Antonio Matarazzo and chef/co-owner Matteo Venini have had a long road to opening Stellina Pizzeria and Market in Arlington’s Shirlington neighborhood. Originally slated for December, the sequel to their Union Market restaurant will open on Friday, Feb. 12. Why the delay? Matarazzo explains that delivery has been an issue amid the pandemic. “I’m still waiting for my chairs,” he says. They’ll arrive next week, but stools and a chandelier are already in place.
So is a 12-foot deli counter stocked with fresh pastas sold by the pound, along with homemade pasta sauce, 25 local and imported cheeses, 25 cured meats, and desserts including panna cotta and tiramisu. For those who prefer not only to skip dining in but to not enter the business at all, there’s a vending machine out front stocked with fresh paccheri, tonnarelli and fusilli, intended to be accompanied by one of the homemade sauces, including amatriciana or lamb or wild boar ragu. Though the idea of getting a gourmet meal out of a vending machine is novel for NoVA, Matarazzo points out that in Europe, it’s not uncommon to see groceries and liquors sold that way. Still, he admits, “I’ve never seen a pasta [vending]machine before.”
Dine-in includes 75 seats indoors and 20 on the heated patio. Though Matarazzo calls the restaurant “fast casual,” he is quick to point out that guests still sit down and order using a QR code and “We still have people coming to you with a beautiful smile.”
The food isn’t bad either. It’s what earned the original Stellina its Bib Gourmand status in the Michelin guide. Matarazzo calls the pizzas neo-Neapolitan, crispier than traditional Neapolitan pizza thanks to 72 hours of fermentation. “In Naples we say, ‘Pizza is only good if you can eat one after another,’” he says. That means that there’s an emphasis on the digestibility of the pizza as well as its flavor. Matarazzo jokes that diners can eat two in a sitting. Those will include basics like a Margherita as well as a cacio e pepe pie and other seasonal selections. Panini, which are served on the same long-rising dough, are even more creative, including fillings like like fried octopus with burrata, Calabrian pepper and broccoli rabe or braised short rib, fontina and potato croquette.
Cocktails are batched and bottled. Among them are two Negronis, both a classical and a bianco. They’re poured over ice cubes filled with orange peel intended to flavor the drink as they melt. There’s also a 45-bottle wine list filled with small producers. Because the business is more market than full-service restaurant, they’re able to sell the wine at a significantly lower markup than a typical restaurant would.
“We have to be ambassadors of Italian culture and show our passion through the quality of the food. We don’t cut corners,” says Matarazzo. And both at home and inside the 2,000-square foot restaurant, that will soon be abundantly clear. //2800 S. Randolph St., Arlington
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