Via Cuma pizzeria opens in Valley Stream

Southeastern Nassau is a hotbed of pizza innovation — King Umberto’s in Elmont, Dario’s in West Hempstead, Naples Street Food in Oceanside, Chef Gigi’s Place in Franklin Square and Grotta di Fuoco in Long Beach to name a few — but now there’s a new kid in town. Via Cuma opened in Valley Stream in August and, with his imported Izzo oven and artisanal dough, chef-owner Luca Schiano Di Cola is determined to strut his Neapolitan stuff on the Long Island stage.

Schiano Di Cola is from Monte di Procida, about 18 miles from Naples, and is passionate about his craft. He calls his cooking "contemporary Italian" rather than "authentic Italian," because, he said, "people get offended when you start telling them what is authentic and what’s not." Whereas "contemporary Italian" refers to the "food that they are eating right now in Italy."

Of course, what they are eating right now in Italy tends to harken back to traditional foodways. Schiano Di Cola’s pizza dough, for example, uses no commercial yeast. He maintains an Italian-style sourdough, "lievito madre," and uses a portion of it to start every batch. This results in crunchy-tender crust that is delicious all on its own.

There are almost a dozen varieties of 12-inch pizzas, from the simple Margherita, made not only with Italian San Marzano tomatoes but with imported mozzarella, to the cheese-free Napoletana, topped with cherry tomatoes and anchovies from Cetara on the Amalfi coast. More elaborate specimens include the Capricciosa, a Margherita gussied up with ham, olives, artichokes and mushrooms and the Patate, Porchetta e Provola, a white pie topped with cubes of roast potatoes and pork. Many of the pies can also be made into a panuozzo, a sandwich made with pizza dough wherein the topping becomes the filling. Pizzas range from $16 to $22.

Beyond pizza, Via Cuma has a tight menu of specialties from Campania (the region of which Naples is capital) such as house-cured anchovies with Gaeta olives on a bed of arugula ($15), Italian-style eggplant Parmesan (more of a layered casserole than an eggplant "steak" covered with mozzarella, $20), braciole di manzo (beer rolled around pine nuts, raisins and cheese, simmered in tomato sauce, $23).

On the pasta front, there's paccheri alla Genovese (giant rigatoni sauced with an onion-rich beef ragu, $23), spaghetti tossed with the tiny Mediterranean clams called vongole veraci ($25) and gnocchi alla Sorrentina (potato dumpling with tomato sauce and smoked mozzarella ($20).

The room — for it’s no more than a room — is modest but well appointed. The dominant visual theme is the Cumean Sybil, an ancient oracle best known for her supporting role on Michelangelo’s Sistine ceiling, but also an inspiration for Schiano Di Cola, who is an amateur historian and classics scholar as well as a chef. The oracle’s cave can still be visited and you get there from Schiano Di Cola’s hometown by traveling along the Via Cuma.

Via Cuma, 415 Rockaway Ave., Valley Stream, (516) 619-0019, viacumaus.com. Open Tuesday to Wednesday noon to 9 p.m., Thursday to Saturday noon to 10 p.m., Sunday noon to 9 p.m., closed Monday.