Monaco's Coal-Fired Pizza: Fired up in Huntington Station
The signature Monaco's pie at Monaco's Coal Fired Pizza in Huntington Station has sausage, peppers, onions and fresh mozzarella. (Jan., 2012) Credit: Newsday / Joan Reminick
Monaco’s Coal Fired Pizza takes over the sideways-facing Huntington Station storefront best known for having housed Massa’s Pizzeria and, for a short time after that, Christian’s.
The place is owned by the Pasquarosa family — father, Tony, mom, Laura, and son, Andy. According to Andy Pasquarosa, pizzaiolo Roni Sanchez has been making pies in the same coal oven for the past five years, under both previous ownerships.
I stopped into the simply appointed spot and tried both the personal-sized Margherita pizza, topped with fresh mozzarella, a bright tomato sauce and basil ($7.75), and the signature Monaco's pie ($10.75) with its hearty mixture of ground sausage, peppers, onions and fresh mozzarella. Both had a puffy-crispy crusts with a nice char. And if the underside of the sausage pie didn’t stand up to its heavier topping, it still made for good eating. A pallid chopped salad ($7), however, fell short.
Recipes for entrees, heroes and pastas have been in the family for decades, Andy Pasquarosa said. Also on the menu: a seafood salad ($8 small, $16.50 large), spaghetti with meatballs ($9.25), coal oven roasted peppers with tomato and fresh mozzarella ($7.95)
Monaco’s Coal Fired Pizza is at 146 W. Jericho Tpke., Huntington Station, 631-923-0707.
