|
For the past four
years, Finelli lovers in Bangor have had to make
the nearly 30-mile one-way trip to the
restaurant’s Route 1 location.
But no longer.
The Ellsworth
location remains open, but since June 22,
Finelli Pizza Pronto has been open at 213 Ohio
St. in Bangor.
The man behind both locations is owner and chef
Paul Schneider, who has been a pie man for more
than 35 years, starting on Cape Cod.
Schneider sells thin-crust pizza baked in brick
ovens. He credits the dough, which he makes the
previous day and lets season, as the secret to
his success.
"The crust is everything," Schneider said. "You
have to walk the dough through its own little
process. It depends on how you handle it, rather
than what’s in it. You’ve got to throw it by
hand to keep the air bubbles in it."
Another part of the Finelli success is fresh
ingredients used in clever combinations.
Schneider’s signature pie is the Pizza Bianca,
with fresh ricotta and mozzarella cheeses, baby
spinach, garlic, black pepper and extra virgin
olive oil.
Other house specialties include the Satyricon
(mozzarella cheese, Italian sausage, ricotta
cheese, fresh tomato and fresh basil), the Sun
Pie (sun-dried tomatoes, black pepper, feta and
mozzarella cheeses and extra virgin olive oil)
and the Garden Pizza (fresh tomato, scallions,
red onions, summer squash and extra virgin olive
oil).
Finelli is a rearrangement of letters of Fellini,
a pizzeria Schneider ran in Providence for 11
years.
Schneider’s partner in the Bangor location, Rich
Lavecchia, is a convert to Finelli’s. Born in
Brooklyn, he spent 25 years in real estate in
Europe before he and his German wife, Christiane,
retired to Deer Isle.
Lavecchia feared that he wouldn’t be able to
find good Italian food on the Maine coast: "I
told my wife that she would have to cook it or
we’d have to go to Boston or New York."
But Christiane had read about Finelli’s in Down
East magazine. Lavecchia remained skeptical.
Still they went to try it, and "I felt like I
was eating in Brooklyn," he said.
He and Schneider became friends. It turned out
that both their families came from the Cosenza
di Calabria region of southern Italy.
The two Finelli restaurant locations are
different animals. The Bangor store offers
takeout and delivery, while Ellsworth has tables
for dining as well.
Schneider hopes to make the Bangor location "the
model for decent pizza to go."
Most of the menu came west to Bangor, except for
desserts, wine and beer. In addition to whole
pizzas and slices, there are calzones, pasta
entrees, garlic bread, cheese sticks, buffalo
wings, salads and hot and cold subs. Prices are
a little lower from Ellsworth, because "there’s
more competition up here," Schneider said.
Schneider had wanted to open a Bangor store for
a couple of years, but it took until February to
find the Ohio Street location, reputed to have
been one of the first service stations in
Bangor.
He and Lavecchia stripped the 1920s-era
building, owned by Webber Energy Fuels, to its
studs and started from scratch. This meant new
wiring, plumbing, siding, roof and walls. One
interesting feature is a sliding overhead glass
door at the storefront. Schneider also added his
Italian-style plaster treatment to the walls as
he did in Ellsworth. The lava brick ovens were
imported from California.
The last step in the preparations was training
his Bangor crew in Ellsworth. Schneider is
stationed in Bangor, "to get it up and running,"
before returning to Ellsworth and leaving Bangor
in the capable hands of Manager Brad Erickson.
Schneider admits that he has mixed feelings as
old customers discover the Bangor store.
"I’ve got people every day who say, ‘Great. We
don’t have to go to Ellsworth anymore.’ We’ve
also got people coming from farther up the line
from Bangor. So I’m in a bit of a quandary."
This may be the first of many Finelli Pizza
Prontos.
"It’s generating good numbers out of a small
space," Schneider said. "So this may not be the
last Pronto we put up."
Finelli Pizza Pronto, located at 213 Ohio St.,
can be reached at 947-0900. It’s open 11 a.m.-9
p.m. daily. |
