VIDEO: West Hempstead Welcomes Nino's Pizzeria

In a time where businesses continue to close and storefronts around West Hempstead remain vacant, the grand opening of Nino's Pizzeria Wednesday was a welcomed breath of fresh air for the community.

Fellow merchants, residents and local leaders gathered at the ribbon-cutting on July 27 and then tasted what the new pizzeria had to offer.

Click on the video report above.

Nino's is the second Italian restaurant to open in West Hempstead in July. This family-owned establishment is the fifth pizza joint that Sicilian-born Carlo Coco has opened since the 1980s, when triple-digit rent hikes forced him to close his Manhattan tailor shop and choose a new line of work.

Since then Coco has been serving up old family recipes. Together with his daughter, Marisa Guidice, son-in-law, Vincent, and his grandchildren, Gabriella and Anthony, Coco has brought his passion for Italian cooking to West Hempstead.