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THE QUINTESSENTIAL NEW YORKERS
ROSANNA AND ELAINA SCOTTO By Hillary Latos Photography by Neil Tandy As born and bred New Yorkers, Rosanna and Elaina Scotto have a colorful and storied history that makes up the fabric NYC born to parents with had powerful mobster family ties and were highly influential in shaping the city to what it is today. Since their opening 29 years ago, Fresco by Scottos remains a beloved New York institution with a loyal following spanning a cross section of power players in business, fashion, politics and media. As the anchor for Fox’s Good Day New York, Rosanna Scotto greets millions of New Yorkers every morning with her candid and infectious energy that when offscreen she channels into her family’s popular restaurant, Fresco by Scotto’s. Resident speaks to the Scotto sisters who, along with their mother Marion, have rebranded, revitalized, and relaunched Fresco by Scotto’s to become Midtown’s latest dining and dancing destination.
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Tell us a bit about the history and evolution of Scotto’s. ES: We opened 29 years ago, and we were very fortunate to have success very early on. From the moment we opened our doors we were the home of fashionistas, politicians, and TV personalities, though there were a lot of ups and downs over that time. When COVID hit our restaurant shuttered, and to pull the plug and close up is detrimental to any running business, and we weren’t sure if we were going to reopen. Long story short, we received a lot of grants, repositioned our company as we are a 100% women owned business. We renovated the interior, and reimagined, reinvented and recreated an entirely new business. We went from being a very serious restaurant without any music where businesspeople came, to now this happy, joyful, dinner
entertainment destination. We have DJs Thursday, Friday and Saturday night. We encourage people to get up and dance wherever they feel. It’s like walking into a giant party. We hired Larry Scott, event planner to the stars, and he’s recreated one of our favorite places in Capri with a modern twist. RS: We have an Instagram page for Fresco by Scotto and we have one for Scotto Sisters, In the beginning, I was posting a lot of food pictures, and we were getting a lot of response. When we started posting pictures of the partying, the dancing in the streets and the celebrities that came, we were getting an overwhelming response. People want to have fun now. They’ve been locked down for two years. We heard the call
