ON THE ROAD
L
A CAMPAGNA HAS no sign, so it’s
easy to miss the restaurant if you’re
not looking for it in the progression of
storefronts in the strip mall. Carmella
Fragassi tells me that her sign was 3 inches too big
for the town’s building code, and rather than redo
it, she decided to do without. “If you want to find
me, you’ll find me,” she says.
After 21 years as a narcotics agent, Carmella
turned to the restaurant business. Her first restau-
rant caught fire two years after opening. It was a
big, demanding operation,
and when it burned down
she decided that the next
venture would be smaller.
During a trip to
Puglia, Italy, where she
went to visit family and
reflect, Carmella decided
to change the way she
wrote menus. With her new restaurant she
would follow the practical Italian model of an
ever-changing menu based on seasonality, avail-
ability, and economy.
She reopened La Campagna in a suburban strip
mall 25 minutes outside of downtown Cleveland,
Ohio. She wasn’t looking for this location, and
when it came to her it was supposed to be a tem-
porary situation. It’s just big enough for 10 tables;
you can see into the kitchen from the front door.
The peach walls are covered with racks of wineand Italian imports, some of which Carmella uses
in the kitchen and all of which are for sale. There’s
comfort in all the small details.
Carmella’s earliest kitchen memories are of
cooking with her grandmothers in Puglia, where
she’s traveled since she was 14 years old. “If you
went to their houses, they never kicked you out
of the kitchen. They would teach you how to
cook.” Now in her own restaurant, she tells me,
“The biggest compliment I can receive is when
someone tells me they haven’t had something like
this since their grandma cooked it.”
Carmella’s niece waits tables, her brother
helps out in the kitchen, and her sister and cousin
jump in from time to time. We begin discuss-
ing a recipe she calls “veal pocket”: a rack of veal
ribs stuffed with meatball mix and then roasted.
Carmella can’t remember the name and sud-
denly breaks from her train of thought to call
across the dining room to a couple finishing their
dinner. “Hey, Uncle Ralph! What did Grandma
call that veal pocket in Italian?” Ralph pinches
his fingers and bounces his hand in the air:
“A-STUFFED-A-MEAT!” He laughs out loud.
Since she’s been in business for 22 years, I ask
Carmella how much longer she plans to cook.
“I can’t imagine that I’d ever retire.” And then
she adds with all sincerity, “I consider [cooking]
a great gift that I can share with people.” For
more photos from our trip to Cleveland, go to
CooksCountry.com/lacampagna19.Text by Bryan Roof; photos by Steve KliseAt La Campagna,
Carmella Fragassi (top)
serves dishes inspired
by her memories of
visiting family in the
Puglia region of Italy.
Her brother Michael
Fragassi (center) helps
out in the kitchen.“If you want
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Illustration:^ Ross^ MacDonald