There is a narrow stretch of Woodbine Avenue in Northport Village where the harbor breeze carries two things simultaneously: the salt of Long Island Sound and something ineffably warm — a perfume of slow-simmered tomatoes, garlic rendered golden in olive oil, and a century-old meatball recipe that once defeated Bobby Flay on national television. This is the air around Maroni Cuisine, a restaurant that has operated for nearly a quarter century not as a business, but as a declaration — that food, at its highest form, is an act of love that resists every modern impulse to categorize, rush, or replicate. From this intimate, candlelit room steps from the Northport waterfront, the Maroni family has served what many consider the most extraordinary dining experience on Long Island and, by more than a few accounts, in all of New York State.
The Origin: From Oyster Bay to Woodbine Avenue
The story of Maroni Cuisine is inseparable from the love story of Michael and Maria Maroni. The couple met in 1994 at a restaurant in Oyster Bay — Maria was waitressing, Michael was working as a private catering chef. They married a year later, and by 1997 had opened their first restaurant, Mirepoix, an upscale French-American establishment in Glen Head. The name was a nod to the classic culinary base of celery, onions, and carrots, though the cuisine was anything but classical in its ambitions. Mirepoix earned a devoted following among Long Island’s North Shore dining elite, but Michael grew restless within the constraints of white-tablecloth formality. He found the culture of traditional fine dining pretentious — too rigid for a chef whose instincts ran toward spontaneity and generosity (Long Island Pulse Magazine, 2014).
Around 2001, Michael had an idea that would change everything: serve his Grandma Maroni’s meatballs — made from a recipe passed down over a century from his paternal grandmother Maria Maroni, a native of Benevento near Naples — in cherry red enamel crockpots that customers could eat at the restaurant or take home. The couple found a small space overlooking the water in Northport Village, and Maroni Cuisine was born. It started humbly — meatballs, chicken noodle soup, broccoli rabe, paninis — sold from a former pizzeria steps from the harbor. The idea was initially slow to catch on, but once Michael supplemented the takeout operation with dine-in seating, Northport realized it had something unprecedented in its midst (NorthForker, 2023).
The Tasting Menu That Rewrote the Rules
Michael Maroni was never a chef who could be contained by a printed menu. The nightly obligation of preparing the same dishes, reading and decoding modification requests, clashed with everything that made him extraordinary — his restlessness, his creative instinct, his touch of what he cheerfully admitted was ADD. With Maria’s support, Maroni Cuisine pivoted to what would become its legend: a revolving, menu-less chef’s tasting experience. No choices. No printed cards. No substitutions. Michael would greet each table with disarming warmth, ask about allergies, confirm trust, and then unleash a culinary journey that could run anywhere from 17 to 25 courses over the span of several hours (Long Island Pulse Magazine, 2014).
The format liberated Michael to cook whatever his imagination demanded on any given evening. The tasting menu became a kind of controlled chaos — a progression that might begin with “Million Dollar Potato Chips” crowned with crème fraîche and caviar, pivot through lobster bisque laced with ten-year-old cognac, pass through Korean-style BBQ ribs with a gummy bear garnish, detour into hand-rolled sushi, land on Grandma Maroni’s legendary spaghetti and meatballs in their iconic red pot, and finish with crème brûlée that patrons still talk about years later. Wild boar parmigiana. Kobe beef sliders with tater tots. Truffle grilled cheese. Pastrami and rye egg rolls with cognac mustard. The throughline was never a cuisine — it was Michael himself, a man who cooked like a jazz musician plays, following themes wherever they led.
The tasting menu today is offered Wednesday through Saturday at the Northport location. Pricing is tiered: $140 per person on Wednesday and Thursday, $175 on Friday, and $195 on Saturday — all inclusive of unlimited wine, beer, soft drinks, tax, and gratuity. That all-inclusive pricing model is part of what makes the experience feel less like a restaurant transaction and more like being invited to the most remarkable dinner party of your life (Maroni Cuisine, 2026).
National Fame: Bobby Flay, Martha Stewart, and Food Paradise
Maroni Cuisine’s national breakout came in October 2007, when Food Network’s Throwdown with Bobby Flay arrived in Northport for a meatball showdown. Michael Maroni defended his grandmother’s century-old recipe against the Iron Chef — and won. The episode became a touchstone moment for Long Island’s culinary reputation, proving that a tiny harbor-side restaurant with no printed menu could stand toe-to-toe with the most famous chef in America. As the Food Network noted, not even Bobby’s meatballs were refined enough to topple a dish that Michael served by the hot pot-ful (Food Network, 2007).
Michael also appeared on The Martha Stewart Show, sharing his family meatball recipe with a national audience, and the restaurant was featured on the Travel Channel’s Food Paradise. But perhaps the greatest testament to Maroni’s impact is not the television appearances — it’s the thousands of home cooks across the country who have been making Grandma Maroni’s meatballs from the recipe Michael shared on the Food Network website, a recipe that consistently earns rapturous reviews from people who have never set foot on Long Island (Food.com, 2009).
The Unspeakable Loss and the Continuation of a Legacy
In March 2019, Michael Maroni passed away suddenly at the age of 57 after a medical event at the couple’s Northport home. He and Maria had been in the midst of building out a second location in Southold on the North Fork — a smaller, more intimate space designed to recapture the personal connection with customers that the growing success of Northport had sometimes made difficult. The restaurant was still under construction. Maria was devastated.
What happened next is one of the most remarkable stories in the history of Long Island’s restaurant community. The six chefs who had been cooking in the Northport kitchen since Maroni Cuisine was established committed to carrying on. Maria, who had spent her entire career as the operational backbone of the business — waitressing, busing tables, managing the growing enterprise while Michael was the creative force — found the strength to continue. The Southold community, many of whom were strangers to Maria, rallied around her to help finish building the restaurant. By June 2019, just four months after Michael’s death, Maroni Southold opened for takeout, serving meatballs and home-cooked staples from a small window behind the restaurant (NorthForker, 2023; TBR News Media, 2019).
Today, Maria Maroni runs both locations with the same warmth and commitment to excellence that defined the restaurant from its earliest days. The Northport team — including beloved staff members Kristin, Denise, Amber, and the kitchen crew — are consistently praised by name in reviews for providing the kind of personal, familial service that makes diners feel they are guests in someone’s home rather than customers in a restaurant. A scripture from 1 Peter 3:4 is posted in the dining room, alongside moving tributes to Michael. As Maria has said, quoting her late husband: “Maroni’s isn’t a restaurant, it’s a beating heart” (NorthForker, 2023).
The Dining Room and the À La Carte Evolution
Walking into Maroni Cuisine in Northport is an experience that defies every expectation set by its national reputation. The space is small and intimate — just a handful of wooden tables arranged in a dimly lit dining room. Candlesticks flicker on the tabletops. The walls are adorned with an eclectic collection of rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia, with a particular emphasis on Beatles artifacts, creating an atmosphere that reviewers have described as equal parts smoky Parisian café, Italian grandmother’s kitchen, and Abbey Road recording studio. There is outdoor seating available with views toward the water, though most regulars prefer the electric intimacy of the indoor space (TripAdvisor, 2025; TBR News Media, 2019).
In April 2025, Maroni’s introduced a new chapter in its evolution: an à la carte menu available alongside the famous tasting experience. Available Wednesday through Friday from 4 PM to close and Saturday with seatings by 4 PM, the à la carte offering features a curated collection of the restaurant’s most iconic dishes — including the Million Dollar Chip, the lobster bisque, pastrami and rye egg rolls, Korean-style ribs, and of course, the meatball hot pots in their signature cherry red enamel crocks. The à la carte option provides a more accessible entry point for diners who want to experience the Maroni standard without committing to the full tasting journey (Going Local Long Island, 2025).
The legendary hot pots remain available for takeout in multiple sizes, ranging from small to large, with or without pasta. The takeout menu also features Kobe beef burgers, shrimp scampi, Caesar salad for two, baked clams oreganata by the baker’s dozen, and the truffle grilled cheese that regulars describe simply as “legendary.” A chef’s tasting to-go option is also available at $95 per person plus tax (Maroni Cuisine, 2026).
The Southold Location: Michael’s Dream Realized
Maroni Southold, located at 54195 Main Road in Southold on the North Fork, represents the fulfillment of the dream Michael and Maria shared. The smaller, more intimate space reflects everything Michael wanted to recapture — the direct, personal connection with every customer that had defined Maroni’s earliest years in Northport. The Southold location serves a full à la carte menu including many of Michael’s signature creations, and offers its own version of the tasting menu featuring 17 to 20 small plates with drinks. On Tuesdays, Michael’s sushi menu is available for dine-in and takeout — an addition that has become a beloved fixture in the North Fork community. Maria splits her time between both locations, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays you can find her in Southold, managing the restaurant with the same radiant warmth that has defined her hospitality for decades (NorthForker, 2023).
Essential Information
Northport Location: 18 Woodbine Avenue, Northport, NY 11768
Phone: (631) 757-4500
Hours: Wednesday through Saturday, 4 PM – Close
Southold Location: 54195 Main Road, Southold, NY 11971
Phone: (631) 765-4500
Website: maronicuisine.com
Instagram: @maronicuisine (13K+ followers)
Facebook: Maroni Cuisine
Reservations: Strongly recommended. Call directly to reserve.
Payment: Cash or check only — no credit cards accepted.
Chef’s Tasting Menu (Northport):
- Wednesday & Thursday: $140 per person (all-inclusive)
- Friday: $175 per person (all-inclusive)
- Saturday: $195 per person (all-inclusive)
- Includes unlimited wine, beer, soft drinks, tax, and gratuity
Chef’s Tasting To-Go: $95 per person + tax
À La Carte: Available Wednesday through Saturday
As Seen On: Food Network’s Throwdown with Bobby Flay (2007), The Martha Stewart Show, Travel Channel’s Food Paradise
Yelp: 535+ photos, 397+ reviews
TripAdvisor: Ranked among the top restaurants in Northport
There is a particular kind of restaurant that transcends the mechanics of the industry — that exists outside the logic of concepts and demographics and market positioning. Maroni Cuisine is that restaurant. What Michael Maroni built, and what Maria Maroni and her extraordinary team continue to honor every evening on Woodbine Avenue, is not a dining concept. It is an inheritance — a century-old grandmother’s recipe, a husband’s creative genius, a wife’s unbreakable devotion, and a community that understood, instinctively, that some things are worth preserving. At The Heritage Diner, we have spent 25 years understanding that a restaurant’s true value is measured not in covers served but in lives touched. Maroni Cuisine is proof that this philosophy, when practiced at the highest level, creates something that no chain, no algorithm, and no trend can ever replicate. As anyone who has sat at one of those candlelit tables on Woodbine Avenue and surrendered to the journey will tell you — in Mike Maroni’s immortal words — “Got it. Love it.”
