Images(2)

Sign, Informational

Object number2013.39.11

Date1986-2003

MediumPlywood/Paint

Credit LineGift of Joseph Costanzo, Jr.

DescriptionRectangular plywood sign. Beige with brown edging and text featuring hours of operation for the Primadonna Restaurant and Cocktail Lounge. Four corners are curved inward. Appears hand painted.Dimensions16 x 24 x 0.25 in. (40.6 x 61 x 0.6 cm)
InscriptionsText painted on front: left side "RESTAURANT / HOURS / MON 4 pm-11pm / TUES 4 pm-11pm / WED 4pm-11pm / THURS 4pm-11pm / FRI 4pm-11pm / SAT 4pm-11pm / SUN CLOSED"; and right side "Cocktail LOUNGE / HOURS / MON 4 pm-12am / TUES 4 pm-12am / WED 4pm-12am / THURS 4pm-12am / FRI 4pm-12am / SAT 4pm-12am / SUN CLOSED".
Historical NotesInformational sign for The Primadonna Restaurant. Owner Joseph Costanzo, Jr., opened The Primadonna Restaurant, named after his wife Donna, in McKees Rocks in 1986 and ran it until 2003, when he sold the restaurant to John Welsh, former owner of Welsh's on the Rocks. Offering Italian cuisine from Abruzzo and Calabria, Costanzo stylized the peasant fare of his parents' native regions in Italy into up-scale cuisine served on a white linen tablecloth. He won multiple awards for his 83 seat restaurant, including The Pittsburgh Post Gazette's 1990 Restaurateur of the Year, the International Geneva Association's 1995 Restaurateur of the Year, the DiRoNA Award (Distinguished Restaurants of North America), and was named one of America's Top Ten Italian Restaurants in 2002 by the International Restaurant and Hospitality Rating Bureau. Locally, The Primadonna Restaurant was voted the best Italian restaurant in Western Pennsylvania by the readers of Pittsburgh Magazine, Pittsburgh City Paper, and The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Nationally, it was written up in the pages of Playboy Magazine, The New York Daily News, and Mid-Atlantic Country Magazine.

Related institution The Primadonna Restaurant

Related person Joseph Costanzo Jr.

Related person Donna Costanzo

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