Adolph's Asti was an
Italian restaurant in
New York City's
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* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
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Greenwich Village. It was unique in that many of the waiters were professional
opera singers who routinely performed for the restaurant guests. Asti first opened in 1924, and was open for over 75 years before closing on New Year's Eve 1999–2000.
History
Located at 13 E. 12th St. in
Manhattan, Asti was started in 1924 by Adolph Mariani (father of opera great
Lorenzo Mariani
Lorenzo Mariani is a stage director of opera in Italy, the United States, Israel, Finland, and across the world. From 2005 to 2012 Mariani has been artistic director of the Teatro Massimo in Palermo. The Teatro Massimo is the largest theatre in Ita ...
). Around November 15, 1967 there was a kitchen fire.
The restaurant closed in 2000,
and the space is now home to a
Strip House restaurant.
Description
The walls of Asti featured many framed, autographed photographs of opera singers past and present, including
Enrico Caruso
Enrico Caruso (, , ; 25 February 1873 – 2 August 1921) was an Italian operatic first lyrical tenor then dramatic tenor. He sang to great acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe and the Americas, appearing in a wide variety of roles (74) ...
,
Beniamino Gigli
Beniamino Gigli ( , ; 20 March 1890 – 30 November 1957) was an Italian opera singer (lyric tenor). He is widely regarded as one of the greatest tenors of his generation.
Early life
Gigli was born in Recanati, in the Marche, the son of a shoem ...
,
Giovanni Martinelli, and
Jerome Hines
Jerome A. Hines (November 8, 1921 – February 4, 2003) was an American operatic bass who performed at the Metropolitan Opera from 1946 to 1987. Standing 6'6", his stage presence and stentorian voice made him ideal for such roles as Sarastro in ' ...
. In the center of the restaurant was a grand piano alongside a small stage-like platform with a microphone. During a typical evening at Asti, members of the waitstaff would spontaneously perform an aria or two onstage. A restaurant guest might be invited to sing as well. Other wild and crazy activities would occasionally take place, such as turning the lights down low while several of the guests marched through the restaurant in masks, to the sound of "spooky" music (the Anvil Chorus from Il Trovatore). One regular feature was a performance where someone dressed as a pizzeria chef would "ceremonially" toss around a clump of pizza dough, though Asti actually did not serve pizza.
Asti fare consisted primarily of
pasta, seafood, and meat dishes. They also had a lengthy wine list.
In popular culture
Asti made a brief appearance in the movie
Big, for Josh's 13th birthday party.
References
External links
YouTube video of Asti
{{Restaurants in Manhattan
Restaurants established in 1924
Restaurants disestablished in 2000
1924 establishments in New York City
2000 disestablishments in New York (state)
Defunct Italian restaurants in Manhattan
Greenwich Village