Gino, the well renownded restaurant on the Upper East Side, was once the classy hang-out spot of the ’50s, where Frank Sinatra, Ed Sullivan, and many other well-resected television stars, theater producers and writers, enjoyed Italian dishes and well-drinks.

We had many family gatherings there over the years because my grandfather wouldn’t go anywhere else and I asked him why.  He said, “I used to go there with my buddy Frank.” I later learned that his ‘buddy frank’ was Frank Sinatra.  My grandfather was a theater producer back in the day and shared many drinks and good times with Frank.

It was quite the scene at Gino.  At a table for four, we’d sit, we’d sit front and center in the restaurant and the waiter knew my grandfather very well.  He was very particular about his food and the waiters knew eactly how he liked it prepared. 

The menu consisted of classic Italian dishes such as chicken cacciatore, veal parmasian, proscuitto and melon, and other unsophisticated Italian dishes that hadn’t changed for last 50 years.  It wasn’t the meal that drew me back to Gino, but the personalable service, the history my grandfather so often told in his stories.  Most Gino waiters had been there for thirty years or more and were always consistant and never a disappointment.

So, why after 65 years in the same location is it closing? Economic downturn in the restaurant industry has finaly hit them.

Walking by Gino and seeing a green gate in the front, allows me to remember the fond times I’ve had with my family there.  Gino, we’ll miss you!