Via Cuma Sourdough Pizza & Cucina opens in Oceanside

Since Luca Schiano Di Cola opened Via Cuma Sourdough Pizza & Cucina, his gastronomic ode to Naples, in 2024, he has labored to fit all his ambitions into a tiny Valley Stream storefront. (It worked: Via Cuma is a Newsday Top Pizzeria.) His new Oceanside pizzeria, which opened last month, has more than twice the capacity, exponentially more parking and, very soon, a full bar.

The spot at the corner of Long Beach Road and Pine Street could not have better pizza karma: It used to be Naples Street Food, the workshop of Gianluca Chiarolanza, one of Long Island’s artisanal pizza pioneers. (Chiarolanza opened the first Naples Street food in Franklin Square in 2016. Oceanside debuted in 2019 and the Franklin Square shop became, in succession, Chef Gigi’s Place, Farina 00 and, in March, the halal pizzeria Olive & Garlic.)

"I wasn’t expecting to open a second location so soon," Schiano Di Cola recalled. "Gianluca was selling his oven and when I came by to look at it, he said, "You can have the oven, or you can have the whole pizzeria.’ "

Schiano Di Cola liked that, even though the two spots are only 4 miles apart, they have "totally different environments. Valley Stream is cozy and intimate, Oceanside is bigger and brighter." The ability to have a bar was also a big selling point — the Valley Stream location is not eligible for one — and he’s looking forward to highlighting the wines of his native Campania.

While the Oceanside team gets its sea legs, the menu there is a bit shorter than in Valley Stream but, eventually, the two will be identical. Schiano Di Cola’s pizza dough uses no commercial yeast, relying on an Italian-style sourdough, "lievito madre," that results in a crunchy-tender crust that is delicious all on its own. There are almost 20 varieties of pizza, from the simple Margherita, made not only with Italian San Marzano tomatoes but with imported mozzarella, to the cheese-free Napoletana, topped with cherry tomatoes and anchovies from Cetara on the Amalfi coast. More elaborate specimens include the Capricciosa, a Margherita gussied up with ham, olives, artichokes and mushrooms; the Patate, Porchetta e Provola, a white pie topped with cubes of roast potatoes and pork; and the Genovese, named for the Southern Italian sauce of braised beef and onions. Pies come in 12- and 16-inch sizes (starting at $22 and $35, respectively), and many varieties can be made into a panuozzo, a sandwich made with pizza dough wherein the topping becomes the filling.

Via Cuma, 2905 Long Beach Rd., Oceanside, 516-208-6900, viacumaus.com. Open Sunday to Thursday 4 to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday noon to 10 p.m. Closed Monday.