Vespa Italian Kitchen taking over The Cuban in Patchogue
Meatballs and burrata at Vespa Italian Kitchen & Cocktails, which is expanding to Patchogue. Credit: Newsday/Melissa Azofeifa
The Cuban, a Patchogue restaurant that recently closed, will transform into Vespa Italian Kitchen & Cocktails this summer.
Owner Benedetto LoManto signed the lease for the space at 93 W. Main St. two weeks ago, he said in a Monday phone interview, and hopes to open the second week of July. This will be the third Vespa, which debuted in 2016 in Farmingdale and opened at Ronkonkoma’s Station Yards last June. The LoManto restaurant group also runs the Farmingdale steakhouse Harleys American Grille, which opened in Huntington late last year.
The new Patchogue Vespa was formerly The Cuban, which closed abruptly in November after six years in the village.
"Minimum it’ll take four months to put together," LoManto said. "It was a restaurant space already so I don’t have to do a lot of the fundamentals, I would say it’s probably 85% esthetics."
LoManto said the new Vespa will mimic the Ronkonkoma one, but there won't be pizza on the menu due to its smaller kitchen. "I’ve been trying to make it work and it doesn't," he said, with not enough room to make and ferment dough. That leaves about 80% of the menu the same as at the other Vespa locations. Physical upgrades planned for Patchogue include an exposed wine room with tempered glass walls.
LoManto said he’s excited to be a part of the changes that are happening in Patchogue Village.
"The customers on Long Island are amazing; they’ve been so supportive," he said. "That’s what gives me the courage, if you will, to open up in another area."
Melissa Azofeifa is a restaurants reporter with Newsday's FeedMe team. Having grown up on Long Island, she loves talking about food and its impact on culture. A graduate of Stony Brook University, she joined Newsday in the fall of 2024.
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