LONDONDERRY — When Pasquale Celone moved to New Hampshire from his home near Pompeii and started working in Italian restaurants, some of the Americanized dishes confused him initially.
“I said, ‘Alfredo? Who’s Alfredo?’” Celone recalled this week. He realized quickly, of course, that it was just cream sauce.
A lot of culinary experience separate that moment from this one, when his Candia restaurant, Pasquale’s Ristorante, is already 18 years old. But Celone is about to become something of a novice again this summer, when for the first time he expands to a new location: Route 102 in Londonderry. A second Pasquale’s Ristorante and Pizzeria is slated to open in July or August in the space formerly occupied by Avandi’s Restaurant, which dished out Greek food for two decades.
The cozy space will seat about 75, including 25 on a covered deck, and employ 14 or 15 people. Celone’s contractor began working on the space a couple of weeks ago, after Avandi’s officially closed in early May.
The new restaurant synthesizes some of the lessons Celone has learned from his first restaurant, he said.
Though Pasquale’s Ristorante opened in 2000 serving a variety of Italian fare in an elegant setting, he realized over the years that not everyone wanted such formality. So three years ago, he opened up Pasquale’s Pizzeria next door in Candia — same menu, casual vibe.
The new spot in Londonderry will blend the two approaches, serving the same dishes.
For Celone, the expansion constitutes something of a return: Londonderry was the site of his first job in the United States. He moved here as a young man in 1990 with his wife, whom he’d met in Bermuda. In the decades since the town has grown substantially, and its population is now enticingly large and wealthy.
Pasquale’s also already has some name recognition in Londonderry, since Mr. Steer Meats has sold its homemade tomato sauce for a few years.
One of Celone’s kids the youngest of three, now 11, is already displaying a discerning palate: Once recently, Celone made him a chicken sandwich for lunch. “He goes, ‘Dad, that was great, that was very good, but I think it needed a little more salt,’” Celone recounted, laughing.
Celone, said he hopes the new restaurant can serve as a kind of equity for his retirement and his children’s future and that it becomes a Londonderry community fixture.
“I can’t wait for them to open the restaurant here,” Canuel said, “because their food is awesome.”