Lisa Reisman photos
Co-owners Danny and Luann Scarpellino in action.
The Tony Soprano.
In August 1981, Danny Scarpellino sold his 1974 Cutlass Supreme for $800 to buy a new stove for the first Scarpellino’s Sub Shop on 140 Park St.
“I loved that car, but it turned out alright,” said the charismatic 61-year-old, laying six chicken cutlets on the grill as Frank Sinatra crooned “My Way” amid an aroma of frying eggs and bacon.
It was a recent Wednesday morning and the latest incarnation of Scarpellino’s, on the corner of Forbes Avenue and Fulton Streets, was bustling.
Scarpellino was making The Tony Soprano, among the “legendary sandwiches” available at his restaurant.
“Bye, Bart!”
Scarpellino’s Sub Shop on the corner of Forbes and Fulton Streets.
Scarpellino was 20 years old when the first Scarpellino’s opened on 140 Park St. in 1981. He bought the place from two retired cops, one of whom was his cousin.
His cousin knew, he said, “it was in my blood, cooking, the restaurant business.”
“We make our own marinara sauce. That’s the foundation of everything we do,” he said, as his daughter Christina, 24, dashed down an order. “It’s what I learned growing up on Wooster Street from all my aunts, my dad, my grandmother, my grandfather. All of them made everything the same way because it was passed down to them.”
His father had learned to cook in the Army and ran a number of restaurants, including Phil’s Luncheonette on Grand Avenue. Scarpellino himself, who once asked for an EZ bake oven for his birthday, went on to study culinary arts at Eli Whitney Technical High School.
Then the Park Street location became available. “It was a very small little joint, and I went in, fixed it up, and did very well,” he said, introducing thinly sliced potatoes roasted with rosemary onto the grill.
Scarpellino recalled a guy named Bart who came in each morning. “One day, I said, ‘Bye, Bart,’ like I did going on two years, eggs for two years, and a guy said, ‘You call him Bart? That’s the president of Yale.’”
“The next morning, he came in and I said, ‘You’re Mr. Giamatti, the president of Yale, I can’t believe I’ve been calling you Bart, and he said, ‘Well, that’s my name.’”
Then there was the day that a man wandered in after hours and ordered an eggplant sub. Scarpellino hadn’t yet locked up so he fixed him the sub. He looked familiar, like the actor from Jaws.
“So I went over to him, and before I even had a chance to ask, he said ‘yeah, it’s me.’”
He and Richard Dreyfuss proceeded to make mischief throughout the rest of the actor’s run as the mercenary manager in Rod Serling’s “Requiem for a Heavyweight” at Long Wharf.
The College St. Combo
The legendary sandwiches at Scarpellino’s.
Danny Scarpellino at the grill.
In 1989, 140 Park St. was sold, torn down, and replaced by a dermatology clinic. Scarpellino moved operations to a larger space on 204 College St. It had been Weinstein Shoe Store.
Throughout the ‘90s, the sub shop thrived. “I was closer to where my UI and phone company customers were coming from,” he said.
There were also doctors and surgeons from Temple Medical, lawyers and clerical workers from the firms that lined Temple Street, and stars like Brian Dennehy and William Hurt performing at the Shubert Theater who would appear for a late breakfast.
Just then, a woman appeared at the grill and started frying eggs. “This is my co-owner Luann, my wife, and the love of my life,” Scarpellino said. Luann smiled and kept frying.
He sliced open a grinder. “Now I’m going to put the potatoes, then the chicken cutlet, then the broccoli rabe, and the mozz, and then there’s a little trick we do,” he said, reaching up for the pecorino romano cheese.
Late in 2006, he got word that a Hartford developer had bought the property housing his restaurant and planned to build a 19-story luxury condo tower. He was devastated. He and Luann moved to Florida. They stayed four years. He was miserable. Then he heard about the Forbes Avenue space.
The Tony Soprano II
Danny Scarpellino (right) surveying his domain
“I wasn’t sold on this location at first,” he said, sprinkling grated cheese on the grill. “Nothing was happening.”
Then he heard traffic. He looked up at the Q Bridge. “There were armies of guys working on the bridge. There was the support crew down below, the guys bringing in cement, stone, electric, tools,” he said. “There were at least five years left to completion.”
For the five years, “the place was so busy there was a cop stationed there,” Scarpellino recalled. “There were mobs of people, cars parked every which way. The guys working on the bridge would come in the morning and get two sandwiches, one for lunch, and one for their break. The guys working below, they’d crowd the place at lunch.”
He lifted the grated cheese and flipped it over. “Imagine the deliciousness of pecorino romano cheese and then frying it. It gets this crunchy, nutty flavor, and then you brown it, and it becomes like a wafer.”
The pace hasn’t slowed much since the completion of the new bridge, it seems. “We get a lot of truck drivers, a lot of firefighters and policemen, plus there are people who stop at the light and see our sign and come in to check us out.”
Even the pandemic, Scarpellino said, could have been worse. “Eighty percent of my business is takeout.”
“The key here is the food,” he said, setting the grated cheese wafer on top of the mozzarella. “Like I said, we do everything from scratch.”
The Tony Soprano.
Like its namesake, the Tony Soprano was substantial. It also proved a delight, with the rosemary enlivening the potatoes and the broccoli rabe bursting with freshness. Then came the cutlets, tenderly resting on the thick, crusty bread.
But the highlight was the baked pecorino romano. Paired with the delicate flavor of the mozzarella, it had at once a zest and a down-to-earth quality reminiscent of Danny Scarpellino himself.
Scarpellino’s Restaurant & Catering, 257 Forbes Ave. 203 – 468-SUBS (7827); Daily Special Hot Line 203 – 466-7200; scarpsnewhaven.net.
Previous coverage of recommended take-out orders to help local businesses survive the pandemic:
• Today’s Special: Haci’s Napoletana Pie
• Today’s Special: Fred & Patty’s Brie On Baguette
• Today’s Special: Nieda’s Moist Falafel
• Today’s Special: Qulen’s Vegan “Wings”
• Today’s Special: Aaron’s Peruvian Rice Bowl
• Today’s Special: Singh Bros.’ Chana Kulcha
• Today’s Special: Grandma’s Chicken Soup
• Today’s Special: Woody’s Steak & Shrimp
• Today’s Special: Shilmat’s Yemisir Sambusa
• Today’s Special: Arjun’s Vegetarian Manchurian
• Today’s Special: Mohammed’s Bhel Poori
• Today’s Special: Francesco’s Tortelli
• Today’s Special: Seikichi’s Sushi
• Today’s Special: Ketkeo’s Khao Poon
• Today’s Special: Mike Fox’s French Toast
• Today’s Special: Zhang’s Squirrel Fish Dish
• Today’s Special: Jessica’s Gumbo
• Today’s Special: Kenny Kim’s Vegan Ramen
• Today’s Special: Ernesto’s Venezuelan Arepa
• Today’s Special: Corey’s “Prison Reformer” Frank
• Today’s Special: Bryan’s Butter Chicken Pie
• Today’s Special: Jared’s Super Supreme Baked Potato
• Today’s Special: Craig’s Breakfast Reuben
• Today’s Special: Sunny’s Mackerel Sashimi
• Today’s Special: Jamshed’s Lemon Chicken
• Today’s Special: Dave’s Navratan Curry
• Today’s Special: Nicole’s Oxtail
• Today’s Special: Brisket Kansa-Lina Fries
• Today’s Special: Sandra’s Bourbon-Glazed Salmon
• Today’s Special: Alba’s Beet Salad With Goat Cheese Panna Cotta
• Today’s Special: Alex’s Chicken Pad Thai
• Today’s Special: Kenia’s Steak & Cheese Sub
• Today’s Special: Mama Mary’s Collards
• Today’s Special: Jesse’s Chicken Cutlet Scarpariello
• After Pandemic Pause, BBQ Soul Returns
• Today’s Special: Melissa’s Eggplant With Tofu
Finally a nice story not about politics, racial issues, carping city administrators and "matchbook ministers".
A story about hard work, a desire to continue to have a business in New Haven and the prospects of getting a chicken cutlet grinder just went up .