STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — With holiday music playing on the radio and the kitchen on display at Ronnie’s Sandwich Shoppe, Christine Rivelli tackles ticket orders one by one for an intensifying lunch rush.
On this frigid December morning in the tiny New Dorp restaurant, Christine studies an order and reads it to her brother, John Besser, who works just a few feet away at the register.
Christine mulls over the words. “Texas burger … Chicken Parm hero … Bacon, egg and cheese on a roll.”
