“I apologize if I seem too focused — I don’t want to seem rude, it’s just that…” Alessandro Ancona gestures to his Margherita coming to life; the picturesque pizza worth a “mille” (thousand) words. “I cannot let myself become distracted,” the soft-spoken chef smiles apologetically. That’s one of the few times Ancona fully turns toward me, his focus on the food at his blurring hands… but that’s likely where true customers want their beloved chef’s attention to be.

Ancona was born and raised on the island of Sicily, and now at his Picciotto Sicilian Street Food and Cafe, he serves up unrelentingly traditional, freshly-made and delectable food seemingly heaven-sent from the ball on the toes of the Italian peninsula’s boot to the northeastern corner of Queens, steps from the Douglaston stop of the LIRR Port Washington line.