Green Arch Restaurant

Green Arch Restaurant has been part of Cortland since 1933, when Francesca Discenza opened it. She was an Italian immigrant who came to Cortland with her husband, Angelo, around the turn of the century, and her story is a big part of the restaurant’s local legend.

Francesca was the first person in Cortland to make and sell tomato pie, and she was enterprising in other ways too. She sold fireworks and, during Prohibition, ran a speakeasy serving her homemade wine, with her grocery store as the front.

What to Know

• The restaurant was established in 1933 by Francesca Discenza.
• Its founder was the first to make and sell tomato pie in Cortland.
• Prohibition-era stories include a speakeasy hidden behind a grocery store.
• It is a member of the Cortland Area Chamber of Commerce and featured by Experience Cortland.