The death in October of Nick Monte, a former owner of Monte’s Venetian Room, stirred up a debate that has never been publicly resolved: what is the borough’s oldest Italian restaurant?
At least three eateries make the claim:
In the red corner, weighing in at 101 years is Monte’s, a Carroll Street eatery whose exterior is graced with a carpeting that reads, “Brooklyn’s Oldest Italian Restaurant” (and whose cheesecake is said to be better than you know whose).
In the green corner, is Ferdinando’s Focacceria, a Union Street institution that says it opened in 1904 and has lasted longer than the local dockworkers it used to feed with its hearty Sicilian fare.
And in the white corner, is Bamonte’s, a “red sauce” joint on Williamsburg’s Withers Street, whose owner has a deed that he claims shows that the restaurant has been in business since 1900.
Brooklyn foodies and historians ought to know the definitive truth, so The Brooklyn Paper undertook an exhaustive quest. Our results are murky, but one thing appears certain: Monte’s claim isn’t worth the doormat it’s written on.
Indeed, current owner, Tony Monte, does not possess any documents going back to 1906, when the nearby Gowanus Canal was brimming with boats, or any other proof that his restaurant is older than Ferdinando’s and Bamonte’s.
Instead, Monte’s has been able to cling to the self-proclaimed distinction partly because of doubt in the historical record, but mostly because the owners at Ferdinando’s and Bamonte’s don’t seem to care.
“If people are gonna come, they’re gonna come,” said Francesco Buffa, the current owner of Ferdinando’s, who prefers recognition for his squid-ink pasta and the transcendant panelle sandwich.
So if Monte’s doesn’t at least get bragging rights, it may have naming rights. Both Bamonte’s and Ferdinando’s operated under different names at various times. Ferdinando’s, for instance, was “Paul’s Focacceria” until 1960.
City and state records are no help.
The city Department of Buildings does not have certificates of occupancy for Ferdinando’s and Monte’s. (It did have a COE from 1927 for Bamonte’s.)
The state Department of Taxation is no better. Even if it could find paper records from the early 1900s, it wouldn’t be able to reveal their existence because of privacy rules.
The most definitive piece of information came from Anthony Bamonte, who says he has the original deed to the Withers Street building from 1900 (see photo).
Still Monte’s doesn’t concede an inch, because the deed doesn’t necessarily mean that the building cited in the deed actually housed a restaurant.
And the April 7, 1900 edition of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported that Pasquale Bamonte said his recently acquired plot on Withers would become the Liberty Hall, the restaurant’s original name.
“In our heart, we know we are older. Other people can say what they want,” said Tony Monte, the Venetian Room’s owner.
Monte’s words reminded Bamonte of conversations he used to have with Nick Monte about the sign.
“If that’s what you say, no hard feelings,” said Anthony Bamonte, about the sign at the Venetian Room. “It’s what you produce that counts.”
