At Patsy's, a New York restaurant that has stayed in the same family for 82 years, the man now running the kitchen is only the third chef in its history. He explained that his grandfather Pasquale, known to everyone as Patsy, was the first chef, and his father was the second. He spoke of keeping the heart of the menu the same across the generations, and said he feels honored, even if he carries a big weight on his shoulders, to carry on the legacy.
The restaurant's bond with Frank Sinatra reaches back to before it even opened. The chef recounted that his grandfather met Sinatra in 1942, two years before the restaurant opened its doors in 1944. The introduction came through bandleader Tommy Dorsey, who, as the family tells it, brought the young singer in and said, Patsy, I got this skinny kid from Hoboken, I want you to fatten him up for me.
The chef shared his own first memory of cooking for Sinatra, when he was just 22 and, by his own account, scared to death. He recalled the singer walking into the kitchen unannounced while he was preparing dinner. Hey, kid, Sinatra said, before telling him to make sure he cooked as good as his pop did. The young chef simply answered that he would.
Over the years Sinatra was given a particular kind of welcome at the restaurant. The chef said the singer had a separate entrance and would be brought in through the side before being taken into his room. Seven years ago, for the restaurant's 75th anniversary, the family received permission to name that space the Frank Sinatra room, a room whose walls are lined with photographs of the celebrities who have passed through.
The chef joked about what he called the six degrees of Frank Sinatra, saying you could trace almost everyone who came through the door back to the singer. He pointed to the example of actor Ben Stiller, noting that Sinatra had been very close with Stiller's parents, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, and that the connection was how that family first started coming in to eat.
All of that history now frames a charity event the restaurant is hosting in the Frank Sinatra room. The chef said tickets cost $165 a plate, with more than half of the money going to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. He promised an evening of music, excellent food and great stories, joking that guests should tip the piano player well, and urged people to come out and support the cause.
For the chef, the benefit fits naturally with the man whose name hangs over the room. He described Sinatra as enormously charitable, a man known for his philanthropy who did countless benefits, much of the time anonymously. He added that the restaurant has become a central point for many gatherings, including an event on June 25th for author Beatrice Williams, who has a new book out.