In honor of National Food Day on February 13th, we’re celebrating the rich culinary traditions of Italian-American families. Anthony Scotto III, co-founder of Avenue T Hospitality and Brooklyn-style Italian restaurant brand, Pelato, shares how his family’s heirloom recipes and long-standing food traditions have shaped the way he cooks, gathers, and connects with the community today.
From Sunday dinners to signature dishes like Grandma’s Potato Croquettes, the Scotto family story is a heartfelt reminder of how food preserves culture, celebrates social connection, and honors the past while embracing the present.
The Scotto family’s roots trace back to Italy and then Brooklyn in 1905. How have those early family food traditions shaped the way you cook and gather today at Pelato?
Both sides of my family came from Italy in the same year and both originally settled in Little Italy in Manhattan. Soon after, they moved to Brooklyn and stayed there for one hundred years.
Although my ancestors lost most of the language after one generation in an attempt to assimilate as quickly as possible to their new home, the Italian culture lived on in us through the food. Every generation had at least one part of the family who owned a restaurant. First it was a sandwich shop across the street from the Puck Building. Now we have gone back to our roots by opening a distinctly Brooklyn-Italian restaurant in Pelato.
Many of your dishes are based on heirloom recipes passed down through generations. How were these recipes learned and preserved within your family?
Everyone in my family lives a very long time! So I am lucky to still have two of my grandparents in their 90's. Growing up, big family dinners were commonplace, and not just on Sundays. When my family moved from Brooklyn to Manhattan to open Fresco by Scotto in 1993, they all moved into the same apartment building. Imagine 20 Scotto's in one building! Too many cooks in the kitchen for sure.
If you're cooking this weekend, check out Anthony Scotto's Sunday Sauce recipe here.
Is there one dish that instantly brings you back to childhood or Sunday family meals, and what makes it so meaningful?
Grandma's Potato Croquettes. When we moved to Nashville to open restaurants here, my grandma made the move with us. It was her first time leaving NYC for more than a few days in her entire 90-year life! Grandma's Potato Croquettes were a must have on our menu at Pelato and are a staple at our house to this day.
Italian cooking is often rooted in ritual and shared meals. How do those rituals foster connection within your family and community?
Since we are at work for most dinners, when we do have a dinner at home, we make it a special event. Everyone is involved, and we try to keep things interesting. Tennessee has great local meat and produce, and we tap into that a lot during the summer time.
Since we do spend more time at the restaurants than we do at home, we see the restaurants as a second home. We test the food nightly to ensure consistency. If you get our vodka sauce in any of our three Pelato locations, it should taste the same. There is honestly nothing more rewarding than feeding people things they love to eat in your home. We have the opportunity to do that seven days a week for thousands of people daily.
Pelato balances tradition with a modern approach. How do you honor your family’s history while allowing the food to evolve?
With the menu items we always try our very best to stay true to our past. We are constantly asking ourselves if a dish we are serving fits in the concept. We have dropped dishes off of the menu that we loved - they just didn't fit.
The tapas style service of our restaurants is a very modern take. The music, decor, and vibe also lends itself more to the modern side of things. So long as the food stays true to us and consistent, we allow the other parts of the business to drift in a modern direction.
For National Italian Food Day, what do you hope readers take away about Italian food, not just as cuisine, but as a way of caring for yourself and others?
Pelato is part of the growing movement of restaurants that are embracing the Italian-American cuisine. Most of our dishes cannot be found in Italy - and that is OK! When you have some Italian food of any kind for National Italian Food Day, think back on the people and places that got you to where you are today. Our path led us from NYC to opening Italian restaurants across the South - and we love it.
