Stellina Pizza in Farmingdale closes to reconfigure

Farmingdale’s Stellina Pizza, the quick-serve sibling to neighboring Casa Stellina restaurant, has closed. Managing partner-chef Fabrizio Facchini said that the pizzeria fell victim to the restaurant’s success.

"We simply needed more room," he said. "Thursdays through Saturdays we were just getting slammed at the restaurant and I was tired of turning away 30, 40 customers a night."

The space is currently under construction but, when finished, it will provide a secondary kitchen for the restaurant as well as a "pizza bar" that can act as an extra dining room and bar for overflow or private parties.

Casa Stellina restaurant, a larger satellite of Facchini's original Stellina Ristorante in Oyster Bay (a FeedMe Top 50 restaurant), opened in April. The pizzeria, which opened in February, had a hybrid Italian-American menu that starred four types of pizza that all used the same pre-fermented, high-hydration dough. It was stretched differently for the Roman-style "pizze alla pala," the puffy, rectangular, large-format pies sold individually or by the square; individual classic Neapolitan pies; round 18-inch "New York" pies; and schiacciata, a "naked" pan pizza that was split and filled with savories.

All the pizzas will still be available on the restaurant menu, though it’ll be whole pies only from now on — no more slices. Facchini hopes to finish construction by the end of October.

If you’re in Farmingdale and fancy a quick pizza, there’s no shortage of options: Vespa next door, Vico across the street, Zuzu one block north and Gino’s one block south.