For the first time in its 76-year history, Pete & Sam’s restaurant is running specials, says co-owner Sammy Bomarito.
“We’ve been running weekly specials for about three months,” Bomarito says. “We just did the specials as something to change up, give customers something new. Things we like and things we thought would sell well and people would really enjoy.”
They run the special every two weeks from Monday through Thursday. This week’s special is Tuscan Chicken, which is described on the restaurant’s Facebook page as “pan-seared breaded chicken with a rich white cream sauce, topped with sun-dried tomatoes and onions, all served over capellini.”
Dolcetto Nocciola, the dessert that comes with it, is a “delightful hazelnut cream treat drizzled with caramel sauce.”
Apparently, Tuscan Chicken can be stretched. Dena Nance, The Woman’s Exchange executive director, says, “I brought some home. I got a to-go order and ate all of the chicken out of it the first night. The second night I put all the sauce over rice. It was amazing. I just love it with the sun-dried tomatoes. They don’t do a lot of sun-dried tomatoes in a lot of their dishes.”
Previous dishes include Blue Cheese Gnocchi and Chicken Piccata, which they describe on their post as “pan-seared chicken served with a delicious white wine, capers, and lemon sauce.”
“When they started doing these specials, they started out with a ribs and spaghetti special,” Bomarito says.
And that was a good tie-in for the restaurants’s social media “about Big Sam having The Rib Palace,” he adds.
I had no idea “Big Sam,” the late Sam Bomarito, and the “Sam” in Pete & Sam’s ever owned a barbecue restaurant. In addition to Pete & Sam’s, he owned The Rib Palace on Park Avenue across the street from Pete & Sam’s. They sold “barbecue and ribs and smoked bologna — all that you’d expect,” says Sammy, who, along with his brother and co-owner Michael Bomarito, is Sam’s son.
If someone at The Rib Palace, which closed in the early 1980s, wanted spaghetti, someone from the restaurant would go across the street and get some from Pete & Sam’s — vice versa if somebody at Pete & Sam’s wanted ribs. “They’d go get ribs and bring it back to The Rib Palace.”
Pete & Sam’s already has the list compiled of the specials they will be doing for the rest of the year. The Bomarito brothers and assistant manager JD Sloyan create the specials.
Next week’s special, which begins October 28th, will be grilled bone-in pork chop.
Upcoming specials include spare ribs osso buco, sun-dried tomato and sausage ravioli, chicken pot pie, and lobster ravioli.
Prices vary, but entrées run from about $20 to $24. You can also turn the special into a dinner for an additional price. I ordered the Italian salad (plus anchovies) and a baked potato with butter along with the Tuscan Chicken. And it was a feast.
So, if a particular special is extremely popular, could it be added to the permanent menu? That’s a “yes,” Sammy says.
