Cugini’s Italian Kitchen opens in New Hope-Solebury with Sicilian-inspired fare

Cugini’s Italian Kitchen brought a fresh reason to stop on Route 202 in New Hope-Solebury when it opened in late March inside the rebuilt former New Hope Star Diner at 6522 Lower York Road, near Logan Square Shopping Center. The real draw is the food: homemade lasagna, Cugini Pasta with fettuccine and calabrese sausage, grilled New York Strip Steak and wood-fired pizzas, all framed as Sicilian-inspired comfort with a more polished edge.

The restaurant moved into a site that had been dark since the New Hope Star Diner closed in November 2023. The property, once known as the New Hope Eagle Diner, was listed for sale in early 2024 at $2.75 million, and a 2024 listing said the building could seat 188 customers and saw about 18,000 vehicles pass by daily. That kind of traffic makes the location hard to miss, but Cugini’s also changes the feel of the place by turning a long-empty diner shell into a full dining room and bar.

The cousins behind the project bring real restaurant mileage. Frank Picone grew up working for his father, Salvatore, at V&S Pizza in Falls Township before later becoming a certified public accountant, and Anthony Adragna previously owned and operated Cafe Antonio in Morrisville, which he sold in 2019. Cafe Antonio built a reputation as a home-style Italian restaurant and, by local accounts, drew high-profile guests that included several New Jersey governors.

The opening followed a major step in March 2025, when the Solebury Township Board of Supervisors unanimously approved an inter-municipal liquor license transfer from a closed TGI Fridays in Middletown Township to the new restaurant. Township minutes identified the applicant as Frantonio Restaurant Group LLC., and Picone said the plan was for a full-service dine-in restaurant with a bar. He also said, “We’re making considerable investment in the building,” a promise backed by new plumbing and electrical systems as part of the renovation.

The name fits the operation. Cugini means cousins, and that family tie runs through the business, the menu and the way the room has been repurposed. Instead of another abandoned roadside diner, New Hope-Solebury now has a restaurant built around familiar Italian-American plates, Sicilian cues and owners who know exactly how to work the room.