Joey Merlino to hold a different sort of court in Fla.

When the restaurant bearing his name opens Friday, former Philadelphia mob boss Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino will be doing what he does best - holding court - as front-door host of the posh Italian spot in Boca Raton, Fla.

His lawyers, meanwhile, have turned to a court of a different sort, hoping to keep their client out of prison long enough to see the eatery past its first few weeks.

The 52-year-old dapper don, who recently appeared in federal court in a sharp gray suit and purple tie, is due to report Nov. 24 to a South Florida prison to serve out a four-month sentence for a probation violation.

But Merlino's lawyers appealed that conviction this week in Philadelphia, and have sought to keep their client free until the case could be resolved.

In filings Wednesday, the lawyers argued that U.S. District Judge R. Barclay Surrick erred in finding that the ex-mob boss had violated the terms of his release from a 2001 racketeering conviction with a night out in June at a swank South Florida cigar bar with reputed mob captain John "Johnny Chang" Ciancaglini.

That meeting was nothing more than accidental, Merlino's lawyers said, and their client simply forgot to report it to his probation officer. What's more, they argued, federal authorities did not issue a summons on the violation before Merlino's three-year term of supervised release had ended in September.

Surrick rejected both arguments last month at a hearing, which featured testimony from Stanley Stein, a South Philadelphia native and millionaire financial backer in Merlino's new restaurant venture.

Stein testified that he also picked up the tab for Merlino's flights to Philadelphia on a private jet, his stay at the Four Seasons, and limousine service to the courthouse to attend two recent hearings on the probation violation charge.

Backers say Merlino's role at the restaurant will be limited. He will work primarily as a host, schmoozing diners with the mouthy flair that made him a bold-faced name during his time atop the Philadelphia family.

But the restaurant certainly hopes to cash in on its namesake's mobster cache.

Aside from bearing his name, the restaurant will serve up a high-price sampling of Italian classics including pasta fagioli; a gnocchi dish named after Merlino's mother, Rita; and veal chops at $48 a pop. Also on the menu: craft cocktails with names like "The Broad Street" and "The Olde City Fashioned," and a concoction dubbed the "South Philly Beet Down," a mixture of gin, beet juice, ginger, and lemon.

"We're going to have the best Italian food in South Florida," Merlino said of the restaurant as he left court last month, "all my mother's recipes."