Can't put it any better than this:

"What attracts customers to TEDDY'S is not only the quality of the Italian food but the personality of the owner, 39-year-old Sal (Salvator) Cucinotta, a robust, genial six-footer who positively exudes good nature and good health. A native of New York's lower East Side, his first contact with the Lestaurant business was presiding behind several bars ('some in very tough neighborhoods') including a 50-foot bar built by himself in Washington Market.

"When Sal bought TEDDY'S BAR & GRILL, a former German-owned speakeasy, it had only a tiny kitchen in the rear. Between serving drinks, he prepared his own lunches and the savory aroma wafting from the kitchen started customers asking to share the host's baked ziti alforno, or whatever else he was cooking. This was his beginning as a restaurateur.

"Sal traces his cooking instinct to a grandfather who operated a taverna in Messina, Sicily. He still maintains personal supervision over his chefs and can cook quite as well as they do. There is no printed menu: you select your entree and usually leave the rest of the meal to the suggestions of your headwaiter, captain or Sal himself."

So they wrote in 1959. Teddy's was demolished in 2004; photos are here. A large photo of its latter heyday, when it sported a famous Statue of Liberty crown, is here; you can see the original logo.