Joey Montello — aka Joey M — will tell you: “I’ve been in the restaurant business 45 years, and I’ve been in the entertainment business for 45 years.” In other words, when it comes to Joey M running a restaurant — the legendary La Piazza Cucina Italiana — entertainment and dining go hand in hand. One doesn’t exist without the other.

“And it’s been that way my whole life,” says the singer and restaurateur. “When I was a kid, we had one of those units where it was a stereo and radio and TV all in one, and my grandmother would say, ‘Go put on Sinatra or Dean Martin.’ So I would, and in the meantime, I would be in the kitchen working with her making homemade pasta or whatever. I was always hands on, and we would be singing along.”