Pastavino: Sneak peek at a Staten Island restaurant’s rebranding

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- On Sunday afternoon Pastavino’s dining room sprang to life.

Its light-filled space and open kitchen at 44 Navy Pier Way has been quiet for about two weeks when its former iteration, a seafood-centric, two-year old Barca, suddenly closed its doors.

Yet rather than shut permanently, the operation’s owners, Vic Rallo and Dave Pasternack, decided to rebrand and give it another go. And now, Pastavino’s first day will be Tuesday, Feb. 18 at 5 p.m.

The tenets of this new place under Michelin- and James Beard House-recognized chef Josh Laurano are clear -- simple plates, family-style dining and quality meals with the theme of “affordability.”

With these lower price points at Pastavino, appetizers are $15 each while sliced meat and artisanal platters start at $10. Pasta dishes, all made from scratch in the restaurant, are $20 apiece. These bites lead into $25 entrees like a cremini mushroom-driven Chicken Marsala prepared with thigh meat, whole roasted Branzino bass with sauteed broccolini and a thick, juicy Pork Chop Scarpariello.

The wine list features about 120 wines under $60 a bottle plus several wines by the glass.

Desserts, crafted on the premises by pastry chef Katherine Fernandez, feature olive oil pound cake garnished with seasonal fruit and an uber-delicate cannoli piped with a fluffy, almost savory ricotta cream. She forms rich tartufo out of chocolate ice cream covered in a candy shell, a bomb of cocoa and hazelnut in an equally decadent pool of ganache.

Out of the 27 dishes Laurano helped shuttle to tables of tasters that included staff on Sunday, it was clear that some of the yum might not make the final menu cut come Tuesday night.

One dish might have been better than the next, beginning with a cheese board (available to patrons as the start or finish to a meal) and a platter of salumi -- finely sliced speck, fennel-forward salami dubbed finocchiona and a spectacular Njuda salami spread with fresh baked foccacia. Another anchor to land ashore in Stapleton is Pastavino’s stunning lasagna with veal crumbles and 20 or so layers of fresh pasta.

“We could have packed up and went away,” said Rallo. As he forked a tender morsel of roasted eggplant in a Mezza Rigatoni Alla Norma he added, “We’re here for the long haul.”

Now the restaurant will give complimentary parking for patrons. The dining room has been shifted around to afford more tables by the windows for Pastavino’s sweeping harbor views. Tables are set up for large parties and communal dining.

“If you want a reservation for 10 or 20 -- now, no problem,” said Rallo.

Outdoor supping will be available in the spring through fall. Hours now are Tuesday through Saturday starting at 5 p.m, Sundays at 3 p.m.

Rallo hopes to be open for lunch a few days a week in the near future.

THE RESTAURANT RALLY

“We opened with an idea. Obviously we’re from New Jersey, slightly misjudged the market even with great and loyal customers," said Rallo.

The celebrity chef and famed fisherman Pasternack partnered in this operation as well as former Surf across Navy Pier Way, a small street in the Urby residential complex that separates the two restaurants. Surf, also closed right now, undergoes its own restyling from an eclectic wood-fired menu to two concepts. By around St. Patrick’s Day it will become Navy Pier Prime & Taproom with a steakhouse upstairs and pub digs downstairs.

Round two for Rallo’s and Pasternack’s restaurants comes after a series of unimaginable developments on Staten Island. The Wheel never materialized. Lighthouse Point in St. George is delayed with its $250 million luxury apartment building, retail, office space and a Westin Hotel as the developer’s contractor filed for bankruptcy protection. There is no fast ferry docking at Urby, no adjoining new parks as promised by 2020, no connecting promenade to Bay Street Landing and no sign of construction happening on Urby’s Phase II by Ironstate Developers.

“We heard about all these projects and then the projects went away,” Rallo admitted.

“We came to Urby. It was the waterfront, beautiful. We realize we were the first here. We realized we had to change. And we think that our new brands are really suited to what people want to eat,” said Rallo.

This is not Rallo’s first restaurant relaunch. He transformed Basil T’s in Red Bank, N.J. into Birravino, one of New Jersey’s busiest restaurant destinations. Last year he and Pasternack reopened beleaguered Esca in Manhattan, a former Batali property.

“Birrivino attracts a ton of Staten Island clientele and [Pastavino] is a version of what we do there,” said Rallo, adding, “Can you afford to eat quality, affordable ingredients every day? At Pastavino we say yes."

Rallo has forged new relationships because of his tenure so far on Staten Island -- Flagship Brewing Co. for beer and Mark’s Bake Shoppe for special occasion cakes. He’s discovered the borough’s largest coffee roaster, Unique Coffee, which he now uses at other restaurants like Esca.

“We get raves on our coffee,” enthused Rallo. He’s also discovered some excellent food like at Defonte’s up the block in Stapleton.

“We get the Nicky Special, The Sinatra and Johnny’s Wheel House. The Nicky Special? You buy that sub for $12 and it feeds three people,” said Rallo.

He loves sandwiches at Royal Crown in Grasmere and pizza at Joe & Pat’s in Castleton Corners, Giove in New Dorp and Brother’s in Port Richmond.

“The best was the first time I went to Denino’s,” said Rallo with a smile. He met one of its owners, Suzanne Burke, who recognized him from Undici Taverna Rustica, another Jersey property. She gave him a tour of the kitchen and he appreciated the hearty welcome.

Pastavino can be reached via Resy, OpenTable or 718-556-9300.

Pamela Silvestri is Advance food editor and food critic. She can be reached at silvestri@sidvance.com or via Instagram, @StatenEats.

HERE ARE SOME OF THE MENU ITEMS SAMPLED BEFORE THE OPENING OF PASTAVINO: