In 1907, Gus Gargiulo, an immigrant from Sorrento, Italy, set up his namesake restaurant in a storefront on Brooklyn’s Mermaid Avenue, a stone’s throw from the Atlantic Ocean in Coney Island. Dreamland and Luna Park, two of the area’s early amusement parks, had opened a few years earlier, thrilling visitors with dazzling electric light exhibitions, exotic animals and death-defying rides. Little remains of the Coney Island of those days, aside from notable relics like the 105-year-old Wonder Wheel and the 98-year-old Cyclone, which still makes kids shriek with its terrifying dips and curves. Gargiulo’s too has survived and even flourished.
By the mid-1920s, the restaurant had moved to its current and much grander venue on 15th Street, which Louis Gargiulo, Gus’s son, designed, modeling it after the Mediterranean-style buildings he’d seen on his honeymoon in Florida. Many members of the Gargiulo clan worked there. Neighbors would come to celebrate anniversaries or christenings. Some say it was a popular hangout for mobsters and politicians. By the 1960s, though, Coney Island was in the dumps. Developers tore down many of the old buildings. But there were still true believers, and in 1965, the Gargiulos sold the business to another Brooklyn family, the Russos, who also had roots in Sorrento.
Over the years, the Russos added a catering hall and private rooms for wedding receptions and other parties but they kept the main dining room, which can seat 125, much the same as it had been. During the day, sunlight pours in through the huge arched windows. Tables are set with spiffy linens; waiters wear tuxedos. The Russos also kept the tradition of serving classic southern Italian fare. In 1977, Mimi Sheraton, then the New York Times’s restaurant critic, gave Gargiulo’s three stars. The review stunned the food establishment, which figured important food had to be French. A framed copy of the article still hangs outside the restaurant manager’s office.
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