Syracuse, N.Y. — For more than 40 years, Joey’s Italian Restaurant has been a go-to spot for veal parm, fresh pasta and long dinners under the glow of table lamps at Carrier Circle. This week, the Syracuse restaurant opens a new chapter, literally next door to the old building.
It’s a space owner Bill Cleary says “every human being in Central New York should come in and see.”
The new 6,500-square-foot Joey’s isn’t just bigger. It’s flashier, brighter and designed to draw in a younger crowd while keeping the loyalists happy. You’ll still find Joey DeCuffa’s recipes, the jarred sauces made in Central New York and longtime staffers. But now you’ll also find a bar twice the size, with 12 draft beers and 100,000 soft LED lights built into the bartop, which glows 34 feet below a wooden dome.
Walk into the main dining room, and your eyes immediately land on a 40-year-old glazed ceramic bust of David, a sculpture salvaged from an estate in Florida. Step into the Goombah Room, the only space with carpet (“The old Italians like carpet,” Cleary said.), and admire the stained-glass window and wrought-iron gate brought over from the old restaurant…