Donnie D'Alessio's guiding philosophy as a chef and restaurateur is pretty straightforward: As he put it to Hell Gate last week, a few days after opening the spanking new Comfortland on Rivington Street, "I just want to feed people food that I think they will enjoy."
That baseline has certainly worked in Astoria, where the D'Alessio's (Donnie's brother and sister pitch in) have been making the locals happy for some 15 years now, first at Queens Comfort, which in its heyday was a crazy-popular BYOB brunch destination before it closed in 2020, and then at the Astoria Comfortland, a counter service spot specializing in big, gloppy sandwiches that at one point ran 24/7, until things got too chaotic during late nights on 30th Avenue.
But despite his Astoria achievements, D'Alessio's dream has always been to open something "in the city" (read: Manhattan). In fact, he's had his eye on the new Comfortland location on the Lower East Side since 2002. "I signed a lease for this space three times over the years, but the deal always fell apart at the last minute," he said. "I never gave up though. There's something about this spot. It has a lot of charm. It's an old building, but it's in good shape. It just felt right."
As anyone who's ever been to either of his Astoria restaurants could tell you, it's also now home to a surprising number of vintage signs, games, action figures, and toys, all D'Alessio's. He said his personal collection has reached such monumental proportions that he needs three storage units to keep them all secure.
