Scotto’s Wood Fried Pizza Restaurant and Lounge
1195 Corporate Dr., Westbury
516-222-1042
The brief partnership between East Village pizzeria Luzzo’s and the Scotto family has melted away like baked mozzarella cheese. Gino Scotto has attached the family name to the former Luzzo’s, which opened in October. Now, all pizzas get the fresh buffala mozzarella treatment. Counter intuitively they chose to buck the trend, dumping the coal and going with wood to fire the ovens. Prices are lower and the menu has been dumbed down, which is to say Americanized.
Gone are the coal oven-baked panini and stuffed breads, replaced by hero sandwiches. The enormous space, with open kitchen and more than 50 tables, still has the confused service I encountered at Luzzo’s. One recent dinner pizza emerged with the wrong toppings and clueless runners searched for waiters to direct them to the right tables. Our margherita pie had lonely squares of un-melted cheese sitting like isolated islands in a sea of red sauce.
Gino is the son of Vincent, who owns the Westbury Manor caterers and owned Scotto’s in Great Neck for many years, which explains why the menu reads “Scotto’s since 1964.” It seems like they want to turn back the clock.
Ristorante Besi
2367 Hempstead Tpke., East Meadow
516-280-6657
The Singh Hospitality Group gave up on their Ruby’s Famous BBQ Joint concept after about a year in operation. The first attempt here by SHG was the short-lived Louis & Marxx Steakhouse. Crowds found the place, despite having a low profile—just a doorway tucked into the elbow of a strip mall—but soon abandoned it. The steakhouse was deemed too expensive for the neighborhood and BBQ is a once-a-month treat for most.
So, after giving it their best shots and despite sitting directly across the street from Puglia of Little Italy, they chose to give the people what they want and morphed into an Italian restaurant. The 30-odd tables and bar remain, but gone is the requisite barn wood of out west/down south flavored décor. Instead of smoking meats, they bake ciabatta (for panini) and loaves of semolina bread. This is casual, everyday Italian at modest prices. Pasta al Forno (cavatelli baked with split meatballs, bits of sopresseta and oozing mozzarella, ricotta and red sauce) is lukewarm under the melted cheese, but I couldn’t stop myself from eating it. They hype “artisinally made pizzas” and the 10-inch margherita pie is very good with perfectly seasoned sauce and plenty of fresh mozzarella.
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