Irving's Pastrami To Reopen After Fire Gutted Nearby Farmingdale Cafe

FARMINGDALE, NY — Irving's Pastrami of Farmingdale is set to reopen on Friday.

The sandwich shop, at 180 Merritts Road, was collateral damage in a devastating fire that completely gutted Cafe La Bella Notte a couple of stores down on Dec. 20. The fire was deemed "suspicious in nature" by the Nassau County Police Department Arson Bomb Squad.

"Geez, it feels great [to reopen] because it's been red tape after red tape, and it's a very arduous task when something like this happens," Andrew Fenton, the owner of Irving's, told Patch. "It's absolutely the last thing that you ever want to happen. It's a really frustrating and eye opening experience to the whole process of something like this."

Irving's Pastrami was one of three storefronts — the other two vacant — to sustain smoke and water damage in the blaze, police said. Fenton said his shop was fortunate to avoid flame damage.

Irving's was forced to close for three months through no fault of its own. Fenton said the experience was "terrible" for the employees.

"You train people. We have great people that you don't want to lose so you try and do everything that you can to help them so that you don't lose them," he said. "That's definitely the worst part. You not only have to worry about yourself, you have to worry about other people."

Fenton thanked all of Irving's "loyal customers for their patience," and he said he and his staff look forward to seeing them again.

"We are really excited and think the entire weekend is going to be amazing, because the response on social media has been amazing. No better day for this than St. Patrick's Day!"

Irving's opened in Farmingdale in October 2021. Fenton relocated the shop from Woodbury after he founded the eatery in March 2018.

Cafe La Bella Notte opened in March 2021. It serves hot and iced coffee, espresso, cappuccino, fresh baked goods from Brooklyn, cannolis made in the back of the store, gelato, and homemade rice balls.