Great Neck Restaurant Guide

Growing up Ciro Verde spent his summers with his godparents in Portici, located in Naples Italy. There he learned the art of the wood burning oven working with his uncle. In 1984 Ciro started his first job in New York at Petaluma on 73rd street. In 1986 Ciro moved on to Mezzaluna then Mezzagiomo, which were both top notch wood burning oven restaurants.

In 1989 Ciro went to work at La Madri where he was first introduced to robiola cheese. He was already using a Foccacia style pizza bread to make panini;s. It was not long before he combined the two, with a drizzle of truffle oil to create his now famous Foccacia Robiola Di Ciro.

Cirop was ready to work for himself, so in 1995 he opened his own restaurant Da Ciro on Lexington Avenue in Manhattan. Da Ciro started out as a one floor restaurant with seating for only 35 people. The restaurant was soon so successful that he opened a more formal dining room on the second floor and could accommodate over one hundred. Foccacia Robiola Da Ciro has become so popular it has been featured on such television programs as Bobby Flay's Throw Down, and The Today Show. He was most recently credited in New York Magazine for being an intrical part of the revolution of pizza in New York City.

In 2008 Ciro Verde's unique Manhattan flare came to Long Island, when he opened OEVO Ristorante on Northern Boulevard in Great Neck. OEVO is a traditional authentic Neopolitan style restaurant complete with a beautiful wood burning oven.