Restaurant and pizzeria Michelangelo opens in Riverhead

Michelangelo, the East End Italian mini-chain, has added a new Riverhead link. The new restaurant-pizzeria, which opened this summer, shares partial ownership with the existing Michelangelo locations in Mattituck, Southold and Eastport.

The eatery takes over the Midcentury-modern structure that was originally a Chase Bank. In 2011 Dennis McDermott lovingly transformed it into The Riverhead Project, which closed in 2014 and was succeeded, for a year, by Sonoma Grill.

The owners of Michelangelo have rectified some of the most egregious crimes against architecture committed by the former tenant. They divided the building into a proper, white-tableclothed restaurant and, with its own entrance, a small takeout pizzeria.

The restaurant menu offers a collection of well-loved Italian and Italian-American classics: fried calamari, clams oreganata, pasta e fagioli, Caesar salad, penne primavera, linguine with clams, baked ziti, veal or chicken Marsala, Francese or piccata, Parms of eggplant, chicken, veal and shrimp, veal saltimbocca, swordfish Livornese, pork chops with potatoes and peppers. Less-familiar items include tripe alla Napolitano (with potatoes, peas and tomatoes), wings scarpariello and New York strip steak over a bed of escarole. Most starters range from $8 to $16, pastas from $18 and $20, mains from $20 to $28. Pastas come with a house salad, most mains come with a house salad and vegetable.

From the pizzeria: pies both Neapolitan and Sicilian with your choice of toppings, calzones and garlic knots, and specialty pies such as Hawaiian (pineapple, ham, bacon and mozzarella) or topped with Gorgonzola salad. Everything is also available by the slice, and there’s a 12-inch gluten-free personal pie as well.

Michelangelo is at 300 E. Main St., Riverhead, 631-250-6145, michelangeloriverhead.com.