When one business closes, another one opens in its place and that’s certainly the case in downtown Mineola. Pending final approval from the Village of Mineola, La Bottega is set to move into the spot formerly (and briefly) occupied by Yatai Casual Asian at 100 Main St.
A popular lunch spot well-known for its paninis and salads, this will mark the 15th La Bottega location in the franchise. Owner Giuseppe Ruta said he chose to open his fifth restaurant in Mineola because it’s located between the two other popular La Bottega locations in Roslyn and Garden City South on Nassau Boulevard.
“People know us, but it’s a stretch to come to Nassau Boulevard, especially for people who are working to come, pick up lunch, and then go back, it’s too far,” Ruta said. “This location is ideal. The area is good, it’s very pretty. It’s a very chic location for us.”
The menu, which features more than two dozen salads and nearly 75 paninis, as well as pastas, soup and appetizers, will stay the same as the other La Bottega locations. But one of the main highlights of the Mineola spot is that it will be the first one to offer breakfast.
Ruta said he’s always wanted to offer breakfast and because Mineola is so busy during the day from surrounding businesses, he thought this would be the perfect place to do it.
“We always had in mind to do breakfast and this is more of a day neighborhood,” Ruta said. “We’re not known for breakfast, but I think this has a breakfast calling and I think we’ll do well.
The La Bottega Mineola breakfast menu will comprise of 17 breakfast paninis and seven omelettes, as well as classic offerings like bagels and croissants. Ruta said the Mineola location will be the “guinea pig” to introducing breakfast in the other restaurants.
“I’m going to introduce it here, fine tune it and tweak it depending on people’s reactions, and then I want to introduce breakfast to the other La Bottegas,” Ruta said. “I think we have a market for it. Breakfast is an important thing. Some people don’t take it seriously, but I think it’s just as important as lunch.”
Ruta noted that the space formerly occupied by the fast casual Asian restaurant is already well set up for La Bottega, with a big kitchen that they hope to soon make and distribute all their sauces out of.
Pending village approval, La Bottega is hoping to open by the end of November or beginning of December.
