New steak house opening at Luca’s on Church Street. Or it will on February 10th. It sounds terrific, but I wonder: when I was in high school, the rumour was that Luca’s had whores available upstairs. I was too young to investigate such things then, and, when I grew older, never acquired that desire, but it’s always been an object of curiosity. What say you, GPD Folk? Fact or fiction?
[ it was Joe’s C’est Bon’s back then,readers tell me, and now GPD says there really weren’t any whores. Damn]
For What It's Worth 
perhaps u are referring to Joe’s C’est Bon which occupied the site previously
I thought the hookers were upstairs over the Showboat (Delamar)?
The Showboat was famous in its time, Riverside, you’re quite right (another spot I avoided, alas -what the hell was wrong with me?).
When I was growing up in Central Greenwich in the 50’s and 60’s this spot was known as “Joe C’est Bon.” It was always a special treat when my parents took us to that classic steak house. I never heard that rumor Chris related about Luca’s, but there was a similar rumor about a brothel above the Hadden Hall stationary store across from the old train station that specialized in catering to commuters.
Hey, trial lawyer, if your blood pressure’s dropped (and no, I didn’t set you up a few weeks ago), my offer to treat you to lunch still stands). All my best,
Chris
When you were in high school wasn’t the restaurant named Joe’s C’est Bon?
Jeez, my dad owned a share of the Showboat at one time. He never told me about any shenanigans going on upstairs…
Luca’s had to be the worst retaurant in CT. The steaks were like shoe leather. The whole operation was third rate. Greenwich could use a good steakhouse. I hope this new one has nothing to do with Luca’s.
Let’s just say that when I went there once the waitress asked if I would like a T-bone, or a boner. I got both.
Also, The Stanton House was supposed to be a lively place,
before Tog took over.
Is this really a new restaurant, or the same people using a new name?
Joe C’Est Bon owned by Joe Lovetri and then by his son Chick…Ed’s right great restaurant when we were growing up in Greenwich in the 50’s & 60’s. Luca’s closed for renovations and was supposed to reopen in early January. Luca got his start in the local restaurant business at Manero’s as did his brother of Stamford’s Giovanni’s fame. Now Haddon Hall owned by Sam Stein was actually called the Greenwich Cigar Store. Haddon Hall was a brand of cigars they sold (Sorry b’out that Krumeich but alot of people thought it was the name of the store). Now for the dirt, no to over Lucas, no to over Haddon Hall……….did somebody mention The Showboat 🙂
Dang it, GPD, you’ve just ruined my favorite childhood rumour!
Greg, is your dad still around to provide some stories? Feed them here!
Showboat was still showin’ boats through the 80s.
Also they stopped checking IDs at the bar sometime around 1967, which was not that unusual until the 90s.
Unrelated story not involving hookers. Growing up (80s) a bunch of us from around town found ourselves at Augie’s with great regularity. Eventually had a birthday party for a friend there. Bartender (bump) says “So how old are you pal?”
“Twenty one today,” says my friend.
Laughter ensues. “Jesus you f*ckin’ guys have been comin’ here about five six years already!” Most of the group was still under 21. This presented no problem at all, including for the cop sitting four stools over.
Good times in a different era, not that long away.
I don’t remember that one, but remember that some men used to leave Happy Hour at MacKenzies, use the hooker on Rt 1, near where there’s now a Boston Market, and then show up again, a little less maudlin looking.
Oh yeah, Peeps, that Korean whore house above the chicken store! Do you remember when a Greenwich cop lost his badge and gun when he was performing undercovers work up there? Hee hee hee.
If there were hookers over Luca’s, they probably had braided armpits.
Ah, those were fun times indeed! In the early 80s though, the drinking age was still 18. There was nothing like Augies!! Sometimes we’d hang out at grass island too, and go to parties…oh, the parties!!! Now, as parents, we have to do everything we can to keep our kids on the straight and narrow. The advantage to private schools is that all it takes is a DUI to get kicked out!! It helps….but the kids today still want to do what we did…drink some beer and hang out!
I can remember Joe C’est Bon when it wasn’t much more than a house. Manero’s, Clam Box and Humpty Dumpty were about the extent of our family’s eating out and now they are all gone. Used to be a place in Stamford where we would take a kitchen pot and get it filled up with meatballs and sauce then cook the spagetti at home. Oh and us kid’s favorite Dairy Queen in Cos Cob. Times change.
I don’t remember the cop getting busted for it…just that an undercover operation went on for a little too long. I also remember that before the issue hit the papers, a woman heard the rumors and wasn’t sure whether to believe them. She went to the establishment, which advertised massages and was supposedly a spa. She went and asked how much a massage was. A woman in a robe answered and told her that they didn’t give massages to women.
I miss Manero’s and Clam Box very much. Gorgonzola never tasted as good as in Manero’s and their attached butcher shop was also great.
Happy Hour at the clam box included either free shrimp or clams, and you were served by Jimmy Marr, in his pre-cop years. Back then, he was hotter than a Chippendale dancer.
Another good thing about the Clam Box is that when you ordered steamers, you got a bucket of them. It’s been years since I’ve seen a portion like that.
The idea of getting food to go in your own pot should come back. I’m amazed by how much plastic garbage I generate, and wouldn’t mind having my own bowls or pots filled up when ordering to-go style.
if you purchase two full pages in the silver shield yearbook magazine……you can pretty much do what ever you want