Local Restaurant Defies Inflation With 1980 Menu, At 1980 Prices

GLEN COVE, NY — In 1980, Long Island diners could order a dinner entree of chicken Francese for $8, a spaghetti dish for $7, a cup of soup for less than $3, a salad for $4 and a veal chop for $18.75. On Monday nights in April 2022 diners can turn back the clocks on their bills: La Bussola Ristorante in Glen Cove will offer its original 1980 menu at original 1980 prices.

The retro menu is a celebration of the restaurant's 42nd birthday. The Italian eatery, at 40 School St., is a family-run operation, and now has three locations in Glen Cove, Huntington and Mineola run by the second generation of the family to run the business, four Lubrano brothers.

1980 and 2022 have a few things in common, namely inflation, and as gas prices and food costs soar looking back at what a restaurant meal used to cost Long Islanders is a nostalgic trip down memory lane. The full 1980 menu is here.