If you are visiting NY and want to go, yes, it's basically impossible without knowing someone. That being said I would give 2 points of advice:

First, I've heard the bar is non-reservation. Anyone can walk in and have a drink at the bar. I bet if you lived here, and became a regular there where eventually you were going a few times a week and got to know the staff there, you would get the chance to eat there.

Second, there is nowhere in the country that has better Italian food than NYC, so if you just want to go somewhere with some of the best food there is, or to a mob hangout, there are dozens of other choices.

Thanks for the input guys. Where would you recommend going that has some good food and is a mob hangout. I'm not looking for something to rub elbows with current wiseguys. Somewhere with some history is interesting to me... plus, I don't even know if there are any "current mob hangouts" like there used to be.

Anyone can walk in to Rao's for a drink in the afternoon. Anyone.

I've posted about Rao's ad nauseum in the past, so I'll keep it short. I spent half my life in that neighborhood for one thing or another. I've eaten there a couple times and it's no better than any other family style Italian place, like Dominick's in the Bronx or Bamonte's in Williamsburg. And those are places where you can walk right in and enjoy the same kind of atmosphere with comparable food.

And like someone just said, there are literally a hundred great Italian restaurants in NYC. I just mentioned two because the atmosphere and food are similar.

It's all moot anyway. You're not going to get a reservation by going in at 10 in the morning, but you might be able to eat at the bar on a weekday afternoon. But to what end? None of the so-called atmosphere is available at that time anyway.

But enjoy New York while you're here. Greatest city in the world .

New York is an incredible city. And I agree with you Pizzaboy, I've eaten at Rao's twice and it's nothing fancy or unusual, it just happens to be a great spot where some high profile people enjoyed dining and Frank Pellegrino is a great host. Dominick's is one of my favorite restaurants in all of NY for family style Italian. However, my vote for the best goes to Babbo in the Village, as Mario Batali's menu is over the top fantastic, especially his rabbit and black spaghetti. Carmine's in Brooklyn is tremendous as well, but more family style.

My wife was just in the city for work and she met a friend and ate in Queens at Trattoria L’incontro which she said was incredible...located in Astoria

They do make great meatballs at Rao's.
http://www.raos.com/raos-famous-meatballs.aspx#.U9pgBijDPww

Is the restaurant that Vic and Gas were photographed outside of still open for business?

Gentlemen,

I've eaten at Rao's twice and the fact of the matter is that there are 200 Italian restaurants "better" than Rao's. Rao's has the allure cause some mobsters have eaten there and there was murder there...nothing more.

Wasn't it Steven Crea that Anthony Baratta had a beef with over a table at that place? Surely, you would get a Baratta sighting if you turned up there often enough.

Has anybody ever eaten at Tommaso's Restaurant in Bath Beach, Brooklyn? Another spot with superb food...and would put Rao's to shame.

Maybe a little OT, but who's got the best slice in NY?

Totonnos on Neptune Avenue in Coney Island makes outrageous Pizza

Di Fara's Avenue J in Brooklyn

is it true they only make a certain number of pizzas for the day ? I remember hearing something like that last time I was in NYC.

Not to my knowledge RollinBones. Here is a Zagat review:
http://www.zagat.com/r/totonno-pizzeria-napolitana-new-york

Rollin Bones the New York magazine does say they make Pies until the dough runs out!

Profile
A medieval crust, a sloppy splash of sauce, and the sweetest, freshest mozzarella make the pie at this famous pizza shack the best of its coal-oven kind by a wide margin. The occasional pizzaiolo outburst, the casual policy concerning store hours (open until the dough runs out), and the no-frills, airplane-wine-bottle selection only add to the charm. Forget about the Manhattan branches and their foggy affiliations. Every self-respecting pizza-loving New Yorker should visit the Coney Island original at least once in his lifetime. Go soon before they run out of dough permanently. — Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld
http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/totonno-pizzeria-napolitano/

A local pizza place put in a coal oven a little while ago. Their pies went from mediocre to outstanding overnight.

I've been there once about 3 years ago when I was in NYC. Good food.
Does anybody know if it has any of the occasional connected guys crowd, though? I never thought the mob had much of a presence in Astoria.

Not really. Too many cops and politicians eat there anyway. But who cares about that shit? The food's good, that's all that matters .


Not now. But Joe Gallo (the old Gambino heavyweight, not Crazy Joe) was headquartered on Crescent Street for more than thirty years.

Is tomasso still a mob hangout. I remember when they let that guy rabito out think daily news had a huge layout of the places he couldn't go on parole. Pipes tomasso rao and a few more. That were they had the sit down with big Paul funzi and the westies I seen it recently on food network

I never thought the mob had much of a presence in Astoria. [/quote]

The Lucchese had a prescence in Astoria. In fact they had some issues with Alex Rudaj and the Albanians trying to take over some of the action there.

Go to Bianca's which is on 7 bleecker street ( village )

Nobody really knows about this place but it is incredible Italian food at very cheap prices.
They only serve dinner and there is usually a wait but you just go next door to the bar and the owner comes and grabs you . Place is small but the food is so good and the price even better . Google it and you'll see the reviews

Cash only and best tiramisu on the city .

Yeah but I was just curious because the apartment I stayed at was pretty damn close to the restaurant.
And yes I heard about that... Joe N. Gallo had a little coffee/candy store but it was mostly just a place he used to get away from the life... not a mob social club, per se.





Oh yes the Rudaj "corporation." I hear the Albanians gave them a lot of trouble. Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't they even get away with hitting heavyweights once?

Malandrino, I also heard that. I believe there were two made guys and I want to say one was one of the Gambino's and they were supposedly smacked around, stripped naked and put to the streets or they could have been Lucchese guys. Maybe it's urban legend or someone here can corroborate or dismiss that story.

It was the Gambinos, Beanshooter. Zeke and his crew. It made the news when that gas station thing got blown out of proportion.


So it wasn't a social club. So what?

It wasn't a "place to get away from mob life." It was his headquarters. It's where his guys reported to him. He was there at six in the morning every day of his life for something like thirty years.

He loaned money out of that place. Neighborhood people would come ask for favors at that place. And there were a slew of bookmakers operating within blocks of that place that all belonged to Joe and the Gambinos. His routine was so well known that the Feds had that place staked out for years (and they never really got anything because Joe was a popular neighborhood figure and the residents looked out for him).

As far as Astoria having a mob "feel" to it. You're right, it didn't. Because it was never an Italian neighborhood. Back then it was mostly Greek with pockets of Italians. So there weren't pork stores and social clubs and goombahs on every corner. But it DEFINITELY had a mob "presence." Looks can be deceiving. "Presence" and "feel" are two entirely different things.


They were definitely nuts. But like I said, that altercation with Zeke and the Gambinos was blown way out of proportion. And it's very telling that the entire Rudaj crew was decimated by a single indictment. That their leftover crew members got folded into the Bronx Gambino and Lucchese crews speaks volumes.

And welcome to the board, Malandrino .

I hope your toes are in the sand while tapping out this reply, pb!

Don Peppe (Queens, NY)

This restaurant got a lot of press in 2009 when ex-con Anthony "Fat Tony" Rabito was banned from it on condition of his parole, since the Mafia was hustlin' there 24/7. But Fat Tony is just the beginning. One of the more sensational Don Peppe rumors claims that mob boss Ciro Perrone got so irate at a waiter who spilled a drink on his wife that he had his crew, including famous snitch Henry Hill, wait with lead pipes and baseball bats for the staff to leave at the end of the night. That same Perrone was caught disrespecting Growing Up Gotti over a Don Peppe meal by the Feds' wiretaps, so clearly, that guy fears nothing.

Here is an article from fivefamiliesnyc.com regarding restaurants and the 5 families.

http://www.fivefamiliesnyc.com/2013/10/little-italy-restaurants-and-five.html

Il Mulino, New York City

Opened by the Masci brothers, hailing from Abruzzo, in 1981, the Greenwich Village spot was blacklisted by the NYPD at one point for being an upscale favorite of mobsters. However, if Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton have dined there, we question how notorious Il Mulino can still be.

I live in Brooklyn but it is rare when I go to a restraunt in Brooklyn. Unless someone takes me there.

My youngest wanted me to go to some place in Bay Ridge when I go out I like to dress up. Then I read people critic the place. They said the food was not great. Then they say the guys in the expensive suits are mob wanabee's. So I say fuck this I am wearing a leather jacket with sports clothes. Which is what mob guys wear when they don't want to be called a mob wanabee. But everyday people don't know that.

They were right the food was not that great. I don't even remember the name of the place anymore. We went in on a Sunday night. The place was empty except old people. Well I am an old people so I fit right in.

Get this my son paid the bill, and left a tip. Evidently, it was not enough tip for the waiter. So the waiter whispered something in my sons ear. That the son of mine who is a black belt BJJ player. Also the guy that hung out with Gotti's kid. The guy that used to like to fight. He did shit to the guy except give him more money.

That never happened to me because I am a big tipper. But if that had happened to me the waiter would have got a close look at my fingers as they went into his eyes.

----

Rao's I love that place. The lemon chicken is very good, and the meat balls kicks ass. The guy that said you didn't like the food there what did you order?

I like Frank I like the bartenders. People in general are cool. If you like to sing you can sing in the place.

Last time I was there the girl from Baywatch was there. Now she has short hair looks pretty good. My pal Johnny knows her he gives her a hug. I tell her where's my hug. I think I hugged her for around ten minutes