A wood-fired pizzeria arrives on Delware Avenue d’Albany
ALBANY – A longtime antique dealer and appraiser, whose passion for pizza led him to open a roadside stand in Greene County named after what he describes as his “nasty grandmother” , brings back pizzas to a window on Delaware Avenue that housed Lou-Bea’s Pizza from 1980 to 2015.
Pizza Michelina is under development for a late winter opening at 376 Delaware Ave., according to Robert Meringolo, who purchased the property with two partners, Michael Johnson and Steven De Lorenzo. Among the renovations will be the installation of a Valoriani wood-fired pizza oven, made in Italy and capable of operating up to 900 degrees, Meringolo said, adding that there will also be a room in the basement for grow herbs and vegetables to use. in pizzas.
An earlier version of Pizza Michelina operated as a mobile vendor with a pizza oven on a trailer, primarily in Cairo, for a few years before being sidelined by the coronavirus pandemic, Meringolo said.
The Delaware Avenue restaurant will seat about two dozen, he said, with the main focus on take-out and delivery. It is not known whether Pizza Michelina will apply for a liquor license, Meringolo said.
“I don’t want to speak badly of anyone in particular here, but we’ve been conditioned to accept pizza that has been so degraded. I want to try to help change that,” said Meringolo, who said he would refine. his pizza. -do skills in a cooking school in Sicily in the weeks leading up to the opening of Pizza Michelina. He is the founder of an antique business called Appraisers Roadshow and was previously the owner of Albany Auction Gallery.
Lou-Bea’s was moved to the Delaware Avenue location, between Marshall Street and Jeanette Street, in 1980 by its original owners, Lou and Beatrice Goldman, who founded it on Central Avenue in 1969. A new owner has succeeded the son of the founders in 1998, by then it was already called the longest pizzeria in the city in continuous operation; it was closed almost a year after a fire, to reopen in September 2010. Lou-Bea closed in 2015, and the building has been vacant since.