If someone can help me out and post this,there was an article on Philly .com about Merlino and investors opening a high-end Italian restaurant in Boca soth Philly Style

Joey Merlino Opening Restaurant in Boca Article

Here is the news article 22
http://gossipextra.com/2014/08/29/joey-merlino-mob-open-restaurant-boca-raton-4020/

This a stupid article you cant get good bread in florida Joey said it himself. The geater or his attorneys can say how smart he is but I don't think he himself could actually run a restaurant but then again a lot of mob guys do

Thanks Beanshooter I appreciate that

You too Dante,thanks

It wouldn't surprise me. I've seen him around quite a bit (I live in Boca). I can tell you this, the man loves his cigars. Almost every time I've seen him hes outside with a cigar.

He seems like a nice enough guy on a superficial level. Hes a good tipper and has bought drinks for the musicians on occasion, but other than exchanging a few pleasantries that's all I can say.

He's right about the bread here....its the water (it sucks, especially Boca) When I worked in AC I'd get over to the "White House" as often as possible....not THATS bread. You'll never see bread like that in Florida.

There is some bagel place around here that advertises that they bring water from NY every day to make their bagels. I forget the name....

Sal

There's actually an interesting story at the bottom of the posted page about the steroid scandal and the new orleans mafia, but I don't want to distract from your thread so I will post it in a separate thread. There's money to be made in the entertainment field in florida and the fact that he announced his retirement and now opening a resturaunt will make it hard for the fbi, with that being said, do every mobster that ever ratted lives in florida???

The bread can be baked down there.Back in 88 John T From Formica came up with a recipe....They bake it out in EHT everyday at Mucks bakery.Frank Formica went out to Vegas and baked it with the new recipe..I wiill explain laterabout why and how...

Oh darn. Do we really have to wait til later to hear the bread story? I'm too anxious.

Salvie, is it the Brooklyn Water Bagel Co?

http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/cleanp...n_locations.php

I'm sure they have enough friends and wannabe's in the trucking business that would take minumum wage as a truck driver just to say I deliver Joeys Bread

It's almost impossible to get a good loaf of Italian bread here in Dixie. There is a NY style Deli over in Pinehurst which allegedly has it's bagel dough and water shipped in every few days. Sometimes their bagels are great and sometimes not. We had an excellent German bakery in town and the baker told me that even he can't make a goof NY style Italian bread because of the water and humidity here. Who knows- could just be an excuse. We sure do miss that bread down here.

Wiseguys spend their entire lives in restaurants and eating good food

I'm sure they'll have some experience not to mention joey had a big restaurant in Philly

On top of that, I've been in the restaurant trade for yrs, as an owner it helps to be able to cook. Since only then can u control the quality that comes out of the kitchen which is essentially the bread and butter of the restaurant

Alternatively hire a good head chef

Hire some polite and motivated waiters. Pick a good location. Grease the local food reviewer and your good to go

my mom tells me at the market when you get a pound of cheese there they put wax paper between the slices cause of the humidity. my 2 cents.

Forget about "bringing in New York water in an oil tanker." Wiseguys (and restaurant people in general) have been pushing that fantasy for years. I think Pistone even mentioned it, and it's going on forty years since he went undercover.

Aside from being COST IMPOSSIBLE to do such a thing, it just wouldn't work for a variety of reasons. For one thing, the humidity down there affects the way the yeast interacts with the flour and water (New York or Florida water won't matter).

The only way to get good bread down there is to buy it up here, have it flash frozen, and THEN ship it. A few places down there do it with the Arthur Avenue bread companies over here, but not on a regular basis because it's just not cost efficient.

I've been splitting my time between New York and Palm Beach County for the past seventeen years. And I've been going to South Florida in general for over forty years. You think Joey is the first gangster to take a shot at a restaurant down there?

Please. They come and go like oranges and key limes down there. They have the exact same success rate as any other restaurateurs do. That means that two out of three fail. And I'm not saying he won't make it. Maybe he will. But he's no shoo-in just because he's a celebrity gangster. Far from it. For every transplanted New Yorker in Eastern Palm Beach County, there are a dozen rednecks in places like Okeechobee who hate New Yorkers and never go out to eat .

PB is right......

The restaurant biz in South Florida is VERY competitive. I think its worse than 2 out of 3. Over the years I've worked in so many places that started out very popular, and were closed within a year. And when business starts to fall of the first thing they cut is the entertainment.

Hes also right about the humidity. We used to have a really good Italian bakery in Hallendale when I was growing up. My Mother always had a thing for sfogliatelle and this place ( DiMaio's) made them very good.

Well if you didn't eat them all strait out of the box they would be mushy in less than two hours. It the humidity.

Women go nuts with their hair here in the summer because it averages 75-90% humidity.

How does bread even stand a chance???

Sal

Thanks 22, gotta give it to Lambiet he does a good job of sniffing out the stories down here. Heres a couple articles on the guy the investors are allegedly leasing from and/or going into business with. Batsmasian has an interesting history.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/business/lawsuit-alleges-boca-developer-batmasian-got-city-/ngxfq/

http://therealdeal.com/miami/blog/2014/07/24/harsh-allegations-levied-against-james-batmasian/

Should make a new sitcom starring Jerry Stiller and Estelle Harris reprising their roles as Frank and Estelle Costanza and Joey Merlino as their nephew Skinny Joey who has come to visit them in Boca.

I'm sure Joey will have no problems finding a vacant condo in Del Boca Vista.

So happy you're back.

She's hot shit, ain't she?

Hey buddy whats up,I'm bugging you again,no rush.

No problem NNY78

/me chuckles.

*Doris Roberts not Estelle Harris.

He actually had it right, Sonny. Doris Roberts played Ray's Mom on "Everybody Loves Raymond." Estelle Harris did indeed play George Costanza's Mother.

I know, I'd just prefer Doris to play the part

Interesting fact, both Doris Roberts (Ray's mom) and brad garrett (Ray's brother Robert), the two funniest actors/characters in the sitcom are Jewish, not Italian.

Marone!

And Peter Boyle was as Irish as a warm Guinness .

But Jews always played Italians back in the '50s and '60s. Nothing new there. From George Raft to Edward G. Robinson to Peter Falk to Sheldon Leonard.

Jews and Italians have much in common. Except for Jesus and bacon, we're pretty similar (and don't tell anyone, but some of my very best Jewish friends eat bacon ).

George Raft had some Italian blood in him somewhere. They say he was actually good friends with some real gangsters, including Capone.

I think his original name was "Ranft". Also he started out as a professional dancer.

Yea Salvi Raft liked to be in the company of Gangsters..Here's a picture of him with
"The Boot"(far right), the guy I never knew existed until I had the pleasure of someone on this forum tell me about him **Cough-Ahh!**