Heavy History and Red Sauce Minus the Shills

The East Village is probably my favorite neighborhood in the City for many reasons. First, the bars: there are over 200. Each one has its own theme and feel. There are trendy bars, quiet bars, discount bars, clandestine bars, tiki bars, country western bars, communist bars, Polish bars, German bars, dive bars, a dive bar that has frequently been featured on television shows and in movies (I could go on forever).  Certainly, there is no dearth of choices when deciding where to enjoy a spirit.    

The East Village also offers a wide variety of food choices. One can purchase a $1 slice of pizza— before a long night of imbibing at the various bars noted above—or a more sophisticated plate of polenta with rabbit.  

In addition to the many food and drink options, the East Village is full of history.  There is history of immigrants, mobsters, churches, and artists.  

John's on 12th Street is a rare old school red sauce joint in an area replete with mob history.  On August 22, 1922, directly in front of the restaurant, Lucky Luciano murdered mobster Umberto "Rocco" Valenti.  While a Bronx man described the event as the coolest thing he had ever seen, an eight year girl from New Haven visiting family in the East Village was fatally wounded,  Just around the corner two blocks south of John’s at 265 East 10th Street is Lucky Luciano’s childhood home.  There is also De Robertis Pasticerria on First Avenue where affiliates of the the Gambino Family crime once conducted business. 

Former Home of Lucky Luciano.

De Robertis Pasticceria on First Avenue

On to the food, I found the food at John’s not good, but not bad either.  It’s the typical red sauce fare: chicken parmesan, veal parmesan, marsala, meatballs, lasagna.  This type of restaurant is a staple on Mulberry Street in Little Italy, Manhattan.  However, two salient differences between John’s and the Mulberry Street restaurants: there are no shills and no throngs of tourists. 

Entrance to John's

Sausage Parmesan?  Yikes!  I see why some of our Jewish friends refrain from eating meat with dairy.

What John’s lacks in food quality, it makes up for it with its ambiance.  The place sports old tile floors, a small service bar, old time bathrooms (I looked into the bathroom stall to see if there was an old wooden box with a string to flush and hide a gun just like in The Godfather), and those “old time small fancy” cocktail glasses that I would drink from at my grandmother’s house.

Interior of John's.  Has some resemblance to The Godfather scene mentioned above (watch scene below)?

I don’t believe I will ever return to John’s on my own volition, but if I had friends in town with a craving for old red sauce fare, John’s would fit the bill. 

Michael Francis Rizzi, Do You Renounce Satan? The Churches of Little Italy, Manhattan Part 1

One can easily devote a complete blog to Little Italy in Manhattan. The area is filled with filled with the history of immigrants (Irish, then Italian, now Chinese) and La Cosa Nostra.  The neighborhood also has beautiful churches and a strong cinematic heritage.

Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral (now a basilica), the predecessor of its more famous successor, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, located on Fifth Avenue, is intricate to the history of Roman Catholicism in New York City.  The church was at the center of violent disputes between Irish Catholics and Protestant Know-Nothing activists in the early part of the 19th Century.  In addition, freed Haitian slave Pierre Toussaint and his wife were buried in the graveyard there. 



The main entrance to the church. 



Notice there are no masses in Italian; but mass in Chinese is offered.

The gate to enter the courtyard of the old church.

The old church has also hosted famous scenes from mob movies.  In Mean Streets (1973), a young Martin Scorsese filmed a young David Proval (as Tony) who is struggling to rationalize his deep Catholic convictions with his mobster lifestyle (film is worth a look just to see a very young Robert DeNiro).



David Proval, as Tony, asking for forgiveness. 



However, the most memorable scene filmed in Old St. Patrick’s is the baptism scene from The Godfather.  Al Pacino, as Michael Corlene, stands as godfather for his nephew.  During the scene, director Francis Ford Copolla highlights antiquated Roman Catholic baptism rituals and the Sicilian Mafia ritual of vengeance by murder.  Copolla’s examination of this complex subject is worth seeing again (please see video below).   



This is the view of the church when the baptism scene begins. 



Some History with That Cappuccino?

New York City is full of coffee houses.  There are the national chains: Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts.  And, of course, there are a plethora of small neighborhood coffee houses that serve cups of Joe.

I am not a regular drinker of this energy filled beverage.  Yet, the rich culinary and cinematic history of Café Reggio, coupled with its interior and ambience that can easily make one feel that he is in the first half of the 20th century has lured me to this café on a few occasions.

The exterior shot of Cafe Reggio located on MacDougal Street in Greenwich Village.  

I relish in the fact that whenever I am sipping on a cappuccino at Café Reggio, I am sitting in the very café that introduced the drink to America.  For that reason, I always try to sit as close as possible to the first cappuccino machine in America on display.  

I wonder if the original machine was still in use when then presidential candidate John F. Kennedy gave a campaign speech in front of the cafe in 1959. 

     

While the original machine is no longer in service, Cafe Reggio's cappuccino is still quite pleasing.  

 

Cafe Reggio also boasts a strong cinematic tradition.  The café’s entrance appears in the movie poster of Next Stop, Greenwich Village (with a young Christopher Walken).

The entrance to Cafe Reggio is located to the left. 

Shaft stopped by in 1971. 

Issac Hayes recorded a song named after this small cafe. 

Francis Ford Copolla filmed inside of Cafe Reggio for The Godfather Part II (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffe_Reggio) for scenes between Young Vito Corlene and Young Peter Clemenza.

Interior shots show the early 20th century feel featured in The Godfather II.