East End Eats: Iconic Italian in Noyac

Cappelletti

3284 Noyac Road

Noyac

631-725-7800 

Open daily, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.

If you have ever been to Il Monastero (R.I.P.) in East Hampton, or Il Capuccino in Sag Harbor, or had a sandwich from Espresso or pasta from Cappelletti on Noyac Road, you have had food made by the Tagliasacchi family. If you haven’t, then you live under a rock and you are missing the best garlic knots, focaccia sandwiches, and their delicious, mysterious dressing “like Caesar without the anchovies,” which could keep a swarm of vampires at bay for centuries. If I were to try to explain the restaurant/Italian deli empire and experience and background of this family, it would take up this entire review. In a nutshell, Luigi Tagliasacchi and his wife, Robin, now own and operate Cappelletti, serving all these iconic gems and more.

Cappelletti appears small from the outside but is a swarming warren of rooms, open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner seven days a week. The front is the take-out area, very neat and clean and organized despite the volume they produce and sell. To the right is a dining room, with another dining room beyond that. On the night of our visit, some of the Christmas decor was still in place in the window, a phantasmagorical display of white tulle and feathery angel wings and cotton-fluffy faux snow with twinkly lights all around. It was quite a fetching sight on this dark, curvy part of Noyac Road.

We were greeted warmly and led to the back room, which has the same mustardy-color walls (giallo Napoli — Naples yellow) as the exterior of the restaurant. There was a fireplace with floppy-eared garden bunnies, olive jars, big mirrors, and some beautifully executed nude paintings and drawings by Robin Tagliasacchi.

Upon being seated you get a basket of the garlic rolls, after which I was ready to ask for the check. They are fresh, oily, and coated with coarsely chopped garlic and parsley. For starters we ordered the baked stuffed clams and a wedge salad with crumbles of bacon and gorgonzola cheese. The dressing comes in a squirt bottle, which didn’t fit into my purse, so I politely left it there. The salad, like all things here, was enormous, probably a third of a head of iceberg lettuce. We noted that the bacon was fried a la minute and crisp, not limp leftovers from breakfast. The baked stuffed clams, three large ones, were reminiscent of the ones that used to be served at Spring Close House, densely bready and garlicky, but full of clams and drizzled with butter before baking. 

For entrees we ordered the penne with Bolognese sauce, eggplant parmesan, and flounder. I asked our waiter for as light a flounder preparation as they could manage, and he suggested Francese, not on the menu but he’d be happy to get it for me. Very nice. The penne Bolognese was respectable, or “damned adequate” as my father used to say. The eggplant parmesan was very good, and the portion was definitely enough for two people. The eggplant was sliced thin, battered and fried but not too oily, and there was a good ratio of sauce and cheese. 

The flounder dish was pretty much a slab of fish, easily three quarters of apound. It was served with mashed potatoes, or more like smashed potatoes with skins on. Underneath the fish were some very good, just-cooked to al dente, broccoli florets and string beans. The flounder had been battered and had a good bit of lemon butter sauce, but this is probably as “light” a dish as you can get in a Northern Italian-style restaurant. The side order of spaghetti with tomato sauce that came with the eggplant was nice, a bit sweet.

Our waiter, Corrado, was exceptionally solicitous. He kept offering to adjust the thermostat for us. The teenager was cold (they never dress right) and we old bats were hot (no need to explain, right, ladies of a certain age?). 

The prices at Cappelletti are moderate. I would say bordering on expensive (my flounder dish was $29.95), but because the portions are so huge, I’ll stick with moderate. Some of the menu descriptors are “chunks,” “crumbles,” and “sticks.” I would extend them to include “gargantuan,” “colossal,” “mammoth,” and “behemothic.” Salads, appetizers, and sides are $6.95 to $16.95; salmon, chicken, veal, and other entrees are $16.95 to $32, pastas are $16.95 to $29.95, desserts are $6.95 to $8.50.

Just a few of the desserts are made in-house, so we only ordered two, the tiramisu and cannoli. The tiramisu (shockingly!) was a dainty portion served in a coupe glass. It was good, you could taste all the elements, a bit of espresso and brandy in the soaked ladyfingers/spongecake, fresh mascarpone, and a fine dusting of cocoa powder. The cannoli (commercial shell, homemade ricotta filling) was very good, the shell crisp and cinnamony, the filling lightly sweetened.

Cappelletti is a friendly, family-style restaurant, an institution. Any restaurant that is open year round for locals and offers good value is a winner in my book.