Acasa in Williston Park reinvents family-style Italian

When La Parma closed last year after 41 years, it left a family-sized Italian hole in Williston Park. Acasa, which opens tonight, aims to fill that void. The venue's new owners are keeping the welcoming vibe and enormous portions while elevating the experience in a way that seems entirely new.

Maurizio Venditelli, who owns the restaurant with Peter Oppedisano and his daughter, Amanda Cestaro, said the team’s goal was "to pump a blast of fresh air into a concept that has become dated." (Oppedisano and his sister, Anna Maria Oppedisano, are Venditelli’s partners at the Rockville Centre restaurants Mangia Bene and Churchill’s.)

The name Acasa, he said, is a casual nod to the Italian phrase, "a casa," or "at home." The 120-seat dining room has a contemporary-but-warm elegance, with plush booths, comfortable chairs and well-spaced tables. (There’s also a private room upstairs that can seat up to 130.)

Chef John Di Lemme, who opened the regional Italian Mangia Bene in 2020, has rejoined the group. Eating family-style Italian around he wondered how much better his food could be if he made all his own stocks, used better wines in the sauces, extruded his own pasta. The more he tested recipes, the more excited he got.

Di Lemme resuscitates warhorses such as stuffed mushrooms, filling the caps with chestnuts and sausage and napping them with a Marsala sauce. He binds the rice for the arancini with a pungent Amatriciana sauce. All pasta (except gluten-free) is made in-house, and any shape (spaghetti, linguine, pappardelle, ziti, rigatoni) can be ordered with any sauce, among them, marinara, carbonara, clam (red or white), spicy vodka and Norma (eggplant and ricotta salata). Small servings ($32 to $38) are enough for two, large ($38 to $47), for four. The queen of the pastas is the pasta al forno ($48), an earthenware casserole filled with mini ziti, sausage ragu, meatballs, mozzarella and hard-boiled eggs. Expect to see this dish gracing most tables.

Di Lemme is an accomplished pizzaiolo and the pies here, $24 to $28, include the PLT (prosciutto, arugula, cherry tomato) from Mangia Bene, and the Nerano, the inevitable adaptation of the zucchini spaghetti made famous by Stanley Tucci’s "Searching for Italy" show on CNN.

Most mains — Parms, Marsalas, zuppa di pesce, shrimp Luciano, the scarpariello-adjacent chicken ACAA — come in small ($33 to $39) and large ($43 to $49) formats, but you’ll also find individual servings of salmon oreganata ($36) and, at the higher end, veal chop Sorrentino or Parmesan ($65) and New York strip ($54). I suppose you would have to classify the 40-ounce tomahawk steak ($180) a family-style entree.

Acasa does not sleep on dessert, providing a 9-inch family-style tiramisu and the best tartufo I have ever had, a collaboration between the restaurant and the acclaimed Gelateria dei Coltelli three blocks south: Pistachio and Amarena cherry gelato are enrobed in fine dark chocolate that has been sprinkled with crushed pistachios.

Group beverage director Jade Lorenalti created a wine list that features both mass-market crowd pleasers and less well-known selections that offer better quality and value. In keeping with the family-style theme, magnums (equivalent to two bottles) include a $120 Montepulciano d’Abruzzo and a $375 Napa Caymus. The cocktail list highlights nostalgic concoctions such as grasshoppers and amaretto sours.

Acasa, 707 Willis Ave., Williston Park, 516-294-6610, acasaitalian.com. Open Tuesday to Thursday 4 to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday 4 to 11 p.m., Sunday 1 to 9 p.m.