Slices of life at the Shelter Island pizza restaurant: A family affair on North Ferry Road

At 11 a.m. one day last week, just as it does every Wednesday through Sunday, Shelter Island Slice on North Ferry Road was coming alive for another day of business.

Manager Laura Marcello was busy at the counter taking a delivery. She had opened the door before dawn at 4 a.m., prepping the kitchen for the day’s activity, including washing greens and chopping for salads among other tasks.

On Monday’s when the restaurant is closed, Ms. Marcello is still on the job, coming in to clean the place.

Behind her now, cook John Sasala was building a pizza of sauce and sausage for the oven. In the kitchen, Tony Venesina, 82, was just finishing the work he’d been at since 7:30, making pizza dough, sauce and meatballs.

Frankie Venesina, owner of Shelter Island Slice and one of Tony’s sons, had arrived around 9 from his home in Southampton after he’d taken his two sons to school. He settled in at the counter to talk about the business, family, tradition, and the commitment he and his staff have toward Shelter Island.

Oh, and to also astonish a visitor with a miraculous card trick (more on that to come).

Asked about challenges to running a business, and especially the restaurant business, Mr. Venesina said, with a smile, “Challenges? Well, opening in February 2020. Remember? The start of the pandemic?”

Shelter Island Slice didn’t just survive the winter of 2020 and more than a year after of lockdowns and restrictions, but has flourished. “We didn’t have a supplier, didn’t have a full staff,” Mr. Venesina said. “But with the pandemic, a lot of people came out from the city, and that helped us.”

“We couldn’t have anyone here at first,” Ms. Marcello said, remembering setting up a table just inside an open door where customers could pick up their pizzas. “And then we had the six feet of separation thing when we finally could let people in.”

Mr. Venesina said Shelter Island Slice came through due to hard work and a dedicated team. Any business owner will tell you that high on a list of challenges, number one is personnel-related.

“We’re lucky,” said Ms. Marcello, a born and raised Islander who formerly worked at Schmitt’s Market. “You hear it a lot, but it’s true, we’re a family.”

From Palermo to the East End

Mr. Venesina said another advantage his team has is half a century of experience in the business. In 1975, Tony and Lina Venesina opened Conca D’Oro, the pizza parlor and Italian restaurant on Sag Harbor’s Main Street. It was sold in the summer of 2017.

The elder Mr. Venesina stood next to his son to speak about emigrating to the U.S. and starting a life, a business, and a family here with Lina. Like all immigrants, he proudly will tell you the exact date he arrived, July 28, 1970, from Palermo, Sicily. The young Italian couple went first to Center Moriches to stay with Ms. Venesina’s sister.

Tony found work in construction, using skills he had learned as a mason in his native Sicily. He also found other jobs in the restaurant business before opening Conca D’Oro, named for one of the most beautiful coastal regions of his homeland.

Frankie was a year old when the restaurant served up its first meal. “Yes,” he said, as his father smiled, “I was born into the business.”

Conca D’Oro quickly became a Main Street Sag Harbor institution.

A competitive runner in his prime, Tony Venesina likes to stay active, and his early mornings in the Shelter Island Slice kitchen, “Keeps me moving,” he said — as well as hands-on in the profession he loves.

Also in the restaurant trade is Frankie’s brother John, who owns Edgewater in Hampton Bays, and whom he praises for helping to start up Shelter Island Slice. Cousin Enzo Burriesci, who owns Mattituck’s Primavera, is also a resource. The tradition continues: At times during the summer and school holidays, Mr. Venesina’s two sons, Alex, 14, and Matthew, 12, can be seen helping out at the restaurant.

A connection beyond just immediate family has pitched in as well, Mr. Venesina said, noting that he called on Mr. Sasala, who had worked at Conca D’Oro, to join the staff on Shelter Island. Working on another pizza, Mr Sasala said over his shoulder, “I answered the call to the bullpen.”

Shelter Island Slice has been an active participant in the life of the Island, supporting and contributing to the Shelter Island Bucks, the Snapper Derby, events at Shelter Island School, and local charities.

The restaurant has welcomed young students in kindergarten and the elementary grades through school programs to take a turn in the kitchen making pizzas. Listening to Ms. Marcello and Mr. Venesina, it’s easy to understand that the staff of Shelter Island Slice has as much — probably more — fun as the kids.

In addition, Ms. Marcello noted that when an Islander has experienced a loss, the restaurant doesn’t forget them in their time of sorrow.

A slice of magic

“Do you like card tricks?” Mr. Venesina asked this reporter.

Is there anyone who doesn’t?

He brought out a deck of cards and asked if I wanted to shuffle, or he could shuffle. I deferred.

“You trust me, huh?” he said.

Expertly rippling the cards, he said that a few years ago he was laid up in a hospital for a spell after some surgery, and to pass the time, read about card tricks and found YouTube videos to learn the act.

Today it was a pick-a-card-any-card routine. I was to memorize it and then return it to the pack. After several, “Is this your card?” turns, Mr. Venesina began to look baffled. Had he blown it?

He then said, as he kept searching for the right card, that I should go down to the end of the counter and grab myself a cookie. Working under the unbreakable rule that free sweets must never be turned down, I made my way 25 feet down the counter. And there, stuck in the rack of the cookies, was the Jack of Spades — the card.

Dumbfounded. Amazed. Speechless. 

“It’s something that customers like, especially kids,” Mr.  Venesina said. “Fun for everyone.”

Just like his restaurant.