When it comes to celebrity food favorites, sometimes we like them because they come from someone in the food biz, so we know we can trust their advice, like Anthony Bourdain’s all-time favorite fast food burger. Sometimes, it may be more aspirational, and we want to experience life “on the other side,” like the favorite restaurants of U.S. presidents or Frank Sinatra’s iconic favorite foods. But when it comes to serious icons, few stars have shined brighter than that of Marilyn Monroe. And what was her favorite New York City restaurant? It was Gino of Capri, more commonly known as Gino’s.
Gino’s was founded by Gino Circiello (the Gino of Capri) in 1945 and was in operation for an admirable six and a half decades before closing its doors in 2010. The Italian restaurant at 780 Lexington Avenue in Manhattan served a number of Monroe’s favorite foods: hearty plates like lamb chops and pasta. There’s also a good chance that one of the well-dressed waiters served her a luxuriously layered ice cream treat. The kitchen was especially known for its red sauce, and it turns out that butter was the key ingredient. A year after Gino’s closed, butter returned in a big way when cupcake chain Sprinkles opened its first New York City outpost in the space. (The company sells its baked goods in-store and at its automated cupcake ATM.)
Why was Gino’s Marilyn Monroe’s favorite restaurant?
Gino Circiello died in 2001, having sold his eponymous restaurant to some of his employees in the ’80s. Over the years, Ed Sullivan, Frank Sinatra, Gregory Peck, Jackie O, Ernest Hemingway, and Marilyn Monroe, of course, were regulars — she dined there with her second husband, Joe DiMaggio, and then continued to be a regular with her third, Arthur Miller. Gino of Capri, not to be confused with Gino’s East of Chicago or Gino’s Pizzeria in Brooklyn (or hundreds of other restaurants named after a man called Gino) was an icon because it harkened back to 1940s New York City class well into the 21st century.
Gino’s was known for its comforting, laidback atmosphere and reasonable prices, where the common folk could intermingle with the likes of Monroe and Sinatra. In that way, it was classic old-school New York City. But above all, Gino’s is perhaps most remembered for its iconic wallpaper: black and white zebras leaping in unison over a bright red crimson background. As the story goes, Circiello befriended textile manufacturer Franco Scalamandre upon arrival to New York, and Scalamandre’s wife, Flora, designed the wallpaper specifically for the restaurant. The “Scalamandre wallpaper” gave Gino’s an extra vibrant flair that likely made Monroe feel right at home. Allegedly, against the wishes of the former Gino’s owners, Sprinkles reinstalled a reproduction of the famed wallpaper, but judging by reviews online, it has seemingly since been removed.
