Claire Criscuolo, R.N., C.C.P.

Chef, Restaurant Owner & Cookbook Author
Claire's Corner Copia
New Haven, Connecticut

Early Years

In 1975, fresh out of college and full of energy, a very young and enthusiastic Claire Criscuolo, along with her new husband Frank, opened Claire's Corner Copia Restaurant, with the goal of creating exciting, home cooked meals. Twenty-five years later, and still in its original location across from Yale University, Claire's Corner Copia is thriving under the continued loving direction of one of the most innovative chefs in America today.

Born into an Italian family of marvelous cooks, it was in the New Haven kitchens of her parents, grandparents, and uncle's family that Claire's future was determined. Soup was always simmering on someone's stove, and today soup remains one of the most popular dishes on the menu at the restaurant. Her mother Anna stayed away from food with additives and always cooked healthful dishes that featured an abundance of fresh fruits, vegetables, beans, lentils, rice and pasta, and Claire believes that her ongoing high standards for quality and freshness were established by the time she was four years old. The families' Italian Catholic background also dictated that they abstain from eating meat on Wednesdays and Fridays. On these days, Claire's mother would experiment with delicious vegetarian versions of classic family recipes, as well as the recipes their neighbors of other ethnic backgrounds shared with them, such as Hungarian goulash, Irish stew, and Jewish kugel.

Claire's mom's creativity gave her many ideas on how to adapt recipes to a vegetarian diet for the restaurant. The restaurant's location across from Yale provided an opportunity to meet people from all over the world, many of whom came to work at the restaurant. They also offered new ideas and recipes that highlighted the great vegetarian traditions of many of the world's other cuisines. Although Claire's Corner Copia was not completely vegetarian when it opened in 1975, by 1977 meat, poultry, and smoking (definitely ahead of it's time) was banned from the restaurant, and today's nutritional research unequivocally supports these decisions.

Current Projects

The bottom line for the food at Claire's is that healthful must be delicious too, and Claire and her devoted and creative staff guaranty that this is the case with everything they serve. Staple meat and dairy substitutes such as tofu, tempeh, and soy milk are used, along with the newer meatless hotdogs, burgers, sausages, bacon, and other alternatives that are newer to the market but are of increasingly excellent quality. While you'll find classic vegetarian comfort food like Vegetable Bean Soup with Barley, Santa Fe Chili, Stuffed Peppers, Veggie Burgers and Carrot Cake, you'll also enjoy vegetarian-taken-to-new-gourmet-heights with Tuscan Salad of Chicory, White Beans and Hearts of Palm, Coconut Fried Oyster Mushrooms with a Mango-Lime Dipping Sauce, Cajun-Style Pan-Blackened Tofu with Pepper Relish, and Peaches in Merlot.

In 1994, the first of Claire's books, Claire's Corner Copia Cookbook: 225 Homestyle Vegetarian Recipes from Claire's Family to Yours (Plume/Penguin) was published, followed in 1997 with Claire's Classic American Vegetarian Cooking: 225 New and Favorite Homestyle Vegetarian Recipes (Dutton), Claire's Italian Feast: 165 Vegetarian Recipes from Nonna's Kitchen (Plume/Penguin) in 1998, and in 1999 Claire's Classic American Vegetarian Cooking (Plume). Her recipes have appeared in a variety of publications, including Women's Day and The New York Times, and Claire has been a guest on the Food Network on cable, and Home Cooking with Amy Coleman on PBS, among other local and national television and radio programs. A member of many professional culinary organizations, and a visiting author and panelist at numerous food industry events, Claire was recently honored with membership in the esteemed Les Dames d'Escoffier.

Recognition

Numerous awards have been bestowed on Claire's Corner Copia and Claire Criscuolo, not only for wonderful food, but for the wonderful charity work helping battered women, people suffering from AIDS and other disabilities, and of course to help fight hunger. Claire attributes the success of Claire's Corner Copia, to her loving, supportive family and her dedicated and loyal staff and customers, and this success has provided the resources to give something back to the community in which Claire's Corner Copia has flourished for 25 years. From everyone at Melissa's, Happy Anniversary!