How did Italian restaurants evolve here?
Many of the first Italian restaurants on Long Island were family-run establishments serving what gradually became a new regional Italian cuisine — the region being the Northeastern United States. In 1968, the Lombardis embarked on a journey that had already been taken by countless Italian families since the turn of the 20th century. Five years after moving from Avellino, near Naples, to Long Island, Mamma’s children opened a pizzeria which expanded and moved to its current location in 1979. According to Guy, “the menu at Mamma Lombardi’s hasn’t really changed since we opened.” John Durkin, an Irish-American born in Queens and raised on Long Island, recalls the culinary shift that occurred in the 1980s. “You started to have more Continental restaurants that blended Italian and French. There would be pasta on the menu, but also escargot.” These restaurants, he said, “took a lot of pride in being able to serve whatever the customer ordered, regardless of what was on the menu.” Catering t
