The Scottos Serve Up Recipes, Dish on 30-Year Run in New Cookbook: 'Meatballs, Mangia & Memories'

The Scotto sisters are sharing highlights from 30 years and counting at NYC power restaurant Fresco By Scotto, as well as the family recipes that inspired its menu, in a brand new cookbook.   

Meatballs, Mangia & Memories by Rosanna Scotto and Elaina Scotto, includes more than 100 of the Scotto family’s traditional recipes – meatballs and Sunday sauce included – while dishing up memorable stories from the sisters’ 30 years serving power-players at their family-run midtown restaurant. 

Celebrating its 30th anniversary, Fresco By Scotto, which took a hiatus during the pandemic, is now back and thriving with a new chef and outdoor seating setup. 

“The book also looks into what it was like closing, reopening, and reimagining the restaurant,” said Rosanna, the Good Day New York host, who was traveling from the city to her Southampton home for the weekend. “There are wonderful stories that make you laugh, and some that make you cry, and as a bonus you get all these amazing recipes … some passed down from my mom’s family … they’re all easy to make and if you make them for friends, they’ll think you’re a real good chef.”

The book also includes memorable encounters with celebrities from President Trump to President Clinton to Sly Stallone to palling around with Chris Rock and Kevin Hart after the 2022 Oscars. “We’ve been so lucky to meet the movers and shakers and the bold-faced names,” said Rosanna.  

One story in particular involved President Clinton in June of 2021. “He decided to walk over from 30 Rock and it was almost like the piped piper coming because literally crowds just swarmed around him and walked with him to the restaurant, so when he showed up for dinner he must have had 50-100 people behind him. He couldn’t have been nicer. It was just one of those very memorable crazy moments.”

There’s also another that involved surprising pal Sly Stallone with Fresco By Scotto’s famous “parade” desert – complete with a six pound cannoli and dancing staff members – for his birthday while blasting the theme from Rocky.

The heart of the book, however, is family. “We built this wonderful traditional of Sunday supper, which resonates with the oldest to the youngest in our family,” said former PR executive Elaina, who now runs the day to day operations at the restaurant. “At 6 am my dad would be frying the garlic and sauteeing the onion and making the sauce, and we’d sit there eating course after course, just talking about fun memories.”

Many of the dishes served up by the Scotto family are now served at the restaurant, but meatballs and pasta remain at the core of Sunday dinner. “For sure, you were going to get that on Sunday,” said Elaina. 

Added Elaina about the reception to the book: “It’s funny, we’ve had a lot of people from different backgrounds say it reminds them of their family, or it’s the family they wish they had, and it all makes us feel good.”

The sisters Scotto both call the Hamptons home and love spending time out east to relax from their hectic schedules. “There is that free time, and no excuse not to make the Sunday sauce,” said Elaina.

Order your copy of Meatballs, Mangia & Memories here.