Stop by anytime for a glass of wine from our curated cellar

Bar

Chi Siamo

About Us

VIA VAI offers the authentic and contemporary Italian cuisine. Founded in 2014 by Chef/Owner Antonio Morichini and his wife, the restaurant serves an array of freshly prepared plates, from house-made pasta to Roman-style pizzas to artisanal gelato. We put our heart into our food and the ambiance of VIA VAI. Everything is made in the traditional Italian way but with a modern twist, and the ambiance is warm and inviting alla italiana.

Calling Astoria Home

Since 1959, four generations of Antonio’s family have called Astoria home. Antonio’s wife, Cynthia, spent her early years with her parents, grandparents, aunt, uncle, and brother in a house just a few blocks away from where the restaurant is located today.

Antonio and Cynthia met while she was working in Rome. After starting a family in Italy, they returned to that same house in Astoria to raise their children close to the family. The house remains in the family to this day. Roots run deep in Astoria!

It all started when...

Long before opening his first restaurant, Antonio Morichini completed culinary school in the Piedmont region of northern Italy. He began his career in the seaside town of Chiavari in Liguria, working with the freshest fish and the traditional food of that region. Eventually, he returned to his native Rome as a sous chef and chef de cuisine to work in many renowned Michelin-starred restaurants, including Il Convivio Troiani, Glass Hostaria, and Acquolina.

In 2008, Antonio arrived in New York and spent several years as an executive and corporate chef in various restaurants in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Westchester. Finally, in 2014, he opened VIA VAI to express his unique vision of authentic Italian cuisine.