GON
$150 Site Donor 2025
Earlier today I came across this post on Facebook from Jim Pataleno (I have no idea who he is). His post did bring back memories of how local mom and pop restaurants were the standard for families occasionally eating out in the 1960s/1970s.
I have posted before- the key to the return of Mom and Pop restaurants is to bring a free market to healthcare. No way a Mom and Pop restaurant can afford healthcare insurance. Free market healthcare would also spurn huge growth in all small businesses. I digress.
Anyways- here is Jim Pataleno's post:
"Last night we went to dinner in a local Italian restaurant. It wasn’t fancy but it was still a step up from the neighborhood places we went to as kids.
Money was tight back then. My father worked two jobs to pay the bills. Sometimes he had a good day at the track, and he would treat us to dinner at a local Italian restaurant. These were storefront places with green awnings and neon signs in the windows. Many had started out as pizzerias and made the leap to family restaurants. Usually there was a plaster statue of a smiling pizza baker in the window. Every Brooklyn neighborhood had at least one. They looked pretty much the same...red checked tablecloths, candles in straw covered Chianti bottles, and signed pictures of Italian singers on the walls. They were like the place where Michael Corleone took out Sollozzo and the crooked cop in The Godfather.
They were usually family-owned and friendly. As a kid I remember feeling important when the Maitre ‘d greeted my father by name. The menu was not much different from place to place. Chicken Parm and Eggplant Rollatini were big sellers always served with warm bread and a side of spaghetti big enough for three. Most of them had a Prix Fixe deal that came with salad, entrée and dessert. There was rarely a wine list. They served jug red and jug white, poured into a carafe to add a touch of class. With dessert came coffee, either brown (American) or black (espresso). The owner would bring a bottle of inexpensive anisette and, with a grand gesture, leave it at the table.
The bill for four of us probably came to less than a decent appetizer on today’s menus. My dad had a little Ralph Kramden in him and tipped an extra dollar to show what a big shot he was. (My mom must have frowned knowing for that dollar she could have put a dinner on the table of pasta and lentils.) In an age when modern-day kids grow up eating in restaurants, they will never know what a big deal that was for us. There were no doggie bags then. We cleaned our plates and walked home in the cold night air, warmed by the good food in our bellies.
What I would give for one more of those family dinners. "
I have posted before- the key to the return of Mom and Pop restaurants is to bring a free market to healthcare. No way a Mom and Pop restaurant can afford healthcare insurance. Free market healthcare would also spurn huge growth in all small businesses. I digress.
Anyways- here is Jim Pataleno's post:
"Last night we went to dinner in a local Italian restaurant. It wasn’t fancy but it was still a step up from the neighborhood places we went to as kids.
Money was tight back then. My father worked two jobs to pay the bills. Sometimes he had a good day at the track, and he would treat us to dinner at a local Italian restaurant. These were storefront places with green awnings and neon signs in the windows. Many had started out as pizzerias and made the leap to family restaurants. Usually there was a plaster statue of a smiling pizza baker in the window. Every Brooklyn neighborhood had at least one. They looked pretty much the same...red checked tablecloths, candles in straw covered Chianti bottles, and signed pictures of Italian singers on the walls. They were like the place where Michael Corleone took out Sollozzo and the crooked cop in The Godfather.
They were usually family-owned and friendly. As a kid I remember feeling important when the Maitre ‘d greeted my father by name. The menu was not much different from place to place. Chicken Parm and Eggplant Rollatini were big sellers always served with warm bread and a side of spaghetti big enough for three. Most of them had a Prix Fixe deal that came with salad, entrée and dessert. There was rarely a wine list. They served jug red and jug white, poured into a carafe to add a touch of class. With dessert came coffee, either brown (American) or black (espresso). The owner would bring a bottle of inexpensive anisette and, with a grand gesture, leave it at the table.
The bill for four of us probably came to less than a decent appetizer on today’s menus. My dad had a little Ralph Kramden in him and tipped an extra dollar to show what a big shot he was. (My mom must have frowned knowing for that dollar she could have put a dinner on the table of pasta and lentils.) In an age when modern-day kids grow up eating in restaurants, they will never know what a big deal that was for us. There were no doggie bags then. We cleaned our plates and walked home in the cold night air, warmed by the good food in our bellies.
What I would give for one more of those family dinners. "
, but I happily didn't know any better then. There was also a Polynesian place that was a favorite destination...cannot remember the name.
