Wall Street hangout that became a post-9/11 destination is open again after major revamp

When the Wall Street elite needed a place to regroup after the devastation of 9/11, they didn’t head to a private hotel suite or some nondescript office building.Instead, many gathered at a restaurant owned by a family of Italian immigrants.San Pietro is a cozy, elegant eatery on East 54th Street just off Madison Avenue that has long served as a sort of demilitarized zone for bankers and CEOs.

It’s a place where brutal competitors break bread, do deals and find common ground as they did following the terrorist attacks.Much has happened in Gotham over the past quarter century: A succession of mayors, a rebuilding of downtown Manhattan, a financial crisis, Covid lockdowns and Donald Trump, a local real estate developer moving into the White House.One thing that hasn’t changed is San Pietro.On any given lunch hour, you can see Wall Street honchos like BlackRock’s Larry Fink dining with John Mack, the legendary former CEO of Morgan Stanley.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon still dines there as does Bank of America’s CEO Brian Moynihan.And don’t be surprised if you find members of the Trump family there, including the president himself, sharing a table along with the city’s top real estate titans.Run by a duo of brothers from southern Italy, Gerardo and Cosimo Bruno, the place still serves as a testament to their tenacity, creativity and the amazing food that comes out of their kitchen. “We’ve been here for more than 30 years,” Gerardo Bruno tells me.“It hasn’t been easy but thank God for our loyal customers.

They stayed with us through it all.”What keeps customers coming back is the food.It’s not cheap, mind you (this is Midtown Manhattan, after all).

But Bruno’s menu still features the best of the healthy Mediterranean diet, the food they grew up eating in a blue zone of the Italian boot where people live to become centenarians.Everything from fresh Branzino to homemade pastas, soups, and rabbit – one of my favorites.You can get a go...