Luigi’s Italian Restaurant opened in 2008 with Luigi Uzhca at the helm, having recently vacated the hustle-bustle of New York’s Forest Hills community. Situated in Queens, Forest Hills was, and certainly still is, rife with quintessential Italian-American trattorias, a good many, no doubt, headed by Old Country transplants.

Tutto Bene was such an establishment. It’s where young Uzhca got his start, washing dishes while his father, part of the kitchen crew, mastered the art of chicken and veal piccata, parmigiana and calamari marinara. Natives of Ecuador, the Uzhcas adapted and flourished, leading Luigi up the kitchen ladder to become a cook and, eventually, owner of his own place in Lake Alfred.