After 15 years, chef Mike Zummo opens his own place: Staten Island's Bella Giornata Luncheonette
Mike Zummo of Annadale opened Bella Giornata Luncheonette in St. George after 15 years of cooking Italian food in various Staten Island kitchens. "I worked for everybody else my whole life and this opened up and I jumped on this," Zummo says. His luncheonette/breakfast den is located across from borough hall and opened about 10 months ago....
Two Trattorias in Midtown Manhattan Show off the Italian Art of "Dolce Far Niente"
All the talk about how dining out has become more casual obviously ignores the fact that the overwhelming majority of restaurants are casual, not least -- and especially in New York -- the venerable Italian trattorias, distinct from high-end Italian ristoranti with Frette linens and Ginori china. At the former, they perfected long ago the...
Italian specialty shop Casa di Palma now open in Bellport Village
It was vacation. A mother-and-daughter trip, to be precise, to her families' roots in Italy is where Lisa Ihne of East Patchogue became inspired to open an Italian specialty food store in Bellport Village. She just didn't know it yet. It was only after arriving home that she started to think about recreating that charm of the Old Country...
5 Italian Comfort Food Joints in the Hamptons
The last vestiges of summer are finding their way onto Tom Colicchio's menu at Topping Rose House (One Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Tpke., Bridgehampton, 537-0870). Saffron garganelli pairs lobster and corn with a touch of Fresno and jalapeño chiles for a kick. Fresh mint, micro basil, and a drizzle of lemon olive oil complete the dish. Chef d...
6 reasons Campania is the 'Best Pizza' on Staten Island
By Carol Ann Benanti Pie people have spoken. Campania is the champ. We asked you to share your expertise for the "Best Pizza" category of the 2015 Staten Island Readers' Choice Awards. More than 13,000 legit votes later, you declared your winner: Barely 1-year-old, Eltingville's Campania Coal-Fired Pizza — 3900 Richmond Ave., 718-227...
San Marco’s time-tested Italian
By Andrew Z. Galarneau A restaurant's people are as important as its products. The face that greets you when you come in out of the cold and the hands that prepare your meal shape your experience more powerfully than its physical manifestations: the walls, the furniture, the plates. Over decades of steady performance, furniture and plates bec...
Italian Tradition Endures At White Plains, Dobbs Ferry Eateries
A trio of Westchester County "family-run" Italian restaurants, Sam's in Dobbs Ferry, and Francesco's and La Manda's, both in White Plains, are featured in an article in The New York Times. Sam's was opened for business in 1952 by Sam Ciancio, who is from Calabria, Italy, and grew up on Main Street, where the restaurant is located after com...
Be Spotted at The Leopard during Italian Dine-Out!
The Leopard at des Artistes, though under fairly new ownership, is no new kid on the block. The restaurant, originally designed as a kitchen for tenants of the New York City's largest "studio" building, the famous Hotel Des Artistes, to use as their apartments came with no or minimal cooking facilities, became "The Café de Artistes" in 1975 when Ge...
Campania products star at Eataly in New York, Chicago
High quality Italian food products from the Campania region south of Rome will be featured until the end of October at Eataly food shops in New York City first, and later in Chicago.The promotion of regional agribusinesses in these American markets has been organized by regional officials as well as Unioncamere, representing Italy's chambers of com...
Try Orazio’s for Italian-American standards, housemade staples
By Andrew Z. Galarneau A taste for fried mozzarella sticks has left me vulnerable to years of appetizer abuse. I saw too many pale, chewy sticks whose journey from factory to plate was interrupted only by a burst of microwave radiation. I had started to wonder what I ever saw in them in the first place. At Orazio's, my faith was r...
Sotto Sopra Pairs Steak, Northern Italian Cuisine in Amagansett
Joseph Smith and Rick Passarelli, well-known owners of Bobby Van's Steakhouse restaurants, have made a mark in the competitive Hamptons restaurant scene with Italian eatery, Sotto Sopra in Amagansett. The restaurant, which will mark its second summer season, features northern Italian cuisine, as well as the classic steakhouse dishes that B...
Eats Beat: Elizabeth Falkner brings Italian fare to upper West Side
by Gina Pace New to the scene ... Frequent "Top Chef" and "Iron Chef" guest Elizabeth Falkner has a new venture: an upper West Side eatery, Corvo Bianco, serving Coastal Italian cuisine. The chef, most recently in the kitchen at Brooklyn's Krescendo, will serve up dishes including a burrata salad with shaved summer squash, pine nut puree,...