FARMINGDALE, NY — Vico Costeria Amalfitano, an Italian restaurant in Farmingdale, is set to bring its pizza to people’s backyard parties and corporate events.
Vico, at 313 Main Street, invested in two mobile pizza ovens from Italy. This spring, the restaurant plans to bring those ovens to private parties and events from Montauk to Manhattan.
“We’ve gotten such a tremendous response with our pizza. We’re very proud,” Vico co-owner Joe Fortuna told Patch. “We were nominated as best pizza on Long Island. We wanted to take it further and bring it to people’s homes.”
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A minimum of 30 people can request Vico at their events, and the restaurant will cook pizza and other items on Vico’s menu. The mobile oven would cost $45 per person, and hosts would get to choose four types of pizzas from the restaurant’s menu, though the eatery would try to accommodate requests, Fortuna said.
Fortuna said he visits Italy at least three times a year to see his family and enjoy the food. He cited an Italian term, “sapore,” which translates to “flavor” or “savor.” Fortuna said it’s important to go back to Italy as often as possible so the taste of their food is on his and his family’s palate. He and his son, Perry, try to get their pizza to taste as close to Italy’s as possible.
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Vico “proudly boasts” its pizza is the closest to Napoletano pizza outside of Naples, Italy.
“We can never match the pizza in Italy, right?” Fortuna said. “I feel like if the pizza in Italy is a 10.0, ours is a 9.9. Our pizza is really, really good. We just want to expand that greatness to people’s homes.”
The mobile wood-fired ovens will also offer people the opportunity to see pizzas prepared and cooked up close and personal, similar to Vico’s pizza classes.
Fortuna said he is “tremendously” excited for the new venture. He recalls reading an article from 15 to 20 years ago that always stuck with him.
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“It was a chef talking about his passion for cooking,” he said. “The main force of guide with that was to make people happy through their stomachs. It really struck a chord with me. It’s the way Italians are. How many times have you heard this story? ‘We went to grandma’s house, and she just kept bringing out food, food and food.’ Our desire is the joy we have by making people happy through their stomachs.”
Fortuna said he is looking forward to expand the Vico name, given his family hails from Vico Equense. Fortuna said there’s a sign in town, “like the Hollywood sign,” that bears the town’s name and “Citta Del Gusto,” which means “City of Taste.”
“You have three Michelin star chefs that come out of that little town from Vico Equense,” Fortuna said. “They have a passion for good, flavorful food. It’s kind of like the same thing we do. The main reason why we have the name Vico as a restaurant is not only because it’s where our family is from in Italy, but also to be the city of food. To bring that excellent food to America. To Long Island.”
Vico opened in June 2022. The Fortuna family also co-owns 317 Main Street and The Nutty Irishman.
The Fortunas have given back to the community, raising money for the son of late Farmingdale High School music teacher Gina Pellettiere, who died in the Sept. 21 marching band bus crash; while Vico donated $5 of every takeout order to cancer charity The Chloe Belle Foundation for the month of December.
The foundation plans to use the funding for care packages for children with cancer and a beach wheelchair for cancer patients.
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