Uncle Bacala's celebrates 20 years with rollback menu
Chicken Parmesan with a side of spaghetti at Uncle Bacala's in Garden City Park. Credit: Newsday/Erica Marcus
Uncle Bacala’s patrons can mark the restaurant's two decades of business this month with three-course prix fixe deals straight out of 2004. Owner Peter Hewitson is offering $13.95 lunches and $24.95 dinners Monday-Thursday through November at the Italian restaurant in Garden City Park.
The menus include many of the restaurant’s greatest hits: starters such as penne alla vodka and Caesar salad; mains such as chicken Parm / Marsala / Francese / piccata and brasato al Barolo; desserts such as crème brûlée and tiramisu. The deals are cash only for dine-in parties of five or fewer.
Hewitson said most of these items have been offered since the day Uncle Bacala’s opened. "We’ve added stuff over the years — there’s all the burrata, the gluten-free things — but we almost never take stuff off the menu. It's fried calamari, baked clams, chicken Parm. We’re sort of like an Italian diner at this point."
Another element of consistency is Hewitson’s perpetual presence in the dining room. "I try to deal with the bad stuff before it happens, so I don’t have to read about it on Yelp or Facebook."
Peter Hewitson, owner of Uncle Bacala's in Garden City Park. Credit: Newsday/Erica Marcus
Hewitson was unequivocal about the No. 1 reason for the restaurant’s longevity: location. "If you live in the Bronx and your sister moves to Islip, this is where you come to eat — it’s 35 minutes away for everyone," he said.
And once customers arrive, they can take advantage of reason No. 2, the capacious parking lot: "All day long I have customers coming from Forest Hills because it takes less time to get here than to find a spot on Austin Boulevard."
Uncle Bacala's, 2370 Jericho Tpke., Garden City Park, 516-739-0505, unclebacala.com. Open Monday to Thursday 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., Sunday noon to 10 p.m.
