FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM APRIL 26, 2018 • BUZZ • THE QUEENS COURIER 59
dining out
Raising the bar at
Basil Brick Oven Pizza
BY LISA YAKOMIN
A local pizzeria restaurant is probably
the last place you’d expect to fi nd an
upscale wine bar, but for Ugo Mattei,
co-owner of Basil Brick Oven Pizza on
Astoria Boulevard, the new addition
made perfect sense.
A native of Campania, Italy, Mattei has
been managing restaurants in New York
City for over 20 years, and longed to bring
the food and fl avors of his childhood to
the neighborhood he now calls home.
“I love living in Astoria,” Mattei said.
“It’s a multicultural neighborhood, with
great people who are looking for traditional
Mediterranean cuisine, but also
want to eat healthy. Th ere are plenty of
restaurants here, but I felt that we needed
something that was truly authentic, with
great atmosphere, a big selection of wines,
and also aff ordable.”
Established in 2011, Basil Brick Oven
Pizza was already a local favorite when
Mattei took over in 2016, with a diverse
list of 37 specialty pizzas and a traditional
menu of hearty Italian fare. What was
once a 15-seat pizzeria had grown to a
50-seat dine-in restaurant, but Mattei
saw even more potential there. As a fi rst
step to realizing his vision, Mattei set to
work expanding and elevating the menu.
He brought in chef Fabio DeSantis, adding
lighter seafood dishes and Southern
Italian-inspired entrees with nuanced fl avors,
accompanied by freshly prepared
sauces.
“All of our sauces are made here,”
Mattei said. “It takes three hours every
morning, and nothing is done commercially;
we like to say that we make it the
way Grandma would do it.”
It is also their dedication to using
imported ingredients that sets the restaurant
apart, Mattei said.
“We have everything fl own in from
Italy twice a week — fresh cheese, herbs,
tomatoes — that’s what makes the difference.”
Aft er securing a liquor license in late
Basil Brick Oven Pizza
28-17 Astoria Blvd., Astoria
Open daily 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
718-204-1205
basilbrickoven.com
December 2017, Mattei was fi nally able
to combine his lifelong passion for great
food with his expertise as a certifi ed sommelier,
replacing the restaurant’s gelato
area with a fully stocked wine bar with
cozy, informal seating.
“We needed something like this in
Astoria,” Mattei said, “something in the
style of New York City, where wine lovers
can come and enjoy a nice glass of wine at
an aff ordable price.”
Since then, Mattei has personally selected
more than 120 diff erent vintages stored
in Basil’s ever-growing wine cellar, where
the inventory is already at over 5,000 bottles,
procured from wineries all over the
world. One of the most popular wines at
Basil is the Aglianico, a deep, complex red
made from black grapes that are indigenous
to Mattei’s native Campania, where
his family still owns land, and his father
and grandfather continue the tradition of
making their own wine.
Th e wine list at Basil changes on a
weekly basis, ensuring a steady fl ow of
regular customers eager to try the latest
arrivals.
Although some menu items remain
consistent throughout the year, Basil is
also known for switching things up with a
variety of seasonal selections. Th eir spring
2018 menu will feature grilled octopus,
homemade squid ink pasta, grilled fresh
fi sh selections served over arugula and
chef DeSantis’ much-anticipated roasted
lamb.
Th ere’s also a long-awaited project that
Mattei plans to debut by next summer: a
patio with outdoor seating in the back of
the restaurant, reminiscent of the openair
cafés so popular and pervasive in
Europe.
Photo courtesy of Basil Brick Oven Pizza
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