Italian restaurant Casa Stellina opens in Farmingdale
Lasagna at Casa Stellina in Farmingdale. Credit: Newsday/Erica Marcus
Fabrizio Facchini can’t stop, won’t stop. A month after opening an authentic Italian pizzeria in Farmingdale, the chef and his partners have launched a fine-dining Italian restaurant in the adjacent storefront. Both eateries share a name, Casa Stellina.
The Stellina name is already well known to North Shore diners: The group (Facchini and his wife, Samira, along with Thomas and Adriana Milana) already own Oyster Bay’s Stellina Ristorante as well The Wine Line around the corner and two Stellina bakery-cafés, one in Oyster Bay, the other in Syosset.
Casa Stellina is more than twice as big as the 40-seat Stellina Ristorante, with a dining room in front and a comfortable bar (with a few high-tops alongside) toward the back. An enclosed deck can be used for additional dining or private parties. The main room is an elegant blend of plush, forest-green upholstery, terrazzo floor tiles and blond wood.
The dining room at Casa Stellina in Farmingdale. Credit: Newsday/Erica Marcus
A native Italian with roots in Calabria and Umbria, Facchini and his family emigrated almost 10 years ago. He strives for real Italian flavors but is not a regional guy. “When I do pasta Amatriciana, it’s with imported bucatini and guanciale [cured pig jowl] the way it’s done in Rome,” Facchini said. “Our cannoli are stuffed with sheep ricotta like in Palermo.” Artichokes here are cut into wedges and fried, not braised whole with breadcrumbs.
Concessions to local tastes have been made: The enormous lasagna combines the meat ragù and béchamel of the classic Bolognese rendition, but also the gooey mozzarella that’s more common here. You’ll find veal Parmesan (an American invention albeit fried on the bone here) as well as the Stellina burger, an Italian-American mashup if ever there were one: 8 ounces of Wagyu beef with Taleggio cheese, mesclun, grilled onions, lemon-herb pink sauce on a toasted brioche and served with truffle fries.
The Farmingdale and Oyster Bay menus are almost identical though there’s porchetta and zuppa di pesce in Oyster Bay, brasato di manzo al Barolo (wine-braised short ribs) and chicken Parmesan in Farmingdale. Both restaurants also serve 10 individual pizzas ranging from Margherita to an “al tartufo” pie with mushroom cream, spinach, fior di latte, lemon zest and freshly shaved black truffles.
Fried artichokes at Casa Stellina in Farmingdale. Credit: Newsday/Erica Marcus
His approach has been successful in Oyster Bay (Stellina is one of Newsday’s Top Italian restaurants) and he believes that Long Island is full of “receptive customers who are looking for dishes that they’ve had in Italy or in the city.”
Most Casa Stellina starters range from $18 to $27, pastas from $24 to $36, pizzas from $16 to $29, mains from $32 to $59. (a 35-ounce bistecca alla Fiorentina is $99).
Casa Stellina, 300 Main St., Farmingdale, 516-943-9111, casastellinany.com. Open Tuesday to Wednesday 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., Thursday to Saturday 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., Sunday 5 to 9:30 p.m. Closed Monday.
