Surrounded by neighborhood pizza shops while growing up together in Queens, longtime chums Angelo Viscoso and Brad Nagy had long planned to open a place of their own someday.
But when Viscoso and Nagy, both 35, started knocking around ideas for the name of their restaurant, no amount of pie in the sky could help.
“We were struggling for a name, and Brad & Angelo”™s just didn”™t have a ring to it,” Nagy said.
But Frankie & Fanucci”™s did, and this month, the new business partners opened on East Hartsdale Avenue.
But weeks before they even opened their restaurant, which has cooking equipment consisting of a single wood-burning oven, Frankie (Nagy) and Fanucci (Viscoso) wanted to welcome the neighbors by offering an e-voucher for a free pizza.
“We”™re the new guys in town and we wanted to come bearing gifts,” Nagy said.
“This way, we can introduce our exceptional product while we invite Web site visitors to sign up for additional notices about special promotions,” Viscoso added.    Â
Nagy said the restaurant offers food at moderate prices; the inspiration being chaotic economic times called for simplicity and comfort “with a little newness integrated into it.”
The restaurant is already experiencing repeat business and regular customers, Nagy said.
“Customers came in and said there hasn”™t been this much activity in the village in years,” Nagy said. “We were floored.”
An open kitchen shows off the wood-burning oven; a two-level floor plan provides a shared but more private space for diners.
The color palette is a white and black theme in mosaic tile and Carrara marble, enriched by mahoganies, and accents feature clusters of exposed light bulbs.
The menu, which consists of appetizers, pizza, sandwiches and salads, relies heavily on fresh ingredients. Nagy said he and Viscoso would like to get involved with the farmers market at the Hartsdale train station and create specialty pizza using its products.
The restaurant”™s official opening is June 3. The Web site is FandFpizza.com.
