Goodbye Carrabba's

A sent me some crazy news this afternoon. The Carrabba's restaurant on Staten Island, which isn't that far from my parents' place and which we frequent on about 90% of our visits there, closed suddenly on Sunday morning. According to news sources, the staff was called in Sunday morning and told the restaurant was closing and they were out of a job. That really sucks for the staff, especially at the holidays. The chain itself isn't gone, but since the closest restaurant is now somewhere in Jersey, it's highly unlikely we'll be going there anytime soon. So... goodbye Carrabba's. I still can't believe, after all these years of going there pretty regularly, that it's just gone. We had no idea our visit over Thanksgiving would be our last.

We will miss... the delicious bread and the special blend of herbs that came with it.


Sometimes they gave full loaves and sometimes halves, but however it arrived, we usually ate a few servings of it. Multiple plates of bread and herbs. The herbs in the olive oil are the perfect accompaniment for bread, and we will miss that.

We will miss... the lentil and sausage soup (which, luckily, was the soup of the day when we went last time), the refreshing salads, and the free order of calamari that came from the foursquare loyalty special (that marinara sauce was really, really good).


We will miss... our favorite entrees.


Looking at this collage, I realize that the last dinner we had there with my parents was a perfect representation of our meals there. My dad almost always gets the linguine pescatore, my mom almost always gets the chicken gratella/grilled chicken with two vegetable sides, A got the tagliarini picchi pacchiu (which was the very first thing I tried there), and I got the classics plate, which had chicken parmesan (another favorite) and lasagna (the first thing A ate there).

I'm still in disbelief that the restaurant is closed. I figured we would be back there the next time we went back, but apparently it's already boarded up for its transition to Bonefish Grill. I feel really bad for the staff. Not the holiday gift anyone wants. Goodbye Carrabba's.