Pizzeria Michelina, which will feature wood-fired pies and is the next generation of a former roadside pizza spot in Greene County, is in the final stages of development in the former Lou-Bea’s building at 376 Delaware Ave. in Albany.
Co-owner Robert Meringolo, a longtime area antiques dealer and appraiser with a side passion for pizza, said Monday that, with renovations finished, he hopes to open by the end of June. He said one final piece of safety equipment is being installed prior to inspection by the health department, the last needed approval.
The fare will be largely pizza, with a few other items and, likely, desserts inspired those in Palermo, Italy, where Meringolo spends time in the winter, he said. Among the renovations was the installation of a wood-fired Valoriani pizza oven, made in Italy and capable of running at up to 900 degrees, and a basement greenhouse to grow herbs and vegetables to be used in pizzas, Meringolo said.
Among details not yet finalized are the days Pizzeria Michelina will be open and whether delivery will be handled in-house or through ordering apps. Meringolo said he hopes to be open six days a week for lunch and dinner, with the seventh perhaps reserved for a supper club-style dinners featuring guest chefs. Because the restaurant seats only a little more than 20 people, Meringolo is projecting most business will be takeout and delivery. Other partners in the business are Mike Johnson and Steven De Lorenzo.
An earlier version of the concept operated as a mobile vendor with a pizza oven on a trailer — mostly in Cairo — for a couple of years before it was sidelined by the coronavirus pandemic, Meringolo said. He said he named it after after what he describes as his “mean grandmother.”
Lou-Bea’s Pizza made its home in the Delaware Avenue storefront from 1980 until 2015. Lou-Bea’s was moved to Delaware Avenue, between Marshall…
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