After years of running pizza and pasta stalls at the Van Aken District, Peter Reuter is opening a full-service restaurant A couple of years later he opened a second stall, Scorpacciata Pizza. The two businesses thrived until late last year, when Reuter closed them to focus on the buildout of his new brick-and-mortar restaurant on Larchmere., opens next week following a weekend of private events.
The former Larchmere Tavern space has been reshaped into well-tailored Italian bistro that seats about 92. A front sidewalk patio will accommodate another 20. There is a 10-seat live-edge wooden bar, some communal seating in the lounge area by the bar, and a dining room with wide open views of Larchmere thanks to a wall of glass.
The menu offers half a dozen pasta dishes like gnocchi in gorgonzola cream sauce, orecchiette with sausage and broccoli rabe, and linguini with clams. Reuter played around a little with the pizza selection, offering new specialty pies like the mortadella with pistachio pesto. The biggest difference fans will observe is that all pizzas have been trimmed down to 12-inchers as opposed to the small and large options previously available.
To start there are sausage-stuffed peppers, beef and pork meatballs, Little Neck clams in a white wine and butter sauce, and the aforementioned charcuterie boards starring Marchant Manor cheeses.