FEATURES

THE OWNER OF MANHATTAN'S ANTHOS AND ONE HALF OF DAVIDBURKE & DONATELLA DRAWS ON HER ITALIAN HERITAGE TO CREATE A DELECTABLE AL FRESCO DINNER PARTY

Though she was born in Astoria, Queens, and raised on Long Island, Donatella Arpaia, the woman behind the celebrated Greek restaurant Anthos and one half of the modern American eatery davidburke & donatella, is really a child of Italy. "My mother is from Puglia and my father was born in the city of Naples," she says with the slightly clipped consonants of a New York area upbringing. "When I was growing up, I would travel there every summer." So, it was natural for her to plan a Neapolitan meal when she and two old friends, Paul Anastasakis and Dennis DeCrescenzo, hosted an al fresco dinner party for 10 dear friends at the men's Bridgehampton home.

At age 15, Arpaia met Anastasakis and DeCrescenzo, co-owners of the Southampton-based home furnishings company Crezana Design, through a friend. "I remember we would play Pictionary and they would cook for us," Arpaia says. Over the years, the two men followed her career—first when she worked briefly as an attorney after graduating from St. John's University School of Law, and then, starting at age 25, when she opened her first restaurant, Bellini, while studying at the French Culinary Institute. (In this she followed in her father's footsteps; he has owned restaurants in Manhattan and Long Island, and just this month opened Fiorini, at 56th Street and Third Avenue.) It wasn't until this summertime dinner, though, that the three friends hosted a party together. "My life got pretty busy," Arpaia says, explaining why it took so long. "People forget how rare it is for a restaurateur to get a home-cooked meal." Of course, in this case Arpaia prepared it, too.