By Leslie Albrecht
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
UPPER WEST SIDE — Who says birthdays have to be celebrated with cake?
Carmine's marked its 20th anniversary on the Upper West Side with eggplant parmigiana on Tuesday, serving up free plates of the cheese-laden treat on the sidewalk outside its West 90th Street and Broadway location.
An hour into the celebration, chefs had handed out 198 servings, with some takers coming back for seconds.
"Happy Birthday! Twenty years is a long time for a restaurant in New York City," passerby Scott Coppola told the Carmine's chefs as he walked past.
Coppola sampled the free eggplant and gave it a thumbs up.
"I love good food and I know how to make good food, and this is actually amazing," Coppola said. "My Italian relatives in Philly would be proud of this."
Carmine's prepares its eggplant parmigiana with thinly sliced eggplant dipped in a seasoned flour and egg mixture, then pan fried in a blend of canola and olive oil. The eggplant is layered in cheese and marinara sauce with fresh parsley and basil, said Glenn Rolnick, director of culinary operations for Carmine's.
Carmine's has long been a neighborhood favorite because it's family-friendly and well-suited to big groups. Portions come in family size and are meant to be shared. But opening on the Upper West Side was a gamble back in 1990, said Gary Bologna, chief executive officer of the A La Carte Group, which operates Carmine's.
The Upper West Side was more of a working class neighborhood then, and was less gentrified than it is today, Bologna said. The country was the midst of a recession and it was unusual to open such a large family-style Italian restaurant then, Bologna said. Carmine's is a sprawling operation with 325 seats.
"It was a roll of the dice for sure," Bologna said.
The restaurant succeeded, and then some. Since opening its first location on the Upper West Side, Carmine's has expanded to Atlantic City, the Bahamas and Washington, D.C.
Stephen Snowder, a 26-year-old political science student at Columbia who recently moved to New York, stopped to taste Carmine's birthday dish and said the eggplant parmigiana "tasted great."
"I guess that's a cool thing about New York," Snowder said. "People are always trying to give you stuff (on the street), and sometimes it's actually good."
