For those who remember...this past week, a landmark closed in Greenwich, Conn.
For years, in the '50s, '60s, '70s (maybe even the '80s), Manero's Restaurant, overlooking Greenwich harbor and a one-minute drive off I-95, was a fixture on the Dartmouth football itinerary, always en route home from the Columbia game and, occasionally, post-Princeton or Penn.
It probably wasn't Dartmouth football that enjoyed the steak tips, tossed salad with gorgonzola cheese dressing, and onion rings to die for. Any Dartmouth coach taking a team to the City usually fit Manero's into the schedule, en route or homeward bound.
According to a farewell article in the NYTimes (Feb. 26), Manero's served the best steaks for 62 years. In its heyday in the '70s, Lander's (in Lebanon) came close for steak and roast beef. But, for decades, thousands of metro New York-Connecticut diners flocked to Manero's. Even if you weren't a celebrity (and there were many who stood in a line that stretched down Steamboat Road), you were treated like one.
The 600-seat restaurant didn't change...it didn't need to: great steaks provide their own ambience. The Manero family did a $10-million a WEEK business (moving 50,000 pounds of beef) in a day when a complete steak dinner cost $5.95 (today it's a $30 meal). And, while they weren't on any team's menu, Manero's served great martinis.
But times have changed in Greenwich: The waterfront property has become too valuable for a two-story restaurant. The property, now owned by three businessmen, will become the site for condominiums.
The theme for Dartmouth football in 2006 will be Bringing it Back... Too bad they can't say the same for Manero's.
This has been around for a bit but it is worth a note. The Stanford Tree mascot was suspended for failing a Breathalyzer test. I am not making this up. Find the story here.
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