Delmonico's

Delmonico's is a series of restaurants that operated in New York City, and Greenwich, Connecticut, with the present version located at 56 Beaver Street in the Financial District of Manhattan.

Beginning as a small cafe and pastry shop in 1827 at 23 William Street, Delmonico's eventually grew into a hospitality empire that encompassed several luxury restaurants catering to titans of industry, the political elite and cultural luminaries.

The original Delmonico's opened in 1827 in a rented pastry shop at 23 William Street, and appeared in a list of restaurants in 1830.

When the building was opened on a grand scale in August 1837 after the Great Fire of New York, New Yorkers were told that the columns by the entrance had been imported from the ruins of Pompeii.

[5][6] Beginning in the 1850s, the restaurant hosted the annual gathering of the New England Society of New York, which featured many important speakers of the day.

In 1860, Delmonico's provided the supper at the Grand Ball welcoming the Prince of Wales at the Academy of Music on East 14th Street.

Supper was set out in a specially constructed room; the menu was French, and the pièces montées represented Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, the Great Eastern and Flora's Vase.

The New York Times reported, "We may frankly say that we have never seen a public supper served in a more inapproachable [sic][a] fashion, with greater discretion, or upon a more luxurious scale".

This was picked up by the press, and used against Blaine to show him as disconnected from poor and working-class Americans, particularly in a political cartoon of the dinner on the front page of the New York World.

Its grand location at Fifth Avenue and 44th Street closed in 1923 as a result of changing dining habits due to Prohibition.

During the Tucci incarnation it adopted the original menus and recipes, and became distinguished in its own right, continuing to attract prominent politicians and celebrities, such as Lana Turner, Marilyn Monroe, Rock Hudson, Lena Horne, Elizabeth Taylor, Elvis, Etta James, JFK, Jackie Kennedy Onassis and others.

The Tucci era also produced four of the most prominent restaurateurs of the twentieth century: Sirio Maccioni of Le Cirque, Tony May[12] of San Domenico and the Rainbow Room, Harry Poulakakos of Harry's located in Hanover Square, and Lello Arpaia, father to restaurateur Donatella Arpaia.

In 1981 the Tucci family penned a licensing deal with Edward Huber to operate "Delmonico's" at 56 Beaver Street and the restaurant reopened the following year,[13] lasting until 1993.

New York City Mayor Adams attended the ceremonial ribbon cutting with Gina Tucci and the new Delmonico's team.