Amityville: Missing Vero
The pansoti pasta, with walnut sauce, is served at Vero, an Italian restaurant in Amityville. (Jan. 6, 2011) Credit: Yana Paskova
How we wish we could have included Vero in our story on exciting new places to eat on Suffolk’s south shore. Vero opened in Amityville in late 2010 was shuttered by fire on May 24. During the intervening months it established itself as one of Long Island’s top restaurants, earning a rare 3½ stars from Peter Gianotti.
The restaurant is? was? a collaboration between owner Michael Esposito, who also owns Vittorio’s (just down the street) and executive chef Massimo Fedozzi, who earned three stars at the defunct Palio in Jericho. Back in May Esposito hoped that Vero would reopen by August 1. We’ve heard nothing since then.
“Vero” means “true” in Italian, and chef Fedozzi, whom I know, adhered to true Italian (as opposed to Italian-American) cooking to a degree that is rare on Long Island. Nevertheless, his menu, composed of scores of small plates, was a real crowd pleasure. Among the dishes we miss most: Arborio rice fritters, spiedini Romani, bucatini all’Amatriciana, pansoti (chard-and-cheese-filled pasta in walnut sauce), seafood risotto, orange-and-fennel salad, Nutella panino.
If only wishing for Vero’s resurrection would make it so.
Oh for another taste of Massimo Fedozzi's pansoti...
