My first visit to Brooklyn Bridge Italian Restaurant was probably around the time it moved to its second location at Kirby and Poplar in the late 1980s. But it would take nearly 40 more years for me to learn the real meaning of the name.

I thought it was named after the suspension bridge between Manhattan and Brooklyn, New York. But, no, says owner Louis Correale. “Brooklyn Bridge” was named after his mother, the late Bridgette Correale, who was from Brooklyn. “They used to call her ‘The Bridge from Brooklyn,’” Louis says.

Bridgette and her husband, Vincent, opened their first restaurant in Memphis in 1985; Louis says it was her mother’s dream. His parents had moved here from the little town of Dallas, Pennsylvania, after his father was offered a job with Donruss, a company best known for making Super Bubble chewing gum.

Louis, who had moved west and was the store manager of Sbarro Pizzeria on the Las Vegas Strip, got a phone call from his dad one day. He said, “Hey, they want to transfer me to Chicago and I don’t want to leave Memphis. I love Memphis.’”

I remember Bridgette fondly from my visits to the restaurant or from calling her on the phone for news when I was a reporter. I still recall her sense of humor, her down-to-earth personality, and her strong Brooklyn accent.

So, Vincent and Bridgette decided to stay here and open a restaurant. After all, Bridgette had dining experience. “She managed five Mark II restaurants [a regional chain] in northeastern Pennsylvania,” says Louis.

The Correales first opened “Brooklyn Bridge Italian Eatery” at Covington Pike and Stage Road. Louis soon moved back home to help, along with his brother George and sister Adele.

“Within a year,” he says, “they found the East Memphis location, where we are now. It was closer to home, and they just felt it was going to be a great area, with offices all around.”

For the new location, Bridgette went for the “outdoor Italian-style cafe” look with Cinzano umbrellas at each table. His dad, who did the ordering, was “the brains behind the operation.” And his mother ran the front-of-house.

The food was prepared from passed-down family recipes. Louis remembers, “We used to come in the morning, do prep, and serve lunch. And then we’d go fall asleep in our car for a couple of hours and come back and serve dinner.”

Vincent retired last summer, so Louis and his wife, Angela, and their three children, Vincent Jr., Anthony, and Dominic, are now the owners.

He met his wife, Angela (née Frulla), at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church. She went to work as a server at Brooklyn Bridge in 1987, and they married two years later.

The restaurant was a hit right away, Louis says, even among transplanted New Yorkers. “They found a restaurant that was authentic. It really and truly was the closest thing to Italy that they had in Memphis. And they loved my mother. Everybody loved how she would greet guests at the door. Always a big hug and a smile.”

She was that way with the family, too. “Until she got mad at you,” he says. “Then you had to duck because something was flying in your direction.”

Bridgette, who had earlier worked for the Dallas Post in Pennsylvania, began doing Brooklyn Bridge commercials for Memphis radio stations. “She was well-known for her accent,” Angela says. “She never lost her New York accent.”

She also authored two cookbooks: Eat and Laugh with the Correales of the Brooklyn Bridge Italian Restaurant and Did You Eat?

I remember Bridgette fondly from my visits to the restaurant or from calling her on the phone for news when I was a reporter. I still recall her sense of humor, her down-to-earth personality, and her strong Brooklyn accent.

Brooklyn Bridge is now a staple at Poplar Avenue and Kirby Parkway. The interior features latticed wood ceilings with bunches of artificial grapes hanging down. Family photos, murals, and stained-glass windows are sprinkled about. A framed violin from a concert featuring “The Three Tenors” (Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, and Jose Carreras) hangs on one wall.

Servers dash out of the kitchen carrying trays with plates of lasagna, the restaurant’s most popular dish, and numerous other items from the extensive menu.

The restaurant expanded in the mid ’90s; in 1997, they added their popular “Good Fellas Lounge.”

Some Brooklyn Bridge employees, including Chef Barry Sidie, have worked at the restaurant for decades, Louis says.

Louis left the restaurant in 1997 to pursue other careers, but returned after his father retired in August 2025. In the meantime, he and his wife had opened Correale Builders and Realtors. He had also joined the Germantown Fire Department, where he rose to the rank of battalion chief before retiring in 2018.

Bridgette died in 2012, and Louis remembers that “over a thousand people were at her funeral.”

Her spirit lives on. In addition to adding more cocktails and menu items, the Correales have big plans for Brooklyn Bridge. “We’re going to renovate, expand the bar, and redo both dining rooms,” says Louis. “Just a freshen-up with an updated look. But still keeping that Tuscan feel.”

Brooklyn Bridge Italian Restaurant, 1779 Kirby Parkway, Suite 5