>> Andrea Mocci and Giovanna Fadda plan to open a new Italian restaurant at the old River Deli by October (BHB/Sarah Portlock)
BHB caught up with Andrea Mocci and Giovanna Fadda yesterday, who are the new leaseholders at the former River Deli at 34 Columbia Place, at the base of Joralemon Street. The couple, who moved to New York from Sardinia nearly three years ago, hopes to open an Italian restaurant or café in the spot by mid-October.
“We’ll have pasta, pizza, steaks, and fish,” Mocci said.
The pair has applied for a liquor license, but Mocci noted that he doesn’t plan to open a loud bar, as neighbors sometimes fear.
“It won’t be a noisy bar — it’s not our intention to have that,” he said. “We’d like to serve some good food.”
Mocci and Fadda first found the long-empty space two years ago when they spent weekends at the temporary pool off Pier 5, and realized it would be the perfect spot for a restaurant. Fadda is currently the manager of a wine bar on Mott Street in Manhattan.
According to their liquor license application, which was approved in June by Community Board 2, the restaurant will be open for dinner until midnight on Sunday through Thursday, and 1 am on Friday and Saturday, and be open for brunch on Saturday and Sunday. They hope to have an outdoor seating area, and will sound proof the ceiling, Fadda told CB2.
This makes my day!
Andrea and Giovanna, as a Columbia Place resident, thanks! This is just what we need.
I assure you I’ll be a loyal customer!
I’m looking forward to this, it will make the block feel so much nicer to have an operating restaurant instead of a row of empty storefronts and a laundromat.
yay! welcome to the neighborhood. though i doubt the address is 34 columbia place, as the first door on that side of the street is #10. maybe 34 joralemon?
good luck! in bocca al lupo :)
Sounds good. I was looking at an adjacent space a few weeks back and the Realtor said they were also planning to have Jazz there on the weekends. That would be a great addition as well! It will be nice to have some life down there again. It’s been pretty sad looking for the last few years.
No one likes Jazz. No one likes Jazz Brunch.
this is awesome. if the quality is as good as the heights cafe, i will likely eat brunch here every weekend. can’t wait. good luck!
Good!! I’ll definitely check it out when it opens.
Great. Just what we need: yet another Italian restaurant in the nabe…
I am hoping it will be the neighborhood’s first GOOD Italian restaurant, instead of another Olive Garden-esque disappointment.
The Where: as Odysseus said to Polyphemus, “I’m no one.”
Cheese and crackers, given the amount of griping about the dearth of restaurants in the nabe, I can’t believe that anyone actually has the nerve to dis this place before its even opened. JDS, perhaps you can follow The Where’s tired advice and get a room together.
I biked by there just the other night (after a photo session by the waterfront) and was wondering what was on its way in! thanks for sharing!
If it’s anything like Epistrophy (small, inexpensive and well-executed wine bar at 200 Mott), then it’s Exactly what’s needed.
Of course it’s EXACTLY what’s needed. Jeeze!
to Where – You do not speak for me. I like Jazz – a lot! As for Jazz Brunch, depends on the brunch…
sounds like a great restaurant. gotta keep it reasonably priced. hope it’s better than the much diminshed Heights Cafe.
att: Qfw.., guess you never ate at Noodle Pudding.
Actually, I was referring to Noodle Pudding.
I have hopes for the Columbia Place restaurant, it will be good for the neighborhood.
Noodle Pudding is like Olive Garden?
What do you consider good Italian food, Qfwfq?
I wouldn’t say it’s like Olive Garden, since that’s an insult to Olive Garden and all the hard work they put into their restaurants. I know it’s heresy in this neighborhood to say so, but the food at Noodle Pudding is really bad, certainly not worth the money or the wait.
good Italian food I’ve had in NYC, off the top of my head:
Lupa (pricey, but not as expensive as I expected)
Supper (haven’t been in a while, but it once was very good)
John’s on 12th street (good, solid Italian-American for a decent price, but I may be biased since I’ve been going there for 15 years and blind to its faults)
I haven’t been to many of the Italian restaurants outside of the immediate brooklyn heights area (which is a shame), but I liked Savoia. It’s not consistently good, but they definitely make an honest effort, and never had a bad meal. I’m open to suggestions, though.
Noodle Pudding, however, is a slop shop.
Seriously, Noodle Pudding is like Olive Garden? Really?? What do you consider a good Italian neighborhood restaurant, and please don’t say high-end places like Babbo or Del Posto because those are hardly neighborhood pop-in places.
Okay, Noodle Pudding isn’t exactly like Olive Garden, but you’ve got to admit it’s gone downhill… I took some out-of-town guests there recently and was embarrassed by the horrible service and bland food.
seriously…i can understand legitimate debate over noodle pudding, but “Olive Garden-esque disappointment” is a bit much, no?
The service at Noodle Pudding certainly has gone downhill (hope they read this as it used to be such a comfortable/welcoming place), but I’ve found the food is usually good (particularly for the price). I do tend to stick to the specials; they might not pay as much attention to other menu items…. Any other recommendations for good, reasonably priced Italian?
Queen on Court St is a bit more expensive and certainly on a less picaresque block, but the food is outstanding and service is pretty good too. I like the food at Noodle Pudding also, but the service has been so slow the last few times, it was a real turnoff. I welcome this new place and hope they do well.
Qwhatever is right – Noodle pudding is just not really good. period. and when you move to this nabe people are all mooney over it and its just, overcooked and uninspired. how about places like supper, lil frankies, peasant, bocaro, centro vinotecco and about a million others. you dont need to be babbo to not suck. we should have higher expectations of what we pay for food in the nabe. crap, overcooked lasagna with like no cheese… we shouldnt accept that b/c its got an address we can all agree on.
My husband and I thought we were alone in the Noodle Pudding is awful camp. We too welcome a new place. Bocca Lupo is very good but a bit of a walk.
two words. Red Rose. On Smith and Carroll. there before smith street was smith street.
NB: I have eaten at Babbo and think Noodle Pudding is better. Lil Frankies is pretty good. Haven’t tried the others.
Funny Monty I must have misread your comment. I thought it said Noodle Pudding is better than Babbo. Because if it did, that would just be a tragic look into your soul.
Monty – shhhhh. just say it was a typo. b/c otherwise? sadly, must agree with the crazynasty The Where.
Sue – rock on. love that place.
@jane and where, perhaps you were not aware that different people can have different opinions. I only ate at Babbo once and was not impressed. Either way, we went to Rome last year and everything in New York kinda pales.
Rome is for tourists.
gotta say – sure the food is rome is good, but no, not everything in nyc pales in comparison. you can get crappy food anywhere. and really after two hours on line for pizza at da Bufetto, meh? good, but grimaldi’s would be comparable. thought the food in other parts of italy blew rome away. Noodle Pudding would be medicore in any city.
Andrea and Giovana are so pleasant to be around that I am already convinced that this will be a welcome gem in the neighborhood. Sarda si, can’t wait for openning day!
Hi all, thank you so much for your wishes!
We hope to see you around once we’re up and runing.
All the best,
River Deli
My hope is that the new restaurant is better than the one that closed on Columbia Place maybe 5 years ago. Decent food but the rudest waitstaff I have ever encountered!
River deli, welcome to the area. Feel free to use this site as a source of how NOT to run a restaurant, and go with your gut…but make sure that you make all of ours happy! Do you have a set opening date? Can’t wait.
It’s November 11th. I have passed this place a few times and it looks like it is boarded up. Are they going to be opening soon or has the project been ditched?
It’s time we got something in that area. That was the locale for where they filmed Moonstruck. What a charming spot…so let’s get on the ball and open it up.
By the way…the old Mr. Souvlaki is now going to be a Doctor’s office again (can’t someone put a mexican place there)