Mug, Coffee
Object number2013.39.4
Date2000
MediumCeramic
Credit LineGift of Joseph Costanzo, Jr.
DescriptionBeige mug. Printed on one side, in blue is restaurant information. Printed in blue on opposite site is review and award information.Dimensions3.5 x 4.5 x 3.25 in. (8.9 x 11.4 x 8.3 cm)InscriptionsPrinted on one side, in blue: "The / Primadonna / RESTAURANT / Joseph Costanzo, Jr. - Owner / Pino Costanzo - Chef / 801 BROADWAY AVENUE / McKEES ROCKS, PA 15136 / 331-1001".
Printed in blue on opposite site: "Rated / [five images of forks] / By Mike Kalina - Dining Critic / The Pittsburgh Post Gazette / [inside box] Voted the Best Italian / Restaurant in Western Pennsylvania / by the Readers of Pittsburgh / Magazine".
Historical NotesMug from 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
Pino Costanzo
Related person
Mike Kalina
Related institution
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
(founded 1927)
Related person
Donna Costanzo
On View
Not on view1990-1996
2001
1980