Just finished setting up my replacement I-Phone (again, sincerely hope your phone doesn’t break during this) and among the 24,000+ photos (I know, know…) on my camera roll are memories from this day back in 2016.

April 23, 2016, to be exact.

So, on this date in twenty sixteen, which seems like a thousand years ago now, the hubs and I were scarfing down bread and oil, salads, and pizza at a pre-official-opening event at Avvio in Garden City Center.

Also, one of my last sit down meals out — at a middle table, pre-isolation, during the first week of March — was a dinner there and for the record, it also included a 3 oilve martini because well, why the heck not? (At that point we indeed had more than an inkling of what was coming.)

Now, if I had to sit down and make a list of the local restaurants I desperately miss right now, Avvio would certainly be near the tippity top.

I’ve had many a lunch or dinner with family and friends there over these last 4 years. (We were also known, in the days before the pandemic, to get takeout for Sunday night supper from them.)

Not only do I love their Neapolitian pizzas (One of my nephews who speaks fluent Italian has told me that they have a special pizza oven, a Marra Forni imported from Naples that famously cooks pies at temps between 800 and 900 degrees.), but also adore their eggplant parm, salads, wine and cocktails, and during the sunny, warmer months, the breezy and relaxing side patio space.

Okay, full disclosure, a few weeks ago we were looking to get some Sunday night to-go (trying to recapture some of the joys of our old life I suppose), but at that point they were still closed.

A few days ago, though, I saw that they will now be opening from 4 to 8pm for takeout and it made me genuinely happy.

And I can also assure you that we’ll definitely be doing the curbside pick-up there VERY soon.

For more deets, check out their Insta.

That’s all for now.

Please stay safe and stay well,

Patty J