food type southern italian street address 455 east 114th street at pleasant avenue east harlem manhattan city new york city state new york postal code zip 10029 country united states website raos.com rao s is a southern italian restaurant founded in 1896 and located at 455 east 114th street on the corner of pleasant avenue in east harlem new york city with sister restaurants in los angeles and las vegas nevada . 1 2 contents 1 history 2 in media 2.1 film 2.2 music 2.3 television 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit the restaurant was started in 1896 by charles rao who moved with his parents from italy to the united states . he bought a small shop in italian harlem once a very large italian american community and ran the restaurant until his death in 1909 . louis rao took over the business . he was seen by many as a very suave man . he had his hair cut at the waldorf astoria hotel and wore many fancy suits . current co owner frank pellegrino describes those days as the days of big cadillacs and usually convertibles . he was much more conservative in behavior and looks and refined the cuisine into a simpler italian menu with the help of aunt jake . after vincent rao s death in 1999 the restaurant was taken over by frank pellegrino anna pellegrino rao s nephew and ronald straci another close relative . anna pellegrino rao refined the menu even more with the help of vincent and she is the source of the menu s identity today . citation needed on december 6 2006 rao s opened a second restaurant in las vegas under executive chef carla pellegrino with two ten table rooms and additional seating available on an outdoor garden patio . 3 in early 2009 rao s in las vegas opened a bocce bar outside and began offering bocce lessons and cocktails there . 4 on july 25 2013 frank pellegrino jr. announced on late night with jimmy fallon that rao s will open in hollywood soon . it has since been opened . citation needed rao s now sells products in gourmet markets and supermarkets . products include pasta sauces as well as olive oil . 5 though small italian harlem culture is still kept alive by rao s and the giglio society of east harlem . every year on the second weekend of august the feast of our lady of mount carmel and the dancing of the giglio is performed while thousands of visitors and onlookers celebrate the once largest italian community in new york city . citation needed the new york post describes the restaurant as one of the hardest places to get into in the city . 6 in media edit film edit in the movie the wolf of wall street which premiered in december 2013 leonardo dicaprio is seen eating dinner in rao s restaurant . woody allen and mia farrow would regularly eat at rao s in the 1980s . mrs. rao inspired the character tina vitale in his 1984 film broadway danny rose . music edit in 2009 jay z shot the music video for d.o.a. death of autotune at rao s. citation needed television edit rao s was the basis for raimondo s a fictional restaurant featured as the site of a murder in the law & order episode everybody loves raimondo s. the owner of the fictional restaurant was played by actor ray abruzzo who later co starred with pellegrino on the sopranos . citation needed on top chef all stars season 8 episode 8 an elimination challenge required the chefs to cook a three course family style italian meal at rao s restaurant for the judges and rao s owners and staff . see also edit list of italian restaurants references edit history of rao s . raos.com . rao s manhattan restaurant menus and reviews . zagat . retrieved 2013 02 19 . caesers palace rao s . harrahs.com . retrieved 2013 02 19 . shindler merrill may 28 2009 . a rao s ing tale . zagat.com . rao s specialty foods inc. premium pasta sauces pasta oil vinegars marinades and gifts . raos.com . 2004 03 23 . retrieved 2013 02 19 . landman beth 22 november 2015 . inside the restaurant that s the hardest reservation in town . new york post . retrieved 27 november 2015 . external links edit official website so you wan na get into rao s . so you wan na . murder at rao s . new york magazine . coordinates 40 47 38.16 n 73 56 3.2 w 40.7939333 n 73.934222 w 40.7939333 ; 73.934222 retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title rao % 27s & oldid 738455248 categories restaurants in manhattanrestaurants established in 1896italian american culture in new york cityitalian restaurantseast harlemhidden categories all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from december 2014coordinates on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 9 september 2016 at 01 54 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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