On the Rocks portrays the rise and fall of McKees Rocks' Primadonna Restaurant

Preceding the text of On the Rocks: The Primadonna Story are some unconventional blurbs, touching off what the authors call “an unusual book.”

Before the book itself is mentioned, there are testimonies about its subject, the Primadonna Restaurant, with late actor Danny Aiello (Oscar-nominated for Do the Right Thing), Steelers running back Rocky Bleier, and forensic pathologist Cyril Wecht among those singing the restaurant and its proprietor’s praises.

“This meal rivals the best restaurants in New York City,” Aiello wrote.

“When you walked in, you felt like you were walking into their home and sitting down at their dining room table,” says Pa. State Rep. Anita Astorino Kulik.

The Primadonna Restaurant was a fixture in McKees Rocks — often called “The Rocks” along with Stowe Township — known for its both high-end and “peasant Italian food,” as the book describes it, including red sauce, meatballs, gnocchi, and a signature fried zucchini, which Pittsburgh City Paper once reviewed as “simply spectacular … airy, delicate puffs of crisp seasoned breading reminiscent — in texture, not taste — of Indian papadam bread.”

Primadonna’s was owned and operated by restauranter Joseph Costanzo Jr. from 1986 to 2002. In that 17-year run under Costanzo Jr.’s management, it was repeatedly voted the best Italian restaurant in Pittsburgh, winning accolades from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh Magazine, and ultimately a Distinguished Restaurants of North America (DiRōNA) Award, considered one of the most prestigious culinary honors (and also held by The Carlton Restaurant in Downtown Pittsburgh).

More than 20 years later, Costanzo’s journey is now chronicled in a memoir written by Maria Costanzo Palmer, his daughter. Palmer, who grew up in, and eventually worked at, the Primadonna tending bar, began her own 17-year journey with the book, originally starting the story in 2007. But it wasn’t until 2016 when — in collaboration with her friend and former English teacher, Ruthie (Dines) Robbins — she began experimenting with writing in her father’s voice.

“It not only worked, but the book became fun to write because of Joe’s colorful personality,” Palmer reflects in the introduction.

Though Costanzo gave his blessing and “shared his recollections and memorabilia throughout the writing process," what results in On the Rocks is not an oral history or as-told-to, but a story written in his “first-person narrative voice” with Palmer and Robbins as co-authors.

“Have you ever thought about what story you might tell about yourself if you had the chance?” the book begins.

Following a book launch at Heinz History Center (where the book is still for sale), authors Palmer and Robbins, and former Primadonna restaurant owner Joe Costanzo Jr., return to Pittsburgh for “a night of cooking, dinner, and discussion” on Sat., Jan. 20 at High Street Studios. The “Cook N’ Book” event will teach participants how to make gnocchi with marinara sauce, followed by a Q&A about On the Rocks (pre-paid reservations are required).

At first glance, the book reads like a traditional memoir, opening in the late 1980s with Costanzo Jr. as a young father working as a mail carrier for the U.S. Postal Service. Though the job brings a steady income, Costanzo dreams of “transforming” the service into a brand, even redesigning USPS mascot Zippy in his off hours.

“The ‘problem’ with the job was not the job, but my own tendency to think big. Really big,” Palmer and Robbins write as Costanzo. Dining at Fusco’s, an Italian restaurant described as “struggling to keep afloat,” the chef suggests Costanzo and his wife Donna (for whom Primadonna’s is named) buy and run the place.

Located in the middle of McKees Rocks, the book provides a brief history of the town, from its pre and post-World War II popularity — with churches, social clubs, a bingo hall, and a booming business district — to its period of decline as steel, iron, and railroad industries restructure and many decamp for Pittsburgh and other suburbs.

“A few businesses hung on, but, as the vacancies left gaps in families’ needs, McKees Rocks was no longer a destination for anyone but the locals,” Palmer writes, later adding, “After-hours bars, strip clubs, and Mancini’s Bread were what the Rocks were known for.”

Nonetheless, Costanzo — a Greenfield native and son of the owner of Le Mardi Gras lounge in Shadyside — envisions an upscale Italian restaurant in the Rocks.

“When you are 32 years old, you take chances and don’t mull over possible consequences,” Palmer’s Costanzo says. “My confidence was unwavering.”

In detailing the restaurant’s rise, the book comes with a fair amount of nostalgia. Costanzo’s original kitchen staff includes his mother and a cousin recently immigrated from Italy, and he imagines himself as Sam Malone from Cheers or Isaac Washington from The Love Boat. Costanzo works at all hours, sleeps in booths, and glad-hands to promote the restaurant in a time before social media.

“Although The Primadonna [became] a destination restaurant, customers would not have been able to use a GPS to get there,” Palmer writes in On the Rocks’ introduction. “The beauty of the story is that [it] flourished without the help of TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, cell phone pics, influencers, viral videos, pop-up ads, or even Yelp reviews … Joe’s success came from patiently and ceaselessly building relationships, one at a time.”

At its height, the Primadonna had a two-hour wait, with a line wrapping around the block. It served actress Jamie Lee Curtis, game show host Pat Sajak, and heavyweight champion Joe Frazier — even doing a takeout order for Frank Sinatra. It’s also portrayed as continuing to evolve with the times — when Sleepless in Seattle became a hit rom-com in 1993, Costanzo adds tiramisu to the menu — and On the Rocks is replete newspaper clippings, lists, and call sheets, functioning as its own kind of time capsule and archive.

But the story doesn’t end with nostalgia; Costanzo parlays his success into a costly bid for Allegheny County Commissioner in 1994. Losing the primary election begins a tumultuous period where he falls under federal investigation for tax evasion, in the end serving a prison sentence and selling the restaurant, which closed permanently in 2011.

“Words cannot capture the wild velocity of the Primadonna experience,” Palmer and Robbins write, ultimately striking a bittersweet note. “I can barely think about it without getting emotional, but, as Robert Frost wrote, ‘nothing gold can stay.’”