($8),...
Read more »Soprano’s star to cook in North Babylon
Photo credit: WILL HART / HBO WILL HART
Joe Gannascoli, who played Vito, the doomed gay mobster on HBO’s “The Sopranos,” will be helping Salpino III Italian Market celebrate its 13th birthday.
On Saturday from noon to 2 p.m., Gannascoli, a trained chef who recently had a gig at Il Luogo in Lynbrook, will be cooking with Boar’s Head products and giving away samples of new items such as hummus and blackened turkey.
Salpino III...
Read more »Eric’s Italian Bistro opens in Mineola
Photo credit: Handout
Rejoice, George Echeverria fans. Today marks the official opening of the chef’s new restaurant, Eric’s Italian Bistro in Mineola
Echeverria’s first restaurant, Soigne in Woodmere, was a South Shore favorite for eight years before the chef headed north to Huntington to join the team that opened Amicale in Huntington in 2011. A year later he took over the kitchen at Andiamo in Mineola, with...
Read more »Celeb chef Heather West departs Ciao Baby
Photo credit: Doug Young
Heather West — the season 2 winner of Fox’s “Hell’s Kitchen” — has bid arrivederci to Ciao Baby in Commack and Massapequa Park, where she was executive chef for over a year. She is now chef at Thatched Cottage, a catering venue in Centerport.
At Ciao Baby, co-owner Frank Cammarata is now back in charge of the kitchen. Cammarata said that he is sticking with the menu that he and West planned...
Read more »La Piazza in Melville: The rush to capellini cakes
Photo credit: Newsday Erica Marcus
Perusing the lunch menu today at La Piazza in Melville, I was immediately drawn to the capellini cakes ($11), described as “golden-fried pasta cakes, stuffed with green peas, Parma prosciutto, mozzarella, over pink sauce.”
How could those be bad? They sound like the fried capellini balls at King Umberto in Elmont, one of the tastiest morsels on Long Island. I ordered the appetizer as soon...
Read more »La Casa Cafe in Northport: Redecorated, reopened
Photo credit: Handout
It was a busy winter for Joe Celano, owner of La Casa Cafe at Crab Meadow Beach in Northport. Celano, along with two members of La Casa's crew, remodeled the interior of the restaurant without professional help. Now, said Celano, there’s a bigger waiting space as well as an expanded bar area with new hardwood floors. A 70-inch flat screen TV at the entryway plays a perpetual aquarium scene — unless...
Read more »Cucina di Vargas, Hewlett: First bites
Photo credit: Newsday Joan Reminick
The new Cucina di Vargas enlivens the Five Towns dining scene with a brand of family-style Italian dining that's big on both quality and value.
At dinner recently, one taste of chef Narciso Vargas' crisp, nutty, highly addictive fried zucchini ($8.95) was followed by another and then another. A half order of the shards was enough for four. So, too, was a half order of the very good chopped...
Read more »Doppio Artisan Bistro debuts in Huntington
Photo credit: Handout
New to Huntington is Doppio Artisan Bistro, the Long Island branch of a Greenwich, Connecticut pizzeria-gelateria-trattoria. Executive chef Louis Barresi, who co-owns both restaurants with his brother, Joseph, launched the Huntington place with a third partner,Thomas Pescuma, who recently moved to the area.
Barresi said he learned to make pizza in Italy from a bread maker cousin in Altamura,...
Read more »Torcellos, East Northport: $9.95 lunch deal
Photo credit: Newsday/Joan Reminick
Driven by a craving for pasta e fagioli, I landed at Torcellos in East Northport one recent afternoon. What I found was an irresistible lunch deal which, at $9.95, included soup or a salad plus half a hero or lunch pasta — or else soup plus a salad. That combination turned out to be my choice. A soft drink was also included.
Lunch began with the pasta e fagioli I had been jonesing for — ...
Read more »
