Mario's restaurant officially opens new location tonight in Penfield
Mario's restaurant will officially open Tuesday night at its newest location on Irondequoit Bay in Penfield at the site of the old Bazil's restaurant. A temporary sign with its new branding as Mario's Homemade Pasta Kitchen now hangs over the old Bazil's sign. In addition, there's Mario's Ice Cream on the Bay on the side of the restaurant at 1384 E...
Italy By The (Wine) Glass: Moscato Bianco From Piemonte
Nectar-bright fruit and flowers, bubbly and sweet: Piemonte's famous wines made of the Moscato Bianco grape. But from the glass at my monthly self-imposed lesson on Italian wines at Il Buco and Alimentari e Vineria in downtown Manhattan: indiscriminately mixed herbs; so many floral tones I'm reminded that a blossom's perfume can echo verdant in lea...
Little Italy of the Bronx, a trip to Arthur Avenue
Through a dreary door and up a flight of stairs in an old brick apartment building is Philip Marino’s Arthur Avenue office. It’s situated dead center in the Little Italy of the Bronx on a block that boasts culinary institutions like Full Moon Pizza, open since 1976, and Teitel Brothers Grocery, open since 1915. If you weren’t looking for Marino, t...
High-End Italian Chef To Open Casual Pizzeria
A new pizzeria is coming to the Meatpacking District Monday. SIMÓ Pizza is set to open its doors at 90-92 Gansevoort Street on June 4th, and while this will be the pizzeria's first location, the pizzas themselves already have a fan base. Chef Simone Falco has a thriving West Village fine dining restaurant, Rossopomodoro, and serves up his fresh Ita...
Red-Sauce Italian Cooking Finds a Future at Don Angie
Ever since Rich Torrisi and Mario Carbone began rehabilitating chicken Parm and Neapolitan cookies around 2010, I’ve been waiting for other restaurants to carry the torch of Italian-American food boldly into the future. This is a major branch of American cuisine, too important for its fate to be left to the Olive Garden. For the most part, though,...
Madonia Celebrates 100 Years
Arthur Avenue’s iconic Madonia Bakery is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year and with National Olive Day on Friday, June 1, the historic bakery is offering up their famous Olive Bread’s sought-after recipe. Third generation owner Peter Madonia and his partner and head baker, Charles Lalima currently run the bakery. With family traditions p...
Walk this way to a rustic Italian cafe
It’s a bit unexpected but quite welcome, a rustic Italian cafe in a country store. Let me introduce you to Stella at Fo’Castle Farm. Find Stella by walking through the 110-year-old country store with its gorgeous baked goods and myriad delightful gifts. You’re there to eat. Stella is smart, with minimalist decor, and like the labyrinthine store mea...
Outdoor dining coming to new eatery in Arlington Heights
Another downtown Arlington Heights restaurant will be introducing outdoor dining this summer. Passero, an Italian-American eatery that opened last fall at 5 W. Campbell St., got permission from the village board last week to install four tables on the sidewalk outside the restaurant. A license agreement between owners Matt and Rikki Peota and the v...
Cannatella's Grocery in Melville
LA 10 was once one of the busiest routes across our state, today just a few cars trickle through. Trees hang over the roadway and the train still passes now and again. As we travel along we end up in Melville, a tiny town on the banks of the Atchafalaya River. A community of a little over a thousand, but most businesses have left town. Except one,...
EAT Italian opens on South Shore after construction, menu tinkering
In just four months, restaurateurs Maria Buonsante and Franco Franzese brought their "EAT Italian" restaurant concept to life. The casual bistro-style eatery, located in the Woodrow Shopping Center, just debuted lunch, dinner and its egg-focused "colizione" concept with a friends-and-family fete that attracted South Shore neighbors. "The reception...
Armando’s, Montague St. fixture for 82 years, closes after building sold
Armando’s Restaurant and Bar, Brooklyn Heights’ classic Italian restaurant, has closed its doors after almost 82 years of business. City finance records show that Peter Byros, the restaurant’s owner since 1981, sold the building located at 143 Montague St. to Uri Koptiev for $7,418,000 on Feb. 14. Koptiev is a real estate agent. The roughly 2,000 s...
The Long-Running Pasta Show of Queens
As he stacks four one-pound packs of bucatini on Cassinelli’s compact counter, Giovanni Cali all but apologizes for his pasta purchase.“I can make it at home,” he said. “But I don’t want to.” It’s as difficult to find a store that sells bucatini, which looks like spaghetti with a hole in the center, as it is to make it. And this is why Mr. Cali has...