Overlook at the Beach reopens after fire

As the owner of Overlook Restaurant and Bar in Manhattan, Patrick Evangelista said he thought that Long Beach would be the perfect location to open up a second restaurant.

So when Vito’s, at 5 New York Ave., recently closed after 40 years in business, Overlook at the Beach took its place. Owner Vito DeCandia passed away in 2008 and his son took over the restaurant for two summers before selling the business, Evangelista said.

“I’ve been familiar with Long Beach for quite a few years and we knew the location and when it became available we went after it,” said Evangelista, of Bayside, Queens, who owns the restaurant with his brother, Mark.

Vito’s was considered an authentic, “old-school” snack bar that served everything from pizza and burgers to seafood favorites like fish and chips, fried clams and lobster bisque.

“Sad. I grew up on that street and that beach,” Nancy Gill McShea wrote on the Herald’s Facebook page. “No pizza like Vito’s except Capri down the street on New York and Beech back in the day … absolutely won’t be the same.”

Overlook at the Beach opened Memorial Day weekend, but was forced to shut its doors after an electrical fire on May 30. The restaurant reopened last weekend. Evangelista said that he made sure not change much of the former beloved restaurant.

“We’re not changing the setup on what [Vito’s] had the past couple of years, but we’re kicking up the food quality a little bit from what I’ve heard and our first weekend we had plenty of compliments on the quality of the food,” he said. “It’s going to be a continuation of what was there before — we’ve expanded upon the menu and we’re taking a look at it this year and seeing how everything goes and hopefully we’ll be there for years to come.”