Casarecce Italian restaurant closes in Bellmore

Casarecce, the ambitious Italian restaurant-wine-and-cocktail bar, has served its last Negroni. Owner Alex Fiorentino plans to turn the space into the more casual Americano Wine Bar. He expects a light redesign to take about two months and hopes to reopen before the summer.

Fiorentino, who also owns Meritage in Glen Cove, said that Casarecce faced challenges from the very beginning in March 2022. “It was impossible to hire people,” he said, “but starting over, we are already getting twice as many applications.”

Then, too, the concept went over the heads of many potential customers. "It took me three years at Meritage to realize that people wanted burgers, not bone marrow,” he said. “When we switch over to Americano, it’s going to be a lot of salumi and cheese boards, chicken Parm pizza (a chopped chicken “burger” formed into a big circle, topped with sauce and cheese), veal chops Milanese and Parmesan, that kind thing.”

What won’t change: Housemade pasta, an inventive cocktail program and a deep wine list that, he said, would feature “American and Italian varietals plus some more esoteric bottles and heavy hitters from around the world.”

Julius Miranda, Casarecce’s chef (who also ran Meritage’s kitchen since 2019), decamped a few months ago to Locust Valley where he will be part of the team opening Two25, a self-described modern Italian restaurant.