One Of Frank Sinatra's Favorite Restaurants Is Still A New York Staple

While we know that New York City officially has the best pizza in the world, another staple in Midtown Manhattan since 1944 is Patsy's Italian Restaurant, which continues to welcome diners at its 236 West 56th Street location. The restaurant has kept an atmosphere of earlier NYC days using low lighting and walls covered with photographs of many famous people who have eaten there through the years. One household name was Frank Sinatra, who dined there regularly, and his celeb-status helped spread the word about the place. 

When you visit, you can see much of the classic decor still there. Patsy's is also right near many NYC landmarks, like Central Park, Carnegie Hall, Columbus Circle, and, if you're wanting a truly Sinatra-filled evening, The Carnegie Club – a cigar bar that puts on a Sinatra night every Saturday.

The menu centers on Neapolitan Italian food, and some dishes that Sinatra allegedly ordered regularly are still prepared, like the crispy veal Milanese. Some other menu go-tos you can order are the artichoke hearts oreganata, linguini puttanesca, or the stewed tripe alla Napoletana. The kitchen makes many other established Italian-American plates too, like lobster fra diavolo, penne alla vodka (which isn't as old as you'd think), and the classic spaghetti and meatballs. Not only has the Scognamillo family (who own and operate Patsy's Italian Restaurant) served the famed Sinatra, the restaurant has also welcomed stars like Al Pacino, George Clooney, Liza Minnelli, Madonna, and Tony Bennett.

Pasquale "Patsy" Scognamillo got Patsy's Italian Restaurant going in 1944 a few years after he moved to the United States from Naples. He briefly ran another restaurant in 1942 before putting the now Patsy's in its permanent spot on West 56th Street in Manhattan. The original restaurant made money in the Theater District, and by the middle of the 1950s, Scognamillo bought the building where the restaurant is today.

The food Patsy's served (and continues to do so) comes from this Neapolitan background, using recipes handed down within the Scognamillo family. This family has kept up continuous management across the decades, and only three people have served as head chef — Patsy himself, followed by his son Joe, and then his grandson Sal Scognamillo. Sal has been running the kitchen since 1988. This family lineage in leadership helps explain the restaurant's standing for genuine Italian-American food and legacy.

While the main selection of dishes has stayed mostly the same over time, Patsy's has widened its reach in another way. It now bottles and sells its sauces directly to customers. You can buy jars of marinara to put in a protein-rich spaghetti, tomato basil, fra diavolo, and vodka sauce to use in your homemade dishes. This lets people who like the restaurant's specific tastes make similar dishes in their own kitchens, spreading the family's food style beyond the restaurant itself.