Before Fort Lauderdale, there was Mott Street. A stretch of Lower Manhattan — Mott, Hester, Bayard, Kenmare — where the old Italian clam bars ruled the night. Sidewalk joints like The Lime House on the corner of Mott & Bayard, Umberto's, and Little Charlie's — where the shellfish came piled high, the sauce came sweet, medium, or hot, and the recipes were guarded like family. You went for the food, you stayed for the people, and everybody had their spot.

Most of those places are gone now — swallowed up by time and a changing city. But the way they cooked was never meant to disappear with them. Skippy's Old Italian Kitchen is our love letter to that world: everything hand-breaded, sauced by hand, and made to order — the shrimp balls, the shrimp on a stick, fresh scungilli, linguine in white clam sauce, and lobster scampi over homemade mashed potatoes. Old-school. No shortcuts. Served with respect.

Today that torch is carried by Skippy and his son Jonathan — father and son, side by side in Fort Lauderdale, keeping the old way alive one plate at a time.