Pine Restaurant in the Bronx

Half a Century of Bronx Sunday Dinners, Still Fully Booked

When a Bronx family needs a table for twelve — a christening lunch, a graduation, an anniversary that runs long — the Pine is usually the first call. It has been doing exactly this since 1969: Southern Italian cooking served family style, rooms built for real crowds, and a Morris Park setting the whole borough can find.

The Concept · The Story

The initials belong to Francesco and Giovanni Bastone — Frankie and Johnnie once they reached New York — brothers from Calabria who in 1969 took over a tired bar called the Pine Tavern: eight or ten tables, sawdust on the floor, its best years back when the Morris Park Racetrack still drew crowds. A new sign was not in the budget, so they left the old one up and tacked their initials onto the front. Frankie cooked his mother’s Calabrian recipes, the storefront grew room by room, and politicians and Yankees players turned it into a semi-private canteen.

What to Order

Dinner opens the way it has for decades: bread and salad brought out family style before anyone orders. Calabrian calamari hides a hot cherry pepper sauce underneath — the clearest clue to where these recipes come from. Zuppa di pesce is built for two to share; chopped baked clams and chicken scarpariello are the old-guard picks; lobster ravioli, super chicken parmigiana and stuffed pork chops fill the rest of the table, and the porterhouse is carved for sharing.

The Space

What began as a country tavern now stretches most of a block: a two-level dining room at the center, a separate barroom, and private banquet halls that carry the christening-and-communion calendar all year. Exposed brick walls hold photographs left by decades of ballplayers and borough notables, and a mural of an old Italian street runs across the room like a stage set. Red leather booths keep it loud in the good way, and in warm weather a garden opens at the back.

Good to Know

Do I need a reservation? For weekend evenings and any group larger than four, yes; for a banquet room, call several weeks ahead.

Is it good for children? Very — high chairs, patient service, and a room already full of somebody else’s relatives.

Is there a dress code? No. Suits fresh from a christening and Yankees caps fresh from a game share neighboring tables.

Can two people eat here without over-ordering? Portions assume an extended family: split one pasta and one main, and ask which dishes are sized for a group.

When is the garden open? In the warm months — request garden seating when you book, because those tables go first.

Opening hours