Secrets of Rosanna Scotto’s NYC eatery: Hillary Clinton’s custom toilet, Whitney Houston’s off-menu order and more
Fresco by Scotto — the bustling Midtown Manhattan eatery serving massive meatballs and zesty zucchini chips – has been frequented by presidents, pop stars and movie stars of the highest caliber.
The restaurant’s co-owner, Rosanna Scotto, took Page Six on an exclusive tour of the storied haunt and reminisced over her fondest celebrity moments from the past 30 years – including Hillary Clinton’s special toilet demands and Jay-Z’s cognac-infused fête.
“We have been so fortunate to have a lot of VIPs who come to Fresco by Scotto. And if I had to put my finger on why they feel comfortable here, it’s because we make them feel comfortable here,” Scotto recently told us.
The heart of the establishment is the versatile main dining room, which hosts business lunches and casual brunches by day and lively dinner parties with DJs, dim lighting and bottle parades by night.
The modern and inviting space — where A-list singers like Selena Gomez and Nick Jonas have chowed down on mouthwatering thin-crust margherita pizza and pasta bolognese — is adorned with custom landscape paintings by Greg Drasler.
Running point at the host stand is Scotto’s daughter and business partner, Jenna Ruggiero, who told Page Six that she offers a “modern, edgy” point of view while her mom contributes “30 years of tradition and classic Italian food.”
The Emmy-winning news anchor and Ruggiero run the operation with Rosanna’s mom, Marion Scotto, who is affectionately known by regulars as “Mama Scotto.”
Speaking with Page Six, Rosanna and Ruggiero reflected on everything from the time Chris Rock and Kevin Hart had a “sit-down” at their restaurant post-Oscars slap to the “epic” night that Sylvester Stallone dined at Fresco by Scotto with his family.
“We always do something special for Sly, but on this one occasion he came for dinner with his daughters and we were feeling in a festive mood that night,” Ruggiero said.
The restaurant ended up surprising the actor by playing the theme song from his famous ”Rocky” film, while delivering a massive cannoli to his table.
“It was pretty special,” Ruggiero said with a smile.
We’re told many Washington power players “on both sides of the aisle” have visited the beloved joint over the years. President Joe Biden sat in the back of the dining room for some private time with his wife, Jill, while former President Donald Trump sat in the front and wanted all his meat cooked “well-done.”
“[Hillary Clinton] came in here once for a fundraiser and her people told us, ‘When she comes in here, she needs to come in a separate entrance and she needs her own bathroom,’” Rosanna recalled, noting that the only private restroom on the premises was the staff bathroom downstairs.
“We re-painted it, we got new toilet seats, we put new paper out, we freshened everything up,” Rosanna said, only to reveal, “She never used it [at the time].”
When Clinton returned for dinner about a year ago, Rosanna confronted the former Secretary of State about never using her custom-made lavatory.
“We said, ‘By the way, we did a whole toilet for you that you never used that time for the fundraiser,'” Rosanna said, to which Clinton replied, “Can I use it now?”
The “Good Day New York” co-host said that years prior, Hillary’s husband, Bill Clinton, dined al fresco in their Capri-inspired outdoor dining area designed by Larry Scott of Lawrence Scott Events.
“Former President Bill Clinton, when he came to Fresco, he wanted to sit outside,” Rosanna said, joking that she almost tipped off the press but ultimately decided to let him eat in peace.
“The next thing you know, we see this man walking down the block with hundreds of people following him like the Pied Piper,” Rosanna said. “It was Bill Clinton. He had gone to do an interview at 30 Rock and then he decided to walk to Fresco and he had quite an entourage following him.”
The bespoke bistro-style bar has also been the backdrop of some star-studded moments.
“We’ve had some fun times at the bar here,” Rosanna said, sharing that actor Bryan Cranston came in with his wife for dinner one night and ended up hopping behind the bar to mix up some Dos Hombres mezcal cocktails for some very lucky patrons.
“It was great. Everybody went crazy in the bar,” Rosanna said, adding that the “Breaking Bad” star “loved it” and “ate it up.”
The most elite gatherings transpire in the closed-off private dining room tucked away on the upper level of the restaurant.
Dubbed “The Tuscan Room,” the concealed dining setup can be rearranged for large supper soirées or intimate date nights and is decorated with leafy lemon vines for a Florentine-style ambiance.
“If these walls could talk,” Rosanna joked of the exclusive area. “A lot of famous faces have actually requested this room.”
Among them were Jay-Z and some of his Roc Nation executives who once partied over cognac and endless amounts of Italian cuisine.
“He wined and dined on our meatballs, our potato chips, our pastas, he went to town,” Rosanna dished.
The news anchor remembered the rapper loving the music playing in the VIP room that night — so much so that Jay-Z asked for a copy of the restaurant’s mix tape.
Rosanna also spilled some tea about an anonymous couple who secretly met up in the private dining room for a romantic dinner away from the paparazzi.
“To this day, nobody knows that they came here and had dinner,” she said, sharing that the initials of the pair are “J.F. and K.H.”
Rosanna described their clandestine evening, saying the lovebirds had “the whole room” and “one little table.”
“Very romantic, lights low, they ate beautifully, went out a back way,” she said.
Rosanna’s dedicated team has grown accustomed to taking special requests from their high-class clientele — whether it’s adhering to strict diet plans or cooking up new recipes that aren’t listed on the menu.
“I remember Whitney Houston, God rest her soul, when she used to come in, she loved Fettuccine Alfredo,” Rosanna said. “Now we never had that on the menu.”
Regardless, the “I Will Always Love You” singer would come in every Saturday night with her then-husband, Bobby Brown, and ask for the creamy spaghetti dish.
“Our chef, he perfected it,” Rosanna shared. “[Houston] yearned for it, she craved it, and we gave it to her every Saturday night. She was actually a lot of fun to have into the restaurant.”
Rosanna also admitted to accommodating some wild requests when Bravolebrities come by for a bite.
“We’ve had some of those ‘Housewives.’ And those ‘Housewives’ can be kind of crazy,” Rosanna said.
Teresa Giudice, Melissa Gorga, Luann De Lesseps, Ramona Singer and Erin Lichy are just some of the Bravo stars to eat at the hot spot.
“The silliest thing, you know, sometimes they have a little bit too much of this,” Rosanna said, holding up a wine glass. “Or they pretend they’re not drinking and we have to hide the alcohol so it looks like they’re having just water.”
After three glamorous decades, Rosanna believes celebrities keep coming back because Fresco By Scotto treats everyone like they’re part of the family.
“I think that they like the friendliness of it,” Rosanna mused. “The pedestrian quality that we have here — and the warmth.”
