CARBONDALE, Pa. — Pierre Mancuso's grandfather opened Pettinato's Restaurant in Carbondale 100 years ago.
For the last 98 of those years, the restaurant has not had a takeout menu, but since March of 2020, this place has transformed into a takeout-only operation.
Pierre is the chef and the co-owner and runs the place with his wife, Jennifer.
"We literally had to start from scratch. We sat down, created our takeout menu, and thankfully with social media, we got that menu out there," Jennifer Mancuso said.
Two years later, they have it down to a science.
"We basically take eight orders every 15 minutes."
Now they're gearing up for a busy night of Valentine's Day orders.
"We have quite a few orders, yes we do," Pierre Mancuso said. "It just started coming in last week and continued every day, so we have a lot."
A special occasion calls for a special menu–a four-course dinner for two or a family meal for four.
One of the most popular dishes is the eggplant parmesan which takes Pierre hours to prepare. He calls it a labor of love.
"It's a lot of work to make, but you taste it, it's well worth it."
And the takeout business has been so busy that Pierre and Jennifer aren't even able to reopen the dining room yet. They're figuring out a way to manage both and waiting for the COVID numbers to continue going down.
The customers aren't complaining.
"People have loved it," Jennifer said. "I think a lot of people at the beginning of the pandemic put a lot of money into their homes and they're really enjoying spending time at home. And I think they just like the idea that you order your favorites, pick it up, Pierre delivers it right out to their car, so we make it very easy."
If cooking isn't the "labor of love" you choose this Valentine's Day, Pierre and Jennifer have got you covered.
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