The Journal.
Notes from the kitchen and the bar: what is in season, what has changed on the menu, and the people who put it there.
Everything else.
Three rooms, and how to choose one
A birthday, a rehearsal dinner, a company night in December. Two formats, three private rooms, and the questions that decide which is right.
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The veal chop, and the case for the big plate
Sixteen ounces, bone in, breaded, and broiled in the wood-fired oven. When to order the largest thing on the menu, and what to do with the rest of the table.
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A case for the antipasti
Everybody knows their main course before they sit down. Almost nobody has a plan for the beginning of the meal, which is where a kitchen shows its hand.
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Happy hour, and how to eat it
Ten-dollar cocktails, house wine two for one, and eight plates that came off the real kitchen. How to spend the hours between four and six.
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How to end a meal here
There are more amari on our list than there are cocktails. What to do with them once the plates have gone.
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Wednesday is Sinatra Night
Gino Dabbicco sings the great American songbook, live in the dining room, every Wednesday from six.
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The two hours before dinner
Aperitivo is not a discount, it is a habit. What happens at our bar between four and six.
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One dish: paccheri, saffron, and pistachios from Bronte
A pale gold sauce, a green pesto that is not basil, and a town on the side of a volcano.
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What "fresca" actually means
There is a section of the menu called La Pasta Fresca, and it is not a marketing word. Here is the difference you can taste.
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Why the pizza is long, not round
It arrives on a paddle, longer than it is wide, and that shape changes how the whole table eats.
Read →What Casa Stellina means
A little star, and a house to put it in. Where the name came from, and what we wanted it to promise.
Read →Nothing filed under that yet.
Come and eat.
Reading about it is not the same. 300 Main Street, Farmingdale, or call (516) 943-9111.