{"id":100023,"date":"2026-01-14T14:24:30","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T14:24:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/100023\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T14:24:30","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T14:24:30","slug":"classic-dining-brooklyn-bridge-memphis-magazine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/100023\/","title":{"rendered":"Classic Dining: Brooklyn Bridge – Memphis magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

My first visit to Brooklyn Bridge Italian Restaurant <\/a>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.<\/p>\n

I thought it was named after the suspension bridge between Manhattan and Brooklyn, New York. But, no, says owner Louis Correale. \u201cBrooklyn Bridge\u201d was named after his mother, the late Bridgette Correale, who was from Brooklyn. \u201cThey used to call her \u2018The Bridge from Brooklyn,\u2019\u201d Louis says.<\/p>\n

Bridgette and her husband, Vincent, opened their first restaurant in Memphis in 1985; Louis says it was her mother\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Louis, who had moved west and was the store manager of Sbarro Pizzeria on the Las Vegas Strip,\u00a0got a phone call from his dad one day. He said, \u201cHey, they want to transfer me to Chicago and I don\u2019t want to leave Memphis. I love Memphis.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

So, Vincent and Bridgette decided to stay here and open a restaurant. After all, Bridgette had dining experience. \u201cShe managed five Mark II restaurants [a regional chain] in northeastern Pennsylvania,\u201d says Louis.<\/p>\n

The Correales first opened \u201cBrooklyn Bridge Italian Eatery\u201d at Covington Pike and Stage Road. Louis soon moved back home to help, along with his brother George and sister Adele.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithin a year,\u201d he says, \u201cthey 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the new location, Bridgette went for the \u201coutdoor Italian-style cafe\u201d look with Cinzano umbrellas at each table. His dad, who did the ordering, was \u201cthe brains behind the operation.\u201d And his mother ran the front-of-house.<\/p>\n

The food was prepared from passed-down family recipes. Louis remembers, \u201cWe used to come in the morning, do prep, and serve lunch. And then we\u2019d go fall asleep in our car for a couple of hours and come back and serve dinner.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vincent retired last summer, so Louis and his wife, Angela, and their three children, Vincent Jr., Anthony, and Dominic, are now the owners.<\/p>\n

He met his wife, Angela (n\u00e9e 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.<\/p>\n

The restaurant was a hit right away, Louis says, even among transplanted New Yorkers. \u201cThey 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was that way with the family, too. \u201cUntil she got mad at you,\u201d he says. \u201cThen you had to duck because something was flying in your direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bridgette, who had earlier worked for the Dallas Post in Pennsylvania, began doing Brooklyn Bridge commercials for Memphis radio stations. \u201cShe was well-known for her accent,\u201d Angela says. \u201cShe never lost her New York accent.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also authored two cookbooks: Eat and Laugh with the Correales of the Brooklyn Bridge Italian Restaurant and Did You Eat?<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0A framed violin from a concert featuring \u201cThe Three Tenors\u201d (Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, and Jose Carreras) hangs on one wall.<\/p>\n

Servers dash out of the kitchen carrying trays with plates of lasagna, the restaurant\u2019s most popular dish, and numerous other items from the extensive menu.<\/p>\n

The restaurant expanded in the mid \u201990s; in 1997, they added their popular \u201cGood Fellas Lounge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some Brooklyn Bridge employees, including Chef Barry Sidie, have worked at the restaurant for decades, Louis says.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Bridgette died in 2012, and Louis remembers that \u201cover a thousand people were at her funeral.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her spirit lives on. In addition to adding more cocktails and menu items, the Correales have big plans for Brooklyn Bridge. \u201cWe\u2019re going to renovate, expand the bar, and redo both dining rooms,\u201d says Louis. \u201cJust a freshen-up with an updated look. But still keeping that Tuscan feel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brooklyn Bridge Italian Restaurant<\/a>, 1779 Kirby Parkway, Suite 5<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"My first visit to Brooklyn Bridge Italian Restaurant was probably around the time it moved to its second…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100024,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,45925,1070,289,45343,45926,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-100023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-classic-dining","tag-food","tag-food-drink","tag-january-2026","tag-michael-donahue","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}