Grotta Azzura, named for the Blue Grotto on the Isle of Capri is an Italian restaurant on the corner of Mulberry Street and

Broome Street Broome Street is an east–west street in Lower Manhattan. It runs nearly the full width of Manhattan island, from Hudson Street in the west to Lewis Street in the east, near the entrance to the Williamsburg Bridge. The street is interrupted in ...

in the Little Italy section of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The dining establishment was founded in 1908 by the Davino family and reopened in October 2003 in its original space after having been shut for six years. It is noted for having been a frequent haunt of

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...

and the

Rat Pack The Rat Pack was an informal group of entertainers, the second iteration of which ultimately made films and appeared together in Las Vegas casino venues. They originated in the late 1940s and early 1950s as a group of A-list show business frie ...

as well as

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) ...

. In its later incarnation, it was a hangout for Heath Ledger, the young actor who spent some of his final days living in a rented loft space at 41 Broome street just down the street from the eatery. Grotta Azzura was one of the first places to serve "Lobster Fra Diavolo" (brother devil in Italian), an Italian American dish rather than a continental Italian one. Wine expert Victor Hazan and his wife the chef Marcella Hazan once told '' The New York Times'' that they first remembered eating it there circa 1940. Marcella went on to say "You brought me to that restaurant. I remember the dish clearly because it was so heavy and typical of Italian cooking in America. We don't eat like that in Italy". In 1977, a member of the restaurant's founding family, John Davino published a book of recipes associated with the establishment called ''The Recipes of the Grotta Azzurra''. In 2019 Bob Dylan depicted the restaurant in a painting he titled "Litte Italy".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grotta Azzura 1908 establishments in New York City Italian-American culture in New York City Italian restaurants in New York City Restaurants in Manhattan Restaurants established in 1908

See also

References