A trio of three-star restaurants open in Nassau

BY PETER M. GIANOTTI
peter.gianotti@newsday.com

October 12, 2007

It takes millions of years for a star to form from clouds of dust and gas, from fusion and explosion.

For Rosario Asaro: six months.

"I'm surprised to see how busy we are in such a short time," said Asaro, an olive-oil importer who added he "always wanted to get into the restaurant end of the business."

Now Asaro is co-owner, with his brother Salvatore and Anthony Ienna, of Brivo, Long Island's newest three-star restaurant.

The contemporary Italian eatery in East Hills is one of three new restaurants in Nassau to earn a rating of excellent in Newsday in the last month, a rare trifecta. Sometimes, there aren't three in a year.

Brivo joins the modern Asian-style Toku in Manhasset and the New American Café Diane in Woodbury in a high-powered constellation of sleek, very of-the-moment restaurants. Each fills a big niche in its neighborhood, and each already has become an Islandwide destination. Café Diane is the meticulous offspring of Trattoria Diane and Diane's Bakery in Roslyn; and lively Toku comes from the owners of Bryant & Cooper in Roslyn, Riverbay in Williston Park, and Cipollini, which, like Toku, is situated in the Americana Shopping Center.

"We decided to come up with a different concept ... and having a different concept sends an energy to the area," said Gillis Poll, co-owner with his brother George of Toku.

Citing the inventive cuisine and spirit of Nobu and Morimoto in Manhattan, Poll said: "We didn't have anything on Long Island" with a similar combination.

An affluent spot

When the space opened in the area's most affluent shopping area, "We thought it was the perfect spot." These days, Toku is packed for dinner, very busy for lunch.

Toku's eclectic approach takes in sushi rolls, sashimi, short ribs, crisp whole fish, teriyaki-marinated sliders with wasabi dipping sauce, and red wine to sake.

From idea to opening: about two years.

Toku took over the site of Millie's in the Americana Shopping Center. About $6 million later, the address boasts a fiber-optic-illuminated, white onyx sushi bar; chain-mail curtains; a skylight; dark woodwork and slate; and antique monastery bells from China. "A lot of details," Poll said.

For John Durkin, co-owner of Café Diane, the transformation was dramatic but different, too. Originally, he opened a bakery and a casual cafe in the Woodbury Village Shopping Center.

"Very much like in Roslyn," where the popular bakery and panini cafe are next to the trattoria, he said. "But the concept just didn't fit" in the new location. And it didn't last.

At the same time the bakery-cafe was under way, however, Durkin said he came up with a concept for another restaurant, "a more modern restaurant, with more American-themed food."

The million-dollar almond-hued Café Diane is the result. So far, it's attracting a generally younger crowd than Trattoria Diane to its 55-seat dining room. "We are doing more local, seasonal dinners, more detailed on the plate," he said.

His kitchen sends out dishes as different from each other as lobster salad and artichoke risotto, Berkshire pork chops with garlic-mashed potatoes, and tuna tartare with avocado and soy-lime dressing. The desserts are highlighted by blueberry-blackberry-strawberry pie and cinnamon-sugar doughnuts with vanilla and chocolate dipping sauces.

'Progressive' Italian

At Brivo, the restaurant favors what Rosario Asaro calls "a more progressive style" of Italian cooking, likening it "to what now is being served in Italy. We wanted to make it more modern. Most of the menus at Long Island's Italian restaurants are difficult to find in Italy." He underscored that Brivo is neither a trattoria nor a "typical spaghetti-and-meatballs restaurant."

The menu at Brivo currently includes taglierini with Parmesan cheese and truffles, pappardelle with braised duck, braised lamb shoulder and lamb chops with polenta, and a veal chop stuffed with robiola cheese and porchetta.

Brivo is on the former site of L'Endroit, a traditional Continental restaurant that served Long Islanders for three decades-plus, and embodied haute dining out in the region for much of that time.

But over the years, Continental restaurants have become the rarity, almost wiped out by a wave of extra-virgin olive oil.

The makeover of L'Endroit into Brivo is more than extreme. It's total, from the elegant Venetian plaster to the very practical elevator. Asaro planned to open Brivo earlier in the summer. But the $2.5-million overhaul went on almost until his Sept. 7 opening night.

He said, "It takes time."

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