June 17, 2015 By Christian Murray
A restaurant with a focus on Italian-style pizza is expected to open at 26-11 Jackson Avenue.
The restaurant will be run by three partners who already own three Italian restaurants in Manhattan and one in Brooklyn.
The owners—Tony D’Aiuto, Eden Tesfamariam Gaim and Antonio Giaccio—plan to offer pizza cooked in a wood fired oven that reaches temperatures in excess of 1,000 degrees.
They plan to replicate the concept that they developed at Ovest Pizzoteca in west Chelsea, where they offer homemade pasta, authentic Panini and Italian wines.
The restaurant will operate out of a building owned by Rockrose, which has a number of old buildings in that section of Jackson Avenue.
“We own most of the block and we decided to save them all…to keep intact some of the flavor of Long Island City,” said Patricia Dunphy, an executive with Rockrose, at a recent community board meeting.
The company owns 26-15, 26-09, 26-21, 26-25 and 26-11 Jackson Avenue.
The properties are located next to one of Rockrose’s towers undergoing construction.
The restaurant is likely to have 45 seats inside (include a small bar area) and room for a little more than 20 seats in the rear yard.
It does not plan to offer live entertainment.
The back of the restaurant’s yard will be about 30 feet from a Rockrose tower. However, the tower will have sound-proof windows.
The opening date is still in flux, although it is not likely to happen anytime time soon.
