This Long-Gone NYC Italian Restaurant Was Owned By The Most Famous Sitcom Grampa Of The 1960s

Celebrities owning restaurants is all too common these days: It seems everyone from Ryan Gosling to Sandra Bullock is in on the action. (Why are so many celebrities opening restaurants, anyway?) But for Al Lewis, the beloved star who played Grandpa Munster in the 1960s sitcom, "The Munsters," being a restaurateur was just one of the roles he played in life: He claimed to have worked as a circus performer, a medicine show "professor," and a union organizer in the South. We did work as a radio host and ran for governor in 1998. "The Munsters" was wildly popular for its depiction of a typical American family — except the family members were Frankenstein, vampires, and werewolves.   

Lewis opened his restaurant, Grampa's Bella Gente Pasta & Pizza Restaurant, at 252 Bleecker Street in New York City's Greenwich Village in 1987. It was open for about six years before closing in 1993. "The Munsters" still had an influence at the eatery, too: The restaurant's logo was a caricature of Grampa Munster in profile, with his pronounced nose, designed by Fred Gwynne, Lewis' co-star on the show, who played Herman Munster. The restaurant was an instant success, frequented by locals, tourists, and Lewis' co-stars alike.

Grampa's Bella Gente ("Beautiful People") was an iconic NYC restaurant. The 77-year-old Lewis was known for taking guests to their seats and chatting with his customers about Hollywood, politics, and a range of other topics six nights a week, often while smoking a cigar. Many of his customers were drawn to the restaurant because they hoped to meet Grandpa Munster, while others were simply in search of a good, reasonably priced meal.

The menu (which was a cutout of the profiled logo) included many Italian-American classics like veal piccata, fettuccine with clams, spaghetti carbonara, chicken parmesan, linguine with pesto, and margherita pizza. It also featured several dishes that were unique to Grampa's Bella Gente, like gamberi alla Gram-pa: Shrimp rolled in prosciutto, dipped in an egg batter and fried, served with cognac sauce, or melanzane bella gente, a dish of eggplant stuffed with ricotta and mozzarella cheeses and prosciutto. Arguably one of the most popular Italian restaurants in the Village, Grampa's Bella Gente was very affordable, with most dishes costing between $8 and $12. The most expensive item on the menu was Gamberi Alla Gram-pa at $13.95. The only question is how Grampa Munster handled all the garlic.