Chattering in Italian, the Da Piera kitchen crew toiled over lunch specials in the kitchen at the back of the shop. In the meantime, scents of freshly chopped oranges and roasting pizza wove their way through the tiny restaurant. "Everything I do, it's from the heart," said Piera Vendra, the proprietor and cook for whom the Castleton Corners eatery is named.

Da Piera has been open since mid-March. By appearances, the place seems like the typical Staten Island pizza parlor with booths in the window, a few tables to cop a slice and an ordering counter with puffy zeppole and thin-crusted pizza on display behind glass. But Piera and her husband Guy, the pizziaolo at the front-of-the-house, are particularly proud of their Sicilian spin on food.