Sicilian-born restaurateur Sebastiano Cappitta — the force behind Acqua, Bettola, Bettolona, Buca and Coccola — is firing up the wood-burning pizza oven again.
The 900 square-foot space Isola, at 994 Columbus Ave. at 109th Street, is opening this week. It has seating for 50, including 10 to 12 seats at the bar and another 22 seats outside.
Many of the dishes, including pastas, will be cooked in the wood-burning oven. It is the resurrection of his first restaurant, Isola, which he opened on Columbus Avenue and 84th Street in 1991, and was the first restaurant with a brick pizza oven in the neighborhood, although it closed in 2006.
All of his restaurants are on the Upper West Side and West Harlem.