MERRICK, NY — Pizzerias are one of the mainstays of Nassau County. So is Frank Lonigro’s Italian eatery, although he gave the restaurant a makeover on the inside and on the signage. Gone is the long-standing, but small-spaced Tomato & Basil.
But before coming to Merrick, Lonigro honed his pizza perfection in other parts of the county.
“I opened up Frankie’s East Side Pizzeria in Farmingdale,” he told Patch.
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He added Frankie’s East Side in East Meadow and focused his attention on the new Merrick shop in 2002.
“I sold them with the name Frankie’s,” he said. “I couldn’t do anything [about it].”
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Frankie’s took over where a bank once stood, just two doors down in the same Merrick Road strip mall. When the opportunity struck, Lonigro didn’t blink at the chance for the homecoming.
“I kept it as Tomato & Basil for the last 20 years. They both went out of business. So now I went back to my original – Frankie’s.”
Despite the new name, Lonigro had no problems with bringing back his loyal customers as many already were referring to it by his first name, “because everybody knows me.”
The expanded location has a 25-year lease, “so I’m going to be here until I’m 75,” he laughed.
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Slinging pizzas was not handed down by his father, but Lonigro is hoping to create a family tradition as his two sons work with him.
“That’s the game plan,” Lonigro said of Frank Jr. and Jake ultimately taking over the day-to-day. “Hopefully, down the road, we can expand.”
Generations earlier, his father lived on the Lower East Side after arriving from Sicily. It wasn’t a pizzeria, but an Italian delicatessen that he opened.
The junior Lonigro grew up in Canarsie before heading east, graduating from Massapequa High School. He took six months of college in 1991 studying hotel and restaurant management, until turning his full attention to a restaurant career.
His interest in the business grew as a 15-year-old dishwasher for a pizzeria next to his father’s East Meadow barber shop.
Today, Frankie’s has much more space than its former Tomato & Basil variation, and Lonigro is offering more dishes on the menu.
“The chef brought new ideas, which was a lot of seafood that I thought was very important for me to take that next step,” he said.
Expansion is also clearly visible when it comes to their signature item.
“We have close to 30 different types of pies a day,” Lonigro said.
That variety appears to only be helping Frankie’s bottom line, with customers typically lining up to place their dinner orders.
The dining room, complete with a bar, is also a key to new digs, large enough to accommodate at least 75 people. Timing has been terrific for graduations and communions, along with the invariably popular birthday parties.
“I always had a tremendous business for outdoor catering,” he said. “I was never able to service inside.”
Frankie’s is only part of the shopping center’s changes. A Party City is expected to fill Tomato & Basil’s slot, while Sephora is about to open alongside grocer Lidl.
Although customers probably haven’t noticed, Lonigro is in the midst of a “soft launch.”
“I’m waiting for the rest of my sign. It says ‘Frankie’s,’ but it’s supposed to say ‘Frankie’s Pizzeria and Restaurant,’ ” he said.
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