Pete & Sam's

The self-indulgence continues! Check out Kristy's totally different take on our convergence of monkeys.

Pete & Sam's Restaurant
3886 Park Avenue
458-0694

Pete and Sam’s was my favorite restaurant when I was a kid, even though I probably only ate there a handful of times with my parents. Then, as now, there was no kids’ menu—just yummy Italian food. I’ve always been a sucker for a good red sauce. For some reason, though, I haven’t frequented this restaurant as an adult, probably because the location is outside my usual midtown/downtown orbit. The one time we went after having C was for a huge family dinner. One year old at the time, C fell backwards out of his high chair just as the waitress handed me my salad, landing with the back of his head and no other part of his body on the hard floor. We left for the ER without eating. He had only a mild concussion, but perhaps my love for Pete and Sam’s was a little bruised because we hadn’t been back until now.

After rejecting Jasmine as the site of the Monkey Convergence on the grounds that there was nothing there our kids would eat (and not because I don’t like Thai food, ahem), I was happy to agree to Pete and Sam’s. We were seated at a long table that made adult conversation even more difficult than the presence of our consolidated collection of urchins. I checked out the old school décor and the surprising number of very well-groomed, glossy young women (I’m sure I’m not the only one who noticed this, by the way) as we waited to order. I made the foolish mistake of hauling in the baby “bucket” and was rewarded by an instantly awake and wanting to nurse baby. I discovered that my choice of outfit was less nursing-friendly than I thought when I heard RJA mutter “Nice” and looked down to see a little more upper-boob than I’d realized I was showing. Oh well. Mom’s gotta eat, baby’s gotta nurse. Soon I popped GK into the sling and gave her the newly acquired, much dreaded and hideously ugly pacifier, causing Stacey to exclaim “What is that?” and lunge for the notepad we had just been making fun of.

Before long we had ordered and the kids were happily swilling ice water from the little glasses and pitcher that were left on the table. I ordered eggplant parmesan with an Italian salad. One of the great things about this restaurant is the sides. You get two sides with the “specialties,” and the choices include a little pizza. I ordered spaghetti and ravioli as my sides and planned to give S the ravioli since she claimed that was what she wanted. I also ordered a large cheese pizza for the boys, half of which came home with us after I first left it on the table and later left it in the van all night. The food seemed a little slow in coming, so I traveled down to the other end of the table to chat with Andria and Jeff for a bit. Somewhere in there I made at least two trips with S to the bathroom, possibly prompted by my promise that I was NOT taking her after my food came. She has a habit of expressing the need as soon as my food hits the table. That gave me a chance to chat with Stacey, who was hanging out in the bathroom while Satchel sat with the stall door open letting everyone know he had to poop.

Back at the table, the food started to arrive. I enjoyed my salad despite a huge drip of oily dressing falling miraculously through my cleavage and to my belly without hitting cloth or the baby. Eating across a baby in a sling can be tricky, but it’s better than the alternative. My eggplant was weirdly sweet, which is not a quality I enjoy in non-dessert dishes, but the sauce was good on the spaghetti and the ravioli S did not end up eating was surprisingly delicious. Unfortunately, in lieu of eating, she opted to lie on the floor under the table and yell “No Scooby-Doo, your mom eats cat poop!” at Satchel. It must be love. I think her Daddy threatened to take her to the car, but she acted like that was a great idea, so I had to resort to the scary mommy voice to make her cease and desist and get up off the floor. Next time, I’m leaving her in the car. On the way out, a waitress came up to look at the baby and said “Oh, look how sweet she is in there! Is she going to fall out of that thing?” “Yes,” I replied smilingly. “I put her in here and then just walk around waiting for her to fall out on the hard floor. Then I put her right back in.” She looked at me uncertainly for a second before laughing and saying “I didn’t really think she was going to fall out.”

See more Pete & Sam's Monkey Convergence reviews by RJA, Andria and Stacey.