La Bussola brings back anniversary menu amid pandemic

Many businesses have been hit hard by the pandemic, and restaurants in particular have suffered from the various restrictions set in place over the past year. La Bussola Ristorante, a staple of the Glen Cove restaurant scene for more than 40 years, has not only been supported by the community enough to get it through these hard times, it has also been able to continue its annual tradition of thanking its customers during its anniversary month by offering a weekly special.

La Bussola Ristorante opened its doors at 40 School St. in 1980, a family owned and operated business offering authentic Italian cuisine in an elegant atmosphere that has since expanded to include restaurants in Mineola and Huntington. Founded by Pasquale Lubrano, an Italian immigrant who came to America in 1957, the business is now run by his four sons.

In 2010, La Bussola brought back the menu and prices from 1980 as a way to celebrate the restaurant’s 30th anniversary. “We thought 30 years was a big deal, and we thought we should definitely do something to celebrate that,” Carlo Lubrano, manager of La Bussola, said. He and his three brothers, he said, decided collectively it would be a way to honor their father and thank the community. “Every Monday, we roll back to the 1980 menu and prices.”

It was such a success, he said, they decided to continue the anniversary tradition annually.

“The response was overwhelming,” Lubrano said. “Normally, on a cold, winter Monday night, it’s not so busy. Maybe we’ll serve 25 to 30 people.”  During the anniversary month, however, regardless of weather, he said they serve more than 300 people on a Monday night. “It’s pretty amazing. It’s a lot of fun; to look at the menu from that time, the prices are a lot different. People come in and are in a celebratory mood. It’s a lot of volume, but we love doing it.”

Normally La Bussola celebrates its anniversary in February, but with mandated 50 percent capacity limit in place for indoor dining, Lubrano said, they weren’t sure if they could do it this year. But towards the end of February, he said, they felt that, with five Mondays in March and the weather potentially warming up — creating the possibility of adding 10 to 12 tables outdoors — it was worth a shot. “But regardless, we’re still able to do a decent amount of reservations, even with Covid restrictions.”

The special menu is offered for in-person dining only, as the kitchen is not equipped to handle the volume of both takeout and indoor dining, and reservations are required. The restaurant can currently seat 15 to 16 tables, as opposed to the typical 30, but starting Friday, March 19, all restaurants will be allowed to open at 75 percent capacity for indoor dining, so they will be able to accommodate more people for the final two weeks of the special.

So far this month, Lubrano said, the restaurant has had around 200 customers on each Monday. “More and more people keep finding out about it,” he said, “so each Monday is busier than the last.”

Glen Cove resident Joanne Yee said she has been a regular customer at La Bussola for the past 20 years, and reserves a table every Monday during the anniversary month for herself and her husband. “It’s the best Italian restaurant in town,” Yee said. “And the special menu prices are incredible.”

The prices are so low, she said, that she cannot resist tacking on orders of side dishes and appetizers in addition to the entrees. She also said she loves hearing about the history and family stories that Lubrano shares, and felt it is especially important to support La Bussola this year. “They had a really tough time at the start of the pandemic. I’m glad it started picking up over the summer.”

Patricia Holman, executive director of the Glen Cove Downtown Business Improvement District, said she enjoys the family environment and hearing old stories that Lubrano shares about what the downtown was like in the 1980s. “The food is consistently good,” Holman said. “One thing I admire is that La Bussola is incredibly creative with its outdoor space. They want to make sure it looks beautiful, not only for its customers but for the betterment of the entire downtown.”

When restaurants were given the OK for outdoor dining last June, La Bussola was able to add 20 tables, and they also added potted plants and lights to make the space more elegant.

“The hardest part was the first three months, when we were just takeout,” Lubrano said of the early days of the pandemic. “We did receive a lot of support, but it wasn’t enough.”

Between outdoor and indoor dining, Lubrano said, the restaurant had a really good run through mid-November, when it started to get cold again. “The only thing that shut it down was the weather,” he said, “when we lost outdoor dining and that was nearly 50 percent of our business.”

The last four months, he said, have been challenging, but with spring on the horizon, things are looking up. “We got through it, now the weather is getting warmer, and I can tell you that people who only ate outdoors for the past year, are now coming in since they have been fully vaccinated,” he said. “I can see a change already occurring, where people feel more comfortable to venture out and do things they weren’t doing over the last year.”

Lubrano has been in the restaurant industry since La Bussola opened when he was 14. His father opened the restaurant at age 50, after working at an Italian restaurant in Queens. Lubrano said he and his brothers were just happy to finally see him more often and were all happy to work with him. His brother, Marco Lubrano, is the executive chef who oversees the kitchens of all three locations. Brothers Tony Lubrano and John Lubrano manage Piccola Bussola in Huntington and Mineola.

“To be able to continue something that he started 41 years ago, and to have been a part of it since its inception,” Lubrano said, “we’re very blessed to say we’ve been here that many years, it’s wonderful.”