Long Island Restaurants

Cara Mia Due

Cara Mia Due in Seaford is a cozy refuge on a wintry night. It's warm inside, both in terms of the homey-chic décor and the gracious staff.

Although new to Long Island, the restaurant has history. According to owner Sergio DiCiantis, the original Cara Mia in Queens Village was opened by his grandparents back in 1970. It is there that much of the new restaurant's pasta – fettuccine, ravioli, lasagne and manicotti – is made, often with the help of DeCiantis' 101-year-old great grandmother, Liberata Vani.

In the Seaford kitchen, chef Domingo Rodriguez shows that one doesn't have to be Italian to cook Italian. I found Rodriguez' soups as spirited as they were reassuring - the garlicky escarole and bean, the zesty pasta e fagioli (white bean and macaroni soup) and the restorative straciatella (chicken egg-drop with spinach). A hot antipasto combination, while a bit skimpy, had lots of flavor and color. Included were a stuffed pepper, a stuffed mushroom, one small shrimp in scampi sauce, a generous portion of eggplant rollatini and a baked clam. Much better than the rather humdrum russo salad (romaine, tomatoes, provolone, salami, cucumbers and roasted peppers) was the "pazzo" salad comprised of grilled and sauteed vegetables. An enormous portion of fried calamari proved exemplary – tender squid fried to a greaseless crisp with bright marinara on the side.

It was the classic red sauce dish – veal parmigiana – that impressed the most. The meat was fork-tender, the breading crisp, the cheese and sauce a comforting melt. The same veal was also very good francese style, egg-battered and served with a citrusy lemon sauce. But shrimp alla cara mia – shellfish in a creamy garlic sauce over linguine – needed several shakes of salt to bring the dish to life. A dose of salt was also necessary to an otherwise fine fettuccine Alfredo whose clean-tasting cream sauce wasn't the slightest bit gluey, as it too often is. A substituted fettucicine for cavatelli in a pasta containing sausage, broccoli rabe, garlic and oil. The end result was a vibrant success. Another fresh pasta – manicotti – worked well too, the al dente tubes stuffed with a mixture of ricotta and mozzerrella before being baked in a blanket of sauce and cheese. But the freshly made spinach ravioli with a heavy brown portobello mushroom sauce was way too heavy. Much livelier was penne arrabbiata, quill-shaped pasta in a fiery sauce of hot cherry peppers and fresh tomatoes.

While the tiramisu was house-made and pretty good, it was outclassed by the excellent crème brulee, its crackled top shattering at the touch of a spoon, a warm vanilla-scented custard underneath.

This is a restaurant that seems to handle large groups with ease. Perhaps that's because it is, at heart, a business that's all about family.

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Wheelchair Access