A SAD DAY in GREENWICH VILLAGE NEW YORK
A shuttered DaSilvano December 21, 2016
THE END of an ERA
It's a sad day in Greenwich Village today, for lovers of good Italian Food and dining out. Famed restaurant to the stars Da Silvano has closed its doors after 40 years in business. Silvano Marcheto of Florence Italy moved to the great city of New York and worked as a waiter at the now defunct Derby Restaurant on Macdougal Street in New York's Greenwich Village before going out on his own in 1976.
Silvano acquired a small storefront that was formerly a laundromat and turned it into a place that would one day become the top celebrity spot in the of New York City. When Silvano first opened Da Silvano back in 1976 his rent was a mere $ 500 a month, it's now $41,000 a month and one of the reasons the restaurant is closing, another victim of a greedy landlord.
Silvano knew how to churn out great Italian Food, Tuscan in particular and to take good care of his customers. His customers besides us mere mortals would turn out to be a whose who of Hollywood, the Fashion and Art Worlds, Publishing and Media Big Wigs, and all sorts of celebrities under the Sun which include the likes of; Paul McCarteny, Sting, Keith Richards, David Bowie, Richard Gere, Gwyneth Palthrow, Anna Wintour, and on and on, everbody who was anybody dined at Da Silvano and I myself witnessed the throngs of celebrities that I myself took care of as a Maitre'd / Manager at Da Silvano in its heyday as Celebrity Central of New York.
Da Silvano had quite a good run doing a brisk busines for about 30 years until a string of events that began to bring less and less business to the onced packed-every-night restaurant. The first thing that started the slow down turn of business and the great luster of this once booming restaurant was when Grayden Carter the famed Editor in Chief of the celebrity powerful Vanity Fair Magazine went and opened his own restaurant the Waverly Inn. This was the beginning of what would become the end of Da Silvano in December of 2016. Carter who dined at Da Silvano 5 night a week where he had his own regular table opened the Waverly Inn in 2008 and things at Da Silvano immediately began going south. Pracitcally the entire Celeb Crowd that frequented Da Silvano on a nightly basis for years simply Jumped Shipped to Carter's Waverly Inn and Silvano had lost most of his Celebrity Crowd. The US and World economy took a tank and this didn't help things either. I who lived in a building very close to Da Silvano noticed an immediate decline in the restaurants business which I estimated at somehere around 40 to 50 percent until the current situation we now see, the sad day of Silvano Marchetto closing the days of his beloved namesake restaurant Da Silvano in December 2016, it's the end of an Era.
by Daniel Bellino Zwicke
SILVANO MARCHETTO
.
SILVANO in Better Days
with Art Dealer Tony Shafrazzi (L)
and Publisher Peter Brandt (R)
Silvano Marchetto with one of His Beloved Ferrari 's
A PARTIAL LIST of Da SILVANO'S many CELEBRITY & Notable CUSTOMERS over The Years ...
AL PACINO
ROBERT DiNERO
JOE PESCI
DAVID BOWIE
GWYNETH PALTHROW
KEITH RICHARDS
RICHARD GERE
WILLEM DEFOE
NICK TOSCHES
DOMINIC DUNNE
CALVIN KLEIN
UMA THURMAN
ETHAN HAWKE
SARA JESSICA PARKER
MATHEW BRODERICK
GRAYDON CARTER
DONALD TRUMP
SAMMY SOSA
SHERYLE CROW
MATT DILLON
LUCY LUI
LOU REED
DEBRA HARRY
JAY McINERNEY
ANNA WINTOUR
SY NEWHOUSE
FRANCESCO CLEMENTE
Da SILVANO used to be Packed Every NIGHT
.
.
Daniel Bellino Zwicke
