Over the last year, Garden City has seen a rash of newsy openings — The James, Tatte, Meli, just for starters — but the village has now lost one of its culinary treasures: La Nonna Bella has closed.
On July 4, owners Lino and Erica De Vivo posted that they would be closed until July 13, which hardly raised an eyebrow since the family usually took a week in the summer to visit Puglia, Lino’s native region in Italy’s boot. But the weeks went by and the restaurant stayed closed. Today they announced it would not be reopening. Erica said they were unable to come to a new lease agreement with their landlord.
Chef-owner Lino De Vivo made dishes like cavatelli with mussels and cannellini beans. Credit: Yvonne Albinowski
La Nonna Bella was opened in 2008 by Anna Maola. Lino was the chef and, in 2010, he and his wife bought the business. For the next 16 years, it managed a neat trick: It was the village’s beloved local Italian and also an Islandwide destination for the regional food of Puglia. From Lino’s hometown of Conversano came homemade cavatelli with caramelized onion, spinach and smashed fava beans; he also made a bang-up version of the most famous Pugliese pasta, strascinate (leaf-shaped fresh pasta with broccoli rabe and sausage. He elevated the peasant dish of fave e ciccoria (fava-bean puree and chicory) by stuffing it into crostini and, though Puglia’s most notable export, burrata, has become a cliche of a starter at most other local restaurants, he would serve a sweet, milky blob with capocollo that was elegance itself.
Burrata with capocollo was an elegant appetizer at La Nonna Bella. Credit: Yvonne Albinowski
Erica noted that Lino was one of only a few local chefs who consistently cooked with veal, lamb and game. “Our food costs were getting out of control,” she said. “But Lino refused to take these dishes off the menu or to lower the quality.”
The kitchen also satisfied less rarefied tastes. “We knew everyone in Garden City. We cooked for their special occasions and we made takeout for after the lacrosse games — and we’d make penne alla vodka even if it wasn’t on the menu.”
In 2019, Lino ran a short-lived cafe in Great Neck, +39 Italian Eatery, for which he expanded his repertoire — and mastery — of fresh gelato. After it closed, he rented a commissary kitchen because the restaurant’s kitchen could not contain the production. Erica said, “other chefs and owners who tasted it would ask if they could by it for their stores.” Thus was born The Gelato Factory, which supplies local restaurants, pizzerias and grocery stores. It is usually sold under a private label, but you can buy Lino-labeled pints at Sansone Market in Garden City Park.
Right now, the De Vivos are weighing a number of options. “We want to do something else, but it has to be something that gives Lino the flexibility to keep making gelato.”
Erica Marcus, a passionate but skeptical omnivore, has been reporting and opining on the Long Island food scene since 1998.
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