But Bamonte’s isn’t sticking to its traditions as a gimmick. When your server opens the wine and fills your glass to the brim, you may have flashbacks to your first visit to the city - when you went into a spot in Little Italy with a street sign out front that said “Best Italian Food in New York”, and you ended up spending two hours eating mediocre cannolis and listening to the owner’s daughter sing 'These Boots Are Made For Walkin''. The space still has old phone booths, the walls are covered in pictures of the pope and signed portraits of celebrities, and the house bread comes with foil-wrapped butter packets. The fact that this place hasn’t changed at all - despite Williamsburg’s transformation around it - makes eating here that much more special.

If you haven’t been part of one of those big tables of people, it’s time you made it into this classic establishment. The dining room hasn’t been updated since the ’50s, and the space is still filled with tuxedo-wearing servers who bring family-style plates of baked ziti and pork chop parmesan to big tables of people. This red-sauce Italian spot has been in the same space in Williamsburg since the beginning of the last century. Rockefeller has an oyster dish named after him, so should Pasquale Bamonte. Bamonte’s, an Italian restaurant in Williamsburg that opened in 1900, might not be a globally-recognized icon, but it’s still an essential New York institution. New York is full of institutions: we have museums, hotels, and even department stores that have stood the test of time, and are now name brands known around the world.

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