Angelo’s Regulars Share Their Favorite Memories
From a relaxed arrest over veal parm to family gatherings and meatballs for breakfast, Rhode Island personalities tell all on Angelo's 100th Anniversary.
The dining room and staff of Angelo’s on Federal Hill.
Classic Italian red sauce dishes are what Angelo’s is all about. The portions are big, the prices are cheap and the focus is family. It’s been that way for 100 years, and it will always be that way. Dig into a heaping plate of chicken Parmesan or slow-cooked all-day veal and peppers. Everyone feels like friends and family at Angelo’s, whether you’re Italian or just wishing you were. Communal tables seat multiple generations, politicians and power players talking business, and families with toddlers taking in the train set chugging along the perimeter of the ceiling. Historical photos decorate the dining room alongside accolades like proof of a visit from Guy Fieri. The menu board still dominates the middle of the dining room, complete with changeable letters.
Serving traditional Italian cooking for 100 years, there’s a reason the fourth-generation restaurant hasn’t had to change much on the Classics menu since 1924. Favorites are the breaded and fried chicken parm, eggplant parm smothered in mozzarella and housemade sauce, and good old meatballs served with fries instead of pasta for an even better way to soak up homemade gravy. During the Great Depression, the original owner, Angelo Mastrodicasa, invited folks who were in need to come eat and he added fries to their plates to help tide them over to their next meal. The tradition continues today.
“For a business to survive twenty-five years, let alone a hundred, is a complete unknown phenomenon, and it is something worth celebrating,” says Angelo’s owner Jamie Antignano.
In honor of Angelo’s 100th anniversary, Rhode Island Monthly is inducting Angelo’s into its Best of Rhode Island Hall of Fame for 2024. At Angelo’s 100th birthday party, we interviewed some of the beloved restaurant’s regulars and asked them to tell their favorite stories about the Federal Hill institution.
Here are their stories:
Brendan Doherty, former Rhode Island State Police Superintendent: I’ve been coming here for forty years. I love this restaurant, the history and the culture. I was a detective in the state police, and I would come here with other detectives and political figures. One day, Colonel Stone, the legendary superintendent of the state police at the time, had a fugitive on the loose in Rhode Island. He was originally from Rhode Island, but he was on the lam and left the state. Colonel Stone had information that he was back in town and I was assigned with another detective, Louis, to find this guy. We shot out to a couple of his known haunts, but he was clever and he wasn’t going to hang out at his usual social club, because he knew we’d be looking for him.
After three hours of looking for him, we came up on the Hill and my favorite restaurant was Angelo’s. We were under a lot of pressure, because the boss wanted this guy today, so I said to my partner, Louis, why don’t we go to Angelo’s and have something to eat? I had never seen this guy, but I had a picture of him. I ordered my favorite, veal parmesan, and I was looking at the line gathering outside the restaurant. I saw a guy in line, and I said to Lou, “The guy we’re looking for is standing in line right there,” right here at the restaurant. All roads lead to Angelo’s.
So the guy sat down. We had already ordered. So we had a decision to make. We certainly didn’t want to cause a scene. I came up with a plan. We’ll give the fugitive the option.
He sat down. I sat next to him. I knew he knew my name, but he didn’t know who I was. We were wearing plain clothes, so nothing gave it away. We had never seen each other.
I moved his knife and fork over and I said, “You’re so-and-so, right?”
He said, “Yea, how do I know you?”
I said, “I’m Brendan Doherty.”
He said, “Oh, my god. What’s this mean?”
I said, “Here’s what it means.” I said, “You can eat your meal with us, and we can all walk out of here like gentlemen after we eat, or if you want to be placed under arrest, it’ll have to happen now. But I prefer that not happening.”
He thought about it for a second, and he said, “Does that mean I have to eat with you guys?”
I said, “It does.”
He said, “Do I have to talk to you?”
I said, “No, you don’t have to talk at all.”
So he came over and sat with me, and we had lunch together. He had his veal parm. I had my veal parm, and we walked out of here like gentlemen, no handcuffs or anything, and that was it.
Providence Mayor Brett Smiley: It’s always exciting to celebrate a milestone of an institution, but I will tell you personally, this is one of my favorite restaurants in Providence. I’m here regularly. I have so many memories from here, and at a time when so many places are trying to do what’s new and what’s different, there’s something so comforting about a place that has evolved but hasn’t changed that much, and I think that’s what is so beloved. As a guy from the Midwest with Jewish and Scottish family, it took my Italian husband to describe to me what scungilli was when I moved here and the healing powers of pastine. I wish them 100 more years of success.
Former Angelo’s owner Bob Antignano, Jamie’s dad: The reason we survived, especially through the pandemic was because of my daughter. As her dad, we are all proud of our children, but when you work side-by-side with them for six years, you realize she is so much better than I could ever be. You know the company you worked for for most of your life, is in better hands now and for the future. You know the saying, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, well my friend said, the apple didn’t even fall off the tree.
I took Angelo’s over in 1988. I was never in the restaurant business before. I was in corporate and I was in the cabinet of Governor DiPrete, as the Director of Workers Comp. This was a big change for me. My aunts took me in and taught me everything, but they didn’t run it like a business. They owned the building. I was like okay give me the food cost, and they said we don’t know what food cost is. So we’d look at sausage, and they were selling sausage at a loss. I had to give up a lot of family time and personal time, working seven days a week.
The pandemic was a really difficult time for the restaurant, but for us as a family, it was tremendous. I was in the kitchen, Jamie was on the floor, and she set up a takeout system on her phone. My wife would dial the phone number we had for customers and call the cars in the parking lot, then we’d deliver the food outside in a tent and they would pick it up. We knew we had to keep the restaurant going, but as a family, it was really tremendous. We were all together, and we would go home, take our clothes off in the garage, because we didn’t know what was going on with Covid. They are all wonderful memories. Jamie has surpassed anything I can imagine. I see how she works every day, and all the new things she’s doing, the social media, it’s really amazing. I never have to worry going forward.
Dale Venturini, former CEO of the Rhode Island Hospitality Association: When Bob [Bacon, founder of Gregg’s restaurants] was chairman of the board of the Rhode Island Hospitality Association, we used to have our meetings here to prepare for the board meeting. It would be nine or nine thirty in the morning, and out from the kitchen would come a tray of meatballs. They hadn’t even put them in gravy yet, and we would sit and eat meatballs while we had our meeting at nine o’clock in the morning. I could not wait for the next month’s meeting. Even though I could have them the whole month through, that was a special tradition that we had. Just him and I getting ready for the meeting. Sometimes we put them in the gravy, sometimes we didn’t. It really does speak to what a restaurant does for the community, because it brings people together, not only for the food but it makes lasting memories. That meatballs recipe was the same when they opened 100 years ago, and it will never be changed.
Rhode Island Senator David P. Tikoian: I served on the state police with Colonel Doherty. I’m fifty-six now, and I’ve been coming here since I was six years old. So fifty years. My favorite memory was in my later years on the state police. Under Colonel Doherty’s leadership, we developed a community outreach initiative and we delved into the community, Chad Brown and the South Side. I’ll never forget, we held a community dinner for underserved and underprivileged folks in Chad Brown. We had a dinner here for them, and Jamie, her mom and dad, sponsored it. It was a memorable, enjoyable experience for us to see. But I know for the youth of the community, it’s something that they never forgot. I know they say the food is very consistent here, but I’ll tell you one thing that remains consistent. Whether it’s your first time here, or your ten thousandth time here, you get treated like family.
Representative John J. Lombardi: It was 1982, and there was this young man who was going to college in Boston. The bus terminal was back there. School was on a Tuesday, Thursday and Friday evening, and this person would run across the Boston Common, and jump on a bus to get home to Providence. It was generally about eleven o’clock at night by the time he got back, and this young man would be walking by these windows outside Angelo’s with a bookbag that was heavier than me. This person was hungry and didn’t have a lot of money in his pocket. But he would peek in the window. There were some young ladies working here. I believe they were Bob’s relatives, and they would give this person a sandwich that was this big. Boy, that was good stuff going down at eleven o’clock at night. I am going to tell you who that young man was. You’re looking at him. That’s what Angelo’s does. Angelo’s gets the idea about family, about neighborhood and what it’s all about.
Ernie DiGregorio, former Providence College men’s basketball phenom and NBA player: “My favorite memory of Angelo’s is when my college coach Dave Gavitt was alive, he used to take all the players here. We used to sit here a couple times a month and talk about stories from the old days when we played and laugh and have fun. It was maybe eight or nine guys. It was right up until he died. He died more than ten years ago in 2011, so probably 2010. We would always come, every couple weeks. They all passed away now, Marvin and Dave. Now I come here with my friends.
Bob Burke, owner of Pot au Feu: I first started coming here with my uncle Tony, who brought me here as a teenager. I found out that I really loved rustic Italian cooking. This was different from anything I’d ever eaten at home, being raised in an Irish household. The one thing I learned here is that I don’t like tripe. This is the place to find out whether or not you like tripe. I will always try anything, and the one food I found out I can’t get past my nose is tripe. Everything else here, the snails, veal, smelt, doesn’t matter what it is, I can come to Angelo’s and say, bring me anything, and I’m happy…except tripe. The veal and peppers are my favorite. After that, veal parm. Or the falling-off-the-bone half-chicken, you just can never beat that.
Dante Bellini, filmmaker, and former principal of the RDW Group communications firm: I really wanted to take Kobi Dennis – who is a great advocate for inner city kids [at the YMCA] – and the kids here one night. One evening, we came here with Kobi and twenty kids, and it remains one of my most favorite nights at Angelo’s because the kids were absolutely overjoyed. To see how much gusto they had, and how much appreciation they had for the food, was wonderful. They were between twelve and eighteen years old. I’ve been coming here for forty-plus years. I have taken presidents of big companies, I have closed deals here, I have come up with ideas here. I have brought people from out of town from all over the country. It is one of those things that is truly family.
Rick Simone, President of EGN Consulting: I started coming here when I was eighteen years old, and there were two things that stuck out. One was the comfort level. It felt like I was back home eating at my grandmother’s dining room having food that is that style. And at that age, I could actually afford it. That’s one of the things I always credit Angelo’s for is that with all the evolution Federal Hill has had, they’ve stayed the same. I think that’s really important to families and generations that have come here over the years. This is one of only two places on the Hill that have reached this 100-year milestone, Scialo Bros. Bakery and here. The chef has been here forty-nine years. This is one of those unique spots, no matter what your demographic is, you can come here and feel comfortable. It becomes really difficult today; you don’t see businesses passed down in families. The kids don’t want it, they move away and do different things. Jamie had every opportunity to not be a part of this. She went off to college to do her thing and came back. You don’t see it as often anymore.
