Restaurateurs approved for second downtown Mineola eatery

Noah Manskar

Joe and Pat Vetrano have good timing.

Two years ago, as apartment buildings and other new businesses were starting to populate downtown Mineola, the brothers and village natives opened Spaghettini Pizza Trattoria at 106 Mineola Blvd.

Now, they’re preparing to open a second restaurant — Burrito Boulevard at 98 Mineola Blvd. — as one of those apartment buildings is filling up, adding to a growing downtown customer base.

“I think you’re hitting the downtown at the right time,” Deputy Mayor Paul Pereira said Wednesday, when the village Board of Trustees approved the restaurant.

Burrito Boulevard will serve “authentic” Mexican recipes using local ingredients and “naturally raised” meats from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, Joe Vetrano said.

He said he hopes the concept will be attractive to those seeking healthier restaurant options.

The Vetrano brothers, who also own the Roslyn Heights-based SkinnyPizza chain, saw the former Wong’s Noodle House space as “an opportunity to further invest in the downtown area’s revitalization,” Joe said.

“There’s great restaurants coming into the area,” he said. “I just see this in a few years to be a really fun place for people to go out for a great meal and stay in the neighborhood.”

Burrito Boulevard, set to open within the next few weeks, continues the growth of downtown Mineola’s restaurant scene spurred by village efforts to rejuvenate the downtown area, part of its long-term development plan.

That plan involves apartment buildings catering to younger commuters.

Two developments — Mill Creek Residential’s Modera Mineola at 140 Old Country Road and Lalezarian Developers’ building at 250 Old Country Road — have been completed, and two more by the same companies are in the works.

Modera Mineola, located less than half a mile from Burrito Boulevard, opened over the summer and should be full by early November, Trustee Dennis Walsh said Wednesday.

The brothers plan to capture that market in their restaurants, Joe Vetrano said, which they hope will make the downtown area more lively.

“We’re excited that with the new things coming into the area, we’ll have some walk-in traffic,” he said.

Also at Wednesday’s Board of Trustees meeting, the board announced the postponement of a public hearing about Mill Creek’s residential project proposed for the former Corpus Christi Elementary School.

Originally scheduled for Oct. 21, the hearing was moved to Nov. 4 due to problems with the delivery of legal notices to area residents.

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