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Babylon Village has a new pizzeria in town — and it’s perfect that it opened on Valentine’s Day.
That’s because it was launched by Aldo and Dana Gervasi, a married couple who have been together for 20 years.
The two opened their new venture, Bella Pazza, in the iconic Gino’s Pizzeria location at 258 Deer Park Avenue.
The shop’s name, which means “beautiful crazy” in Italian, is an ode from Aldo to his wife.
At first, they couldn’t agree on a name for the new pizzeria. Then it just clicked for Aldo.
Aldo’s a big country music fan. A year and a half ago, he dedicated the song “Beautiful Crazy” by Luke Combs to his better half
“That’s it,” he thought, after listening to the love song recently.
Bella Pazza was born.
The pizzeria plays on the Pazza name on its menu. There are plenty of traditional New York slices — and then there are the Pazza or “crazy slices.”
“We have plenty of out-of-the-box pizzas,” said Dana, “like our Aldo’s Breakfast Pie, which is homemade homefries, crumbled breakfast sausage, bacon, cheese, and then we crack eggs on top.”
Other Pazza dishes include cheeseburger slices, brownie pizzas, and the Tri-Pie, which is a pizza with three sauces on it: marinara, vodka and pesto.
“We’re doing stuff no one else is doing,” said Aldo. “All of our dishes are going to have their own ‘crazy’ version.”
In addition to pizza, they’ll also be serving a variety of dinners too, like chicken parmigiana and chicken marsala. Of course, there are twists on these classics for the daring.
The couple is deep rooted in the food industry.
“I’ve always loved to cook,” said Dana, who has a culinary degree and has worked in kitchens most of her life.
Aldo’s worked in everything from Italian butcher shops, managing corporate restaurants to running the old Lane’s Luncheonette in North Babylon with his brother Sal.
Lane’s Luncheonette is actually where the two met. And that story is beautiful crazy in itself — but that depends on who you ask.
For Aldo, he was playing hard to get. For Dana, he was a “handsome jerk.”
That’s because Aldo cancelled on their first date. But that date eventually happened, and it was a special one.
He picked her up and brought he to The Grill Room, an old restaurant these used to be in Hauppauge.
Without knowing, that was the place Dana’s father used to take her every Friday for dinner. He died just a month before the two even met.
“It was crazy,” said Dana. “I always say my dad had a hand in us meeting.”
Fast forward to today, the two love birds are now running their own restaurant together.
“I was playing hard to get and it blossomed into something so beautiful,” said Aldo.
Photos
Spinach Alfredo Garlic Knot Pie. (Courtesy)
Top: Bella Pazza’s owners, husband-and-wife Aldo and Dana Gervasi. (Courtesy)
