L'Uccello pizzeria opens in Greenlawn

James Tchinnis is doubling down on his hometown of Greenlawn. A year ago, he opened the contemporary small-plates specialist Swallow Kitchen & Cocktails — which had previously landed in Huntington and Montauk. Now, he has entered the pizza fray with L’Uccello ("bird” in Italian) right across the street.

The experience has been humbling.

"Pizza is a different world. I didn’t realize it was so hard,” said Tchinnis, who has been cooking professionally since he graduated from New York City’s French Culinary Institute (now The International Culinary Center) in 1995. “Anyone can make pizza dough … I wanted ours to be great.”

The menu at L’Ucccello is straight-ahead neighborhood pizzeria. It starts with garlic knots and fried calamari; continues through Neapolitan, Sicilian and Grandma pies (all available gluten free); pastas including spaghetti and meatballs, penne alla vodka and linguine with clams; mains such as chicken Parm, Francese and Milanese, shrimp scampi and sausage and peppers; Italian heroes and a handful of salads.

Among his specialty pies is a New England clam chowder pizza that blends littlenecks with fingerling potatoes, bacon, oyster crackers and a creamy chowder sauce. His “mother trucker” features spam, Fritos and Texas Pete hot sauce. The “forest mushroom” with roasted mushrooms, rosemary, spinach and mascarpone is a take on the “mushroom toast” across the street. Another visitor from Swallow is the appetizer of beer-battered asparagus spears served with lemon-Dijon aioli.

It’s only been open a few weeks but L’Uccello feels like it’s been around for decades. Tchinnis was going for a “grandmother’s house” vibe, with red-and-white checked tablecloths (under plastic) and lots of old photos and paintings. “At Swallow, the rush is in the kitchen, here it’s at the register.”

Running a pizzeria reminds him of his childhood in Commack. “I remember I would search the couch for change, then get on my bike and ride to La Scala [still going strong at 49] and that was just the best part of the day.”

L'Uccello, 112 Broadway, Greenlawn, 631-651-5125, luccellopizza.com. Open Monday-Saturday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.