It was a beautiful Wednesday evening in June. The weather was in the low 70’s, wind was light and we were hungry for something different.

In the car we went, me, my wife and our sidekick Benson, the black lab. He always sniffs the right direction, especially when it is close to the water.

We heard about this new restaurant in Hampton Bays and figured that today was the ideal day to go, before the Jitneys, wanna be surfers, wanna be actors, star gazers and vacationing teachers hit the roads.

As soon as we walked through the doors of this cool looking eatery with attached light house, we were cheerfully greeted and seated in a comfortable, open dining room with clean wood floors, crisp linens and fresh flowers on the table.

After the very sweet server came to our table to take our drink order she materialized back bearing a basket of warm, fresh, homeade Portuguese rolls. They were lightly crunchy on the outside, warm, soft and delicious on the inside and seems to stay heated for 15 min. These were truly a fresh artisinal bread.

The menu choices seemed simple but after a simple roll made me coo coo I knew that I was in for a treat.

The hot appetizers consisted of fried mozzarella, fried zucchini strips, fried calamari, baked clams and daily specials. The cold appetizers consist of cold antipasto, seafood salad, shrimp cocktail and fresh mizzarella with grilled veggies.

Some of the entrees are Seafood Fra Diavlo, Grilled Salmon, Paella, Duck, Veal, Chicken parm and a few pasta dishes.

We had the Ziti Senhora with a tomato cream sauce, baby shrimp and peas and the Linguine with Fresh Clams and Shrimp in a White Clam Sauce.

We decided to keep it simple and so glad we did. The dishes were not simple at all. The flavors were complex with delicious flavors, textures and the aroma tied it all together.

Both dishes were cooked to perfection. I have been to so many places that over cook the pasta or even under cook it. It’s not that difficult people. It’s pasta.

The rigatoni a la senhora was not smothered in sauce but just enough to soak up a few of those delicious rolls. The sauce was sweet, creamy and blended perfectly. There was an ample amount of shrimp and the peas were fresh and delicious.

The linguine dish had fresh shucked clams, baby shrimp and a light broth. Enough broth to soak up those damn rolls again.

For dessert there were cakes, creme brulee and the canolli. the famous, or soon to be famous, canolli.

This was a fresh, not pre-filled canolli over flowing with a homeade sweet delicious canolli cream. When I saw over flowing I mean it looked like a mini dumbell on my plate.

Crazy……The way this review went looks as though I work there or have some vested interest in it. not at all.

I do try to find the things that are wrong, missing and could be worked on and with this place I really didn’t find much.

I would have used homeade fresh butter instead of those little hard gold bars but that’s about the only issue I had with this place that I would change. In fact I’m kind of shocked myself.

The service, the decor, the ambiance and the food were all excellent.

Ciao Bella is the creation of Chef Americo Araujo, previous owner of Il Miradoro in Port Jefferson. If you have been to Il Miradoro your reaction may have been the same as mine was. “I can’t believe you guys were associated with that place.”

As they say, change is good. In this particular case……change is very good.

 From the moment you step into Lombardi’s Market in Holbrook NY you would swear that you are in a market in Manhattan. I was so impressed with almost everything that came into my sight and across my nose.

“Lombardi’s Market is a gourmet market offering a wide selection of gourmet food and food gifts with an exceptional selection of domestic, imported and private label artisanal products. Some our fine selections of gourmet foods include cheese, spreads, oils, bread, pasta, our very own Italian pasta sauces, marmalades, chocolates, nuts, fresh baked goods, specialty drinks like Sarsaparilla, Express Coffee Soda, Italian Soda, Orzata Syrup, and so more items for you to explore.”

The product is all homeade with the highest quality ingredients and at a VERY fair price. You will be amazed at how many items are in this Foodie Paradise. If you cannot find something that makes your mouth water you most likely have no pulse, have rotting flesh, suffer from erectile disfunction and are a zombie. Harsh? Yes but you must be the walking dead if your heart doesn’t skip a beat here.

Choose from a tempting display of sweets at the bakery/ coffee bar, have them toss a freshly made tossed salad, heat up a custom panini, hot entree, hero or stop by the olive bar and take some home for later.

They also have a wonder butcher dept, deli as well as premium olive oils and hard to find seasonings.

I may be jaded but I frequent this place about 3 times a week….and find something new upon each return.

Located where the old Medford Post office was situated now stands a bit of Little Italy just shy 60 miles east of it.