When the Wall Street elite needed a place to regroup after the devastation of 9/11, they didn’t head to a private hotel suite or some nondescript office building.
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they → need → suite
Instead, many gathered at a restaurant owned by a family of Italian immigrants.
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many → gather → immigrants
San Pietro is a cozy, elegant eatery on East 54th Street just off Madison Avenue that has long served as a sort of demilitarized zone for bankers and CEOs.
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that → serve → bankers
It’s a place where brutal competitors break bread, do deals and find common ground as they did following the terrorist attacks.
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they → ’ → attacks
Much has happened in Gotham over the past quarter century: A succession of mayors, a rebuilding of downtown Manhattan, a financial crisis, Covid lockdowns and Donald Trump, a local real estate developer moving into the White House.
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Much → happen → House
One thing that hasn’t changed is San Pietro.
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that → change → ?
On any given lunch hour, you can see Wall Street honchos like BlackRock’s Larry Fink dining with John Mack, the legendary former CEO of Morgan Stanley.
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honchos → give → Stanley
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon still dines there as does Bank of America’s CEO Brian Moynihan.
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Moynihan → din → America
And don’t be surprised if you find members of the Trump family there, including the president himself, sharing a table along with the city’s top real estate titans.
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members → find → titans
Run by a duo of brothers from southern Italy, Gerardo and Cosimo Bruno, the place still serves as a testament to their tenacity, creativity and the amazing food that comes out of their kitchen.
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that → Run → kitchen
“We’ve been here for more than 30 years,” Gerardo Bruno tells me.
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Bruno → tell → me
“It hasn’t been easy but thank God for our loyal customers.
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It → thank → customers
They stayed with us through it all.”
What keeps customers coming back is the food.
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keeps → stay → customers
It’s not cheap, mind you (this is Midtown Manhattan, after all).
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this → ’ → you
But Bruno’s menu still features the best of the healthy Mediterranean diet, the food they grew up eating in a blue zone of the Italian boot where people live to become centenarians.
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people → feature → boot
You can get a good steak and a real eggplant parmesan, not that gloopy fried dish covered with breadcrumbs, sauce and mountains of cheese.
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You → get → cheese
“Our mother taught us how to cook and how to make it both healthy and delicious,” Gerardo tells me.
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Gerardo → teach → me
Many customers have left Midtown, with firms like BlackRock relocating to Hudson Yards on the West Side.
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firms → leave → Side
The financial crisis squeezed expenses accounts.
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crisis → squeeze → accounts
Covid created a financial crisis for Manhattan eateries in particular given the work-from-home mandates.
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Covid → create → mandates
Gerardo and Cosimo needed a reboot; they closed for nearly a year to update the decor and the ambiance, reopening earlier this spring.
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they → need → decor
The place has a more modern vibe and the food remains top notch, but they’ve been scrambling to remind folks that they’re back in business.
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they → have → business
The word is now spreading, Gerardo tells me, with his old customers slowly filling his seats during lunch and dinner.
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customers → spread → lunch
It helps that the brothers have expanded the bar that now attracts a sophisticated happy-hour crowd.
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that → help → crowd
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business → meet → inbox
Gerardo, I should point out, is maybe the best maitre d’ in the city, so even if you’re not a regular you will feel welcome.
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you → point → city
Cosimo does the cooking, including some of the best Italian desserts around (try the homemade Sfogliatella).
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Cosimo → do → Sfogliatella
I should also point out that good food runs in the family; their other brother, Giuseppe, is the legendary chef and owner of Sistina and Caravaggio on the Upper East Side.
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brother → point → Side
And for all the money that walks in the door, it’s not a pretentious scene.
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it → walk → door
I brought my childhood pals there one night – working-class guys who love great homemade Italian food.
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who → bring → food
Cosimo whipped up some old style tripe or trippa — the cooked lining of a cow’s stomach simmered in tomato sauce — that is a southern Italian delicacy.
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that → whip → sauce
The Aporia
