The purple sauce will preserve flowing at Ferdinando’s.
Ferdinando’s Focacceria in Carroll Gardens will reopen underneath a brand new proprietor — a well-known face within the neighborhood meals scene — after the 121-year-old Sicilian restaurant abruptly closed its doorways final month, The Submit has realized.
Proprietor Frank Buffa chosen Sal Lamboglia, who helms Brooklyn spots Cafe Spaghetti, Swoony’s and Sal Tang’s, to take over the old-school eatery on Union Avenue, a rep for Lamboglia mentioned. The lease was signed late final week.
“To me, it’s an honor to be handed the keys to a Brooklyn establishment like Ferdinando’s,” Lamboglia mentioned in a press release shared with The Submit.
“As everybody is aware of all of my eating places are in shut proximity,” he added. “I sit up for honoring the legacy of Ferdinando’s Focacceria and increasing the restaurant group we’re constructing right here in Carroll Gardens.”
The information comes after a number of consumers pitched themselves for the placement — together with a Brooklyn pizzeria proprietor and a Michelin-rated chef, in accordance with Buffa.
“I feel he’s in a position to proceed Ferdinando’s with a brand new type,” Buffa informed The Submit, confirming that Lamboglia will preserve the eatery’s title.
“I like his concepts. It’s a contemporary type,” Buffa added. “He’ll put a signature drink [on the menu] and make it for the brand new era, but additionally perhaps he’ll preserve some previous Sicilian recipes.”
The longtime Ferdinando’s proprietor mentioned he’s even provided to share his recipes with Lamboglia, together with these for his well-known panelle sandwiches.
Buffa contends “a whole lot of issues inside will look 99% the identical” when the placement reopens in a couple of months, together with the decades-old photographs on the partitions. Upgrades will embody fixing the kitchen and yard backyard.
“He’s the one man in a position to do it … I went over with many individuals to overview [their business plan] and it’s not a matter of [who paid more] cash,” Buffa mentioned.
Ferdinando’s quietly closed its doorways in February as a result of Buffa’s well being points and lasting monetary impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, which completely shifted prospects’ eating habits to consuming out much less, he mentioned.
The Sicilian joint was identified for its classics like rice balls and panelles and drawing well-known clientele equivalent to Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese — the latter of whom used Ferdinando’s for a scene in 2006’s “The Departed,” which nabbed finest image and finest director Oscars the next 12 months.
Buffa, who emigrated to New York Metropolis in 1971 and took over Ferdinando’s from his spouse’s household after her father died in 1975, “by no means took a sick day” within the 5 a long time since, he mentioned.
“Ferdinando’s is beloved by everyone in Brooklyn,” Manhattan resident Andrew DiMaria, whose father owns a constructing on the identical block, informed The Submit.
“On any given day, you may stroll by and see Frank within the window, making the well-known panelle particular, greeting everyone strolling by.”
Ferdinando’s altering of the guard is “a pleasant match.”
“He’s a well-known man, and I like how he did it with Cafe Spaghetti.
“He’ll proceed [Ferdinando’s] in his approach.”
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