La Novella celebrates summer with new outdoor lounge

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La Novella in East Meadow is celebrating the summer with the grand opening of an outdoor longue, featuring a seating area, fully stocked bar with three televisions, floor stage for live music and many other amenities for its many regular customers and new guests.

The restaurant and bar, which has been in business in since 2000, recently gave the Herald a tour of the extension. The smell of fresh oregano and basil drifted in the air, accompanied by the sound of rushing water from the restaurant’s new stone waterfall. La Novella has always grown its own herbs and tomatoes, but now guests could dine next to the freshly grown produce.

The new area also features a cigar-friendly patio and Thursday nights, starting this summer, will be designated cigar nights, said owner Michael Cobic. Friday nights will feature live music and guests could sit by the marble-top bar and watch television any day of the week.

Prior to opening La Novella, Cobic managed Alta Donna in Howard Beach, with which he was involved for 13 years. “This was my dream to open up a restaurant,” he said, adding that his family has always been in the restaurant business and he learned all he knew about it from his mother and grandmother.

Cobic grew up on the island of Montenegro in Bari, Italy, where he got involved in his family’s restaurant at 16. He immigrated to the United States in 1985 at 23 and studied hotel management before going back to the restaurant business.

When he moved from Howard Beach to East Meadow, Cobic said that he instantly felt welcome. “East Meadow is a beautiful community and the people in it are beautiful too,” he said, adding that he instantly involved himself in the East Meadow Chamber of Commerce and Kiwanis clubs.

Today, he runs the business with his wife Evet and his two sons Alan, 30, and Anthony, 27. His motivation, he added, is his three-year old grandson Dillon.