Capone’s serving up food and music for two decades

PEABODY – Capone’s restaurant and lounge has been serving up Italian-American food with a side of music for the past 20 years, and with the recent renovation of the dining and lounge areas, the family-owned business on Summit Street in Peabody is digging in for the long haul.Chris Pescione, whose father, Pat Pescione, and stepmother, Judy, started the restaurant in 1993, is the general manager. He grew up in the business and along with stepbrother John Bisson, tends to the day-to-day operations.Pescione said prior to opening Capone’s, the family had restaurants in Malden and Everett in the late 1980s and 1990s.”When we took it over, it was Yesterday’s restaurant. They weren’t really doing music at the time. They had turned it into a total restaurant,” Pescione said. “We started with just food, but went back to music.”Pescione said the restaurant features classic Italian dishes like chicken parmesan and chicken marsala, but it also include steaks, baked haddock and baked scallops.”As time has gone on we’ve added salads, sandwiches, Paninis and higher-end burgers, but we always keep the core classic items and add some new things in,” he said.Pescione said the remodeled “Speakeasy” lounge has a little more of a club feel and is a little more geared to the night life, while the restaurant has kept its 1920s, prohibition theme, although it’s much more modern.Live music has always been a big part of the Capone’s experience and like the menu, it has evolved to reflect the tastes of its audience. Pescione said in the early years the music tended to be from the 60s and 70s, but now it’s more the 80s and 90s.”The bands have changed over the years,” he said. “We’re catering to the next wave of people.”With its balcony, large lounge area and dance floor, Capone’s can easily accommodate a six or seven-piece band on stage.”We keep the great bands we have and we bring in the top entertainment that’s available,” Pescione said. “You have to put a good band out on stage, just like you have to put good food on the plate.”Pescione said weathering the recession has been a struggle, but he’s optimistic that things are starting to improve.”The challenges are huge for an independent restaurant,” Pescione said, explaining that chain restaurants tend to have a lot more resources at their disposal to promote their business.The recession, plus the addition of new restaurants fighting for the same dollar, have made it necessary to adapt to survive. Pescione said Capone’s used to get a big Friday night dinner crowd fueled by workers leaving the businesses in Centennial Park, but that dropped off as businesses folded. The lunch crowd also took a hit, but on the up side, the number of functions has gone up.”We book a lot of functions,” Pescione said. “It goes down in one area and up in another.”The other big change is the use of social media, like Facebook, to promote business and reward customers for their loyalty.Pescione, who started working in his family’s restaurants as a teenager, said independent restaurants offer some big pluses.”I think the quality is better,” he said. “Nothing against chains, but we make everything fresh. Our soups are homemade, our sauces are homemade. We make our cutlets by hand. I think there is much more of an emphasis on that. We’re also home style, with big portions of food. A lot of dishes can last two meals.”Pescione said independent restaurants also have the ability to change things on the fly. They can fix things that don’t work, add a new special or customize a dish for an individual without having to go through a corporation.Although he obviously wants people to come to Capone’s, Pescione encouraged customers to give all independent restaurants a good look.”The best quality you’re going to get is at a good, independent restaurant,” he said.Joyce Erekson can be reached at [email protected].