BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. (WLOX) – A long-awaited authentic Italian restaurant is now open in Old Town Bay St. Louis, adding to the regrowth of restaurants post-Katrina.
While this may be a new dining option on the Coast, the owners are not new to the restaurant industry in the Bay.
Anthony’s Ristorante opened to customers Saturday night, offering Italian cuisine from scratch, something owner Jolynne Trapani says the Coast needs.
Trapani has been in the restaurant scene for more than 30 years, owning Trapani’s Eatery in Bay St. Louis.
She says after offering only a couple of Italian courses on that menu, her family saw a need to expand.
“All of our customers for years and years have come in and asked us to please bring on some more Italian cuisine, and we’ve always told them we’re not going to change our concept,” Trapani said. “So, my son has decided to get into the industry and he went to culinary school. We were going to open up another Trapani’s and decided that downtown Bay St. Louis and the Coast is really missing an authentic Italian restaurant.”
Since announcing the upscale restaurant in March, this has been a much-anticipated opening.
The first customer of Anthony’s Ristorante, Lou Mouhot, even drove in from Baton Rouge, ready to get a taste of what’s offered.
“We’ve been coming to Bay St. Louis, and when we heard they were opening an Italian restaurant, we were so excited. We’ve been calling for several weeks now, trying to get reservations. They were booked out for tonight. So, today we came by here and they said the bar was open and non-reservation and be here at 4 o’clock. So, here we are at 3:58,” Mouhot said.
Hurricane Katrina destroyed restaurants along the waterfront in Bay St. Louis. 20 years later, Trapani says the Bay’s restaurant business is growing back better than before.
“We’re one of the first group-up businesses back with Trapani’s and we saw the growth from Katrina. It’s really been exciting to see everything else around it and around our harbor and our downtown pop-up,” Trapani says. “It’s just nice to offer one more cuisine to our downtown area to help with the regrowth. It can never be the same but we know that now it can be better.”
The two-story restaurant features pieces straight from Italy, from the classic flooring all the way up to the chandeliers. Trapani says the goal is to transport customers from the Coast straight to Italy.
The restaurant is open Wednesday through Sunday from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
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Dining and Cooking