Yeah that one pic on your site of her showing her huge lips she looks like drag queen.

I probably should keep any other comments about her to myself lol

Cute story, jvanley. I'm glad you enjoyed our fair city, but I can't say I'm ever gonna visit Kansas .

I just want to point out that the Bamontes are as straight as an arrow as a family. They've been in business for like five generations, and they still work twelve hours a day. That takes a tremendous work ethic. Picking up a gun does not.

I used to represent the funeral directors at D'Arienzo Funeral Home, which is just around the corner on Skillman Avenue. Whenever I'd have business there, I'd have lunch at Bamonte's. As a matter of fact, I think I've posted about it in the food threads on this site.

And yes, wiseguys have always frequented the place. But so have cops and politicians. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly eats there twice a week. I've personally seen him there a few times. My point is, you never would have gotten hurt in that place, JV. Never. So now maybe you can sleep tonight .

I enjoyed your story, Jvanley.
The neighborhood in and around Withers Street in Brooklyn has always been Bonanno territory. Just around the corner, practcally, at 296 North 8th steet was Joseph Bonanno´s social club, the Abraham Lincoln Independent Political Club.
But of course, this was in the 1930´s and 1940s.

Today Williamsburg is very artsy and full of hipsters, writers and foodies. They've "gentrified" it to the point of being very expensive to live in, by New York City outer borough standards. It's getting comparable to Manhattan in price.

There hasn't been a large Italian population there in quite some time, but there are still a few pockets. The Hasidic Jews have also called Williamsburg home for quite some time.

Yeah. Would you say that the Williamsburg section today is like SoHo in the 1960s and 1970s?

That's exactly what it reminds me of. And I have to tell you, as a New Yorker for over fifty years, it really bugs me that people can't afford to live in the neighborhoods they grew up in because some yutz writer from Oklahoma or Ohio made good. I know that's not politically correct, but that's how every lifelong New Yorker feels. You watch, they're gonna do it to Harlem next. And where are those poor people going to go?

And Soho today has become so expensive that unless you're wealthy---yes wealthy---you just can't live there. A 400 square foot studio apartment in a Soho will run you two grand a month American dollars. Easily.

Sad.
But maybe you should buy some property in Harlem as soon as the yuppies starts comming...

That's gotta be the best damn name I've ever heard for a wiseguy hang out

kin of too late its been happening to Harlem the last like 5 years(slowed because of financial crisis) but you see the hipsters moving in and the high rents as well

Thanks for the compliments guys and no need to apologize about derailing the thread. Hell, any thread making fun of Big Ange is just as good as any story I could ever tell.

I have been reading quite a bit about Bamonte's since my "encounter" if you will. I noticed that the scene from the Sopranos where Gerry gets whacked with Sil looks an awful lot like the exact back room I was in and maybe even the same table they were sitting at- no kidding.

Does anyone know if this scene was filed in the back dining area there? Honestly, I was to shitfaced to remember exactly what it looked like. All I can remember is the name of the joint and the 5 guys playing rummy at the table.

Oh and of course the raping me and my GF almost got by big ange...

pizzaboy - how is the food at bamontes? is it worth making a trip from the city down there for?

I think the food is great, TT. But the menu IS a bit dated. It's the food we grew up on as Italian Americans in the '60s and '70s: Everything from stuffed artichokes to tripe to 'scarola and beans. Plus all the usual old school Italian American dishes. It's very comparable to places in the Bronx like Dominick's or Frankie and Johnnie's, or the old Andy's Colonial in East Harlem (no longer there).

So if you're one of those eclectic, hipster, "foodie" types, with the shaved head like Moby and the Tina Fey glasses, you'll be more apt to criticize the place for it's outdated menu (which is really ironic, considering that those very same people have recently invaded East Williamsburg). But if you're an unpretentious Italian American guy who grew up in one of the Five Boroughs---and I suspect that you are---you'll love it .

Thanks! That's the stuff I like and the stuff I grew up on too. I'm a NY'er but not Italian (100% Irish) but got tons of married-in Italian relatives and been around 'em my whole life. I definitely prefer the checkered table cloth, real establishment type joints, over some flash in the pan trend restaurant.

Honestly though I think some of the places upstate in Utica, Syracuse and Rochester that I've been to give a lotta places down here a serious serious run for their money.

Speaking of East Harlem have you ever been to Piatto D'Oro? It's on 109th and 1st. That place is great you should check it out sometime