4 THE QUEENS COURIER • OCTOBER 18, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Concettina brings authentic tastes of southern Italy to Queens
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com/ @jenna_bagcal
When Alberto Cadolini opened
Concettina Italian Restaurant in
Whitestone, he knew exactly the kind of
eatery he wanted to have.
“I made the place with meals that I
could eat,” said Alberto. “I’m using the
best possible ingredients I could fi nd to
make the real Italian food.”
Serving high-quality food at Concettina,
located at 160-24 Willets Point Blvd., is a
high priority for Alberto, who goes grocery
shopping every morning for the seafood,
meat and produce used in the dishes.
When QNS visited the restaurant,
Alberto and Mary were getting ready to
go grocery shopping for the day.
Th e restaurateur said that he hand picks
ingredients that are as authentic to his
home country of Italy as he can get, which
include Rummo pasta, Leonardo tomatoes
from North Shore Farms and pure
olive oil. If he is not able to fi nd ingredients
that he deems acceptable, he will not
serve it at the restaurant.
“I’d rather close than serve something
bad,” said Alberto, who is in charge of
day-to-day operations and food prep at
the restaurant.
Concettina has been opened since July
of this year and Mary describes how
she and her husband got their restaurant
as “kismet.” Before they owned it,
the restaurant used to be a Greek and
Mediterranean place that they had frequented
for 10 years.
“We had always wanted a restaurant to
serve my husband’s southern Italian cuisine,”
said Mary. “We always looked for a
restaurant that served that kind of food in
Whitestone, but could never fi nd it.”
Mary recalled that she and Alberto
were out to dinner one night and on a
whim, asked the owners if they
were selling the busi- ness.
Th ey informed the couple
that they were selling
and the Cadolinis
decided to buy the place
and establish a restaurant
of their own.
They shared
that business
has been great
so far and they
have been
able to fi ll all
55 restaurant
seats every
weekend.
Last weekend,
Alberto
said they
actually had
to turn customers
away
since they
were at capacity.
Alberto came
to New York from Sorrento, Naples on
Italy’s Amalfi Coast in 1992 and has lived
in Whitestone for over 20 years. Most of
the food served at Concettina is based on
his mother Concetta’s recipes, who is also
the restaurant’s namesake. But he said they
also serve Italian-American favorites like
chicken parmigiana, penne a la vodka and
event fettuccine alfredo upon request.
Concettina’s menu is seafood-heavy in
the true spirit of the Amalfi Coast.
Options include antipasti like calamari
and tuna tartare, black
tagliolini, which is a squid ink
pasta served with shrimp
in tomato sauce and a
whole grilled branzino
called branzino
alla griglia.
Other popular
items include
the Gnocchi
Sorrentina
in a tomato
sauce with
mozzarella
cheese
and ricotta
enriched
h o u s e -
m a d e
cavatelli with broccoli rabe and sausage in a
light olive oil and garlic sauce.
In 2009, Alberto’s mom gained recognition
for her food from celebrity chef
Rocco DiSpirito, who wrote a cookbook
called Now Eat Th is Italian!: Favorite
Dishes from the Real Mamas of Italy—
All Under 350 Calories. DiSpirito visited
Concetta in Sorrento and featured
seven of her recipes in the book, including
red peppers stuff ed with three cheeses,
tomatoes, eggplant and spaghetti, which
is sometimes served as a special in the
restaurant.
Th ough Concettina is the fi rst restaurant
the husband and wife team have owned
together, they are not newcomers to the
business. Mary has been a union waitress
at the Plaza Hotel and Alberto worked at
Roc Restaurant, which his brother owned
in Tribeca for 17 years.
When the restaurant’s lease expired,
Rocco moved to Kentucky and opened up
the restaurant in Louisville. Th e Cadolinis
said that they also served Concetta’s
Southern Italian fare during Alberto’s
years at Roc.
Concettina is opened on Tuesday,
Wednesday, Th ursday and Sunday from 5
to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 5 to
11 p.m. and they are closed on Mondays.
Check out the restaurant’s menu at concettinarestaurant.
com or fi nd them on
Facebook and Instagram. For more information
call 718-281-4210 or email
ConcettinaRistorante@gmail.com.
Health Kitchen owner kicks ‘lackluster’ health food to the curb
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com/ @jenna_bagcal
Whitestone residents will soon have
healthy food options that go beyond prepackaged
salads and store-bought yogurt.
In two to three weeks, Health Kitchen,
located at 10-17 154th St., will open to
the public, according to co-owner Jordan
Schneider, who is opening the business
with Erika Lercara and her husband
Anthony. Lercara started out as
Schneider’s fi tness client but transitioned
to his business partner aft er becoming
interested in health and fi tness. She and
her husband are the co-owners of Silo
Fitness in Whitestone.
Schneider said that the decision to open
Health Kitchen stemmed from being surrounded
by “lackluster” healthy food
options in the area. Th e owner said he was
“tired of store-bought” food and wanted
better options for the neighborhood.
Th e establishment has been in the works
for over two years, but setbacks in construction
delayed the project’s timeline.
When he fi rst acquired the building,
Schneider said that the exterior was “dilapidated”
but has since been made brand new
in time for the grand opening.
Health and fi tness is something that
Schneider has always been invested in,
having completed a degree in nutrition
and exercise physiology at Queens College
before opening up Sage Fitness Studios in
2009. Th e business owner said that opening
up his eatery in Whitestone made
sense, as the area is small but densely
packed with health-related businesses.
“You can fi nd 10 to 12 businesses in a
two- to three-mile radius,” said Schneider,
whose business is across the street from a
Life Health & Fitness gym and a Body &
Mind Day Spa.
Th ough the area is saturated in all things
health and fi tness related, what sets Health
Kitchen apart from other health food businesses
in the area is their focus on creating
fresh menu items exclusive to their establishment.
Schneider shared that creating the menu
at Health Kitchen has been a collaborative,
ongoing eff ort between Anthony, who
conceptualized the menu and Schneider,
who approved the menu items to fi t Health
Kitchen’s nutritional values. Th ey have
also been working with executive chef
Brian Kirpan, who earned his degree at the
Culinary Institute of America. Kirpan is
working exclusively with Health Kitchen’s
prepped food line, which will include
breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks available
for pickup or preorder.
“Th e menu is unique and built specifically
for us,” said Schneider. He added
that their emphasis on perfecting the
menu is another factor that delayed Health
Kitchen’s opening.
Items include fresh salads, smoothies,
acai, pitaya and chia bowls, homemade
Greek yogurt from an Astoria company
and poke bowls with fi sh provided by
J. Kings Food Service. Prices range from
about $6 for items like smoothies to $12
for the pricier items like the customizable
poke bowls.
Schneider said that they even customized
their own coff ee blend, which took a
few months to perfect. His ultimate goal
is to streamline the process for everything
they serve in stores so that they stay competitive
with other businesses in the area.
He added that Health Kitchen will be providing
delivery through services like Uber
Eats and DoorDash, but will work toward
in-house deliveries once they are established.
For the most updated information about
Health Kitchen, follow them on Facebook
and Instagram.
Photo by Jenna Bagcal/THE
COURIER
Alberto and Mary
Cadolini
Photo via instagram.com/healthkitchenwhitestone/
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