‘’IN 1973 MY OLDER BROTHER AND I WERE AT GUS’S SODA SHOP IN SUMMIT, NJ. THE OWNER, GUS, WAS ABOUT 90 YEARS OLD. ONE AFTERNOON, HE TOLD US HE WAS OFFICIALLY DONE, BUT DIDN’T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH THE SHOP. WE TOLD HIM WE WOULD BUY IT. HE GLANCED AT OUR LONG HAIR AND LEATHER JACKETS AND ASKED HOW WE WERE GOING TO DO THAT. WE OFFERED $500 CASH. HE ACCEPTED. WE DIDN’T HAVE $500. HE ASKED WHAT WE DID HAVE. MY BROTHER TOLD HIM HE HAD A LUDWIG DRUM SET. DEAL. WE TRADED IN THE DRUM SET AND TURNED THE SODA SHOP INTO A LUNCHEONETTE. WE NAMED IT BEGGARS BANQUET. THAT MARKED THE START OF A 50 YEAR CAREER THAT HAS INCLUDED 6 RESTAURANTS. BEGGARS BANQUET WAS MY FIRST RESTAURANT, SO WE HAVE COME FIRST CIRCLE. WE’RE HAPPY TO BE HERE AND I HOPE YOU ENJOY THE FOOD. MENUS CHANGED A BIT SINCE THE SODA SHOP. ‘’
-CHEF MIKE
“New Jersey native chef and New Orleans adoptee Mike Dilonno and his team have created a friendly, funky environment at Beggars Banquet, named in homage to the Rolling Stones. New Orleans
Magazine has praised the restaurant for being “intimately familiar and comforting,” offering up Dilonno’s takes on old-school classics, the kind of retro dishes that have gotten lost in the race for culinary ingenuity, but with the chef’s own nuances garnered from a lifetime in the biz. ”
