Stella Ristorante, a Long Island food staple for over 60 years, will be serving its final meal to customers on Dec. 31.
The Floral Park restaurant, located at 152 Jericho Turnpike has delighted customers for decades. The restaurant is open Wednesday through Sunday, with a menu featuring items such as fried zucchini, stuffed mushrooms, salads, soups, and entrees such as veal cutlet parmigiana and chicken rollatini.
Gina Cerrone, known as Mamma Stella, and her husband, Giuseppe, moved to the United States from Italy. After initially opening a pizzeria in 1960, the couple was able to grow their business into Stella Ristorante, according to the restaurant’s website.
Cerrone died in 2016 at age 98. The chair where she used to sit and greet customers remains across from her oil painting inside the restaurant.
“Her philosophy along with the fortitude of the family, including our father who worked in the restaurant after retiring from the construction industry, has resulted in Stellas growing from a neighborhood pizzeria, to a restaurant that has long been a staple in fine Italian Cuisine on Long Island, to ultimately a “destination restaurant.”.
According to its website, this year was the restaurant’s 64th year of being open.
Cerrone’s two daughters, Enza Tomaselli and her sister, Elsa Cerrone, have been working in their mother’s restaurant since they were children.
The restaurant remains a family operation. Enza, along with her husband, Vincenzo, her brother, Peter Cerrone, and cousin Antonio Martellaccio, cook the dishes at the restaurant. Elsa runs Stella’s dining room.
Now, the sisters look forward to some time off with their families.
“We’ve enjoyed every minute of it, but now it’s time to retire,” Tomaselli said in an interview with Newsday. “We want to enjoy one another, our grandkids — I have five grandkids and they always want me to come see their games. Now I will be able to.”
The restaurant’s closure has not been discussed yet at an official meeting of the Floral Park Board of Trustees. But earlier this month, there was a community meeting held to discuss the future of the building as well as the street where the building is located.
