By Sophia Chang
The latest addition to the boulevard's many pizzerias, homegrown pizza chain Cascarino's is poised to open its newest location at 39-17 Bell Blvd. in late April or early May.”It's a good area to go out to eat,” owner Jimmy Cascarino said. Although the chain's three other locations in College Point, Whitestone and upstate New York are family-oriented, the new Bayside branch will have a small bar in a nod to the older demographic that Bell Boulevard's restaurant row attracts.”I'm going to get more adults and couples” at this location, Cascarino said. “It will be a fun place for a husband and wife to get out, for mom and dad to get out and away from the kids.”Down the street and a world away, 39 East, the fusion restaurant at 213-41 39th Ave., closed Jan. 31 for a directional shift. Opened in January 2004, the restaurant's offering of Asian and European flavors ultimately failed to draw in Baysiders.”The fact was that 39 East was too high-end for the neighborhood,” said Paul Lim, who co-owned the eatery with local restaurateur Dominick Bruccoleri, owner of Papazzio at 39-38 Bell Blvd.Lim, who also owns the Thai restaurant Erawan, will take over the entire enterprise, and the restaurant is to be reborn in late March as Erawan Seafood and Steakhouse. “It will be more appropriate for family style,” he said, promising an extensive and affordable slate of Thai and Chinese-style seafood and “everything in the steak category” as well as lamb, pork and chicken dishes. Lim said he has no plans to close the original Erawan at 42-31 Bell Blvd., which will remain focused on traditional Thai food.Reach reporter Sophia Chang by e-mail at news@timesledger.com, or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 146.
