James Gandolfini had a thing for excellent red-sauce Italian food. When he was filming an episode of The Sopranos at Bamonte’s, in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, the actor predicted that it, too, would become a star. “[James] turned to me and said, ‘Anthony, whaddya gonna do with all your money?’” recalls restaurateur Anthony Bamonte. “And I replied, ‘Same as you. Spend it!’”
Bamonte’s has changed little since it was founded by Pasquale Bamonte, an immigrant from Salerno and Bamonte’s grandfather, in 1900. A squat building of sand-colored brick and red siding, on Withers Street, it’s a quick walk from both the local Catholic church and the Exley, a popular gay bar.
