New Haven Celebrates Claire’s’ Sweet First 40

Please pass the chipotle soy chicken.

Because Claire’s Corner Copia is celebrating its 40th birthday!

That’s a cause of celebration for a city that has nurtured the vegetarian restaurant, and been nurtured by it in turn, since its humble beginnings in 1975. Back then Claire’s shared a narrow space at the corner of College and Chapel with the Montano Bros. Amusement Co. Back then 92.5 FM was playing James Taylor/Carole King easy listening tunes instead of pop country, and Claire’s was tuned to it.

And back then College and Chapel was beat. Now it’s the jewel of a reborn downtown — with Claire’s occupying a doubled, built-out, sun-drenched space at the corner. The restaurant’s success has mirrored New Haven’s success.

Claire’s was ahead of its time as a vegetarian, then as a vegan-friendly and organic-reliant, restaurant. It was ahead of its time as a college town small business with personality and a social conscious.

Claire, a former nurse, opened the restaurant with her late husband Frank. She has gone on to write celebrated cookbooks and lecture widely on health and nutrition and food. Yet she has remained in the kitchen chopping fresh local red peppers and out in the dining room serving hugs and tastes of new concoctions to her generations of loyal customers.

Now that the world has caught up with her vision of healthful dining and distinctive new-urbanist commerce, Criscuolo and the city rolled out the red carpet to celebrate the restaurant’s 40th anniversary.

Or at least cut a ribbon. Officials from Yale (the restaurant’s landlord) and the city helped Criscuolo cut a ribbon Wednesday afternoon to kick off the celebration. She received framed proclamations from the university, Mayor Toni Harp, and U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro. ​“We know and love Claire as a fixture of this community,” declared Mayor Harp (pictured). ​“Claire’s recipe for success over the past 40 years makes htis business a stape for anyone who’s hungry downtown.”

“We are not done,” a teary Criscuolo remarked when it was her time to take the microphone. ​“We’re going to work for the next 40 years on people who would like to eat better but can’t.”

The celebration continues all day Thursday with prize giveaways, including gift cards, concert tickets, and kids’ bikes and helmets.

But enough with the straight third-person reportage. Following are 10 reasons I have cherished Claire’s for close to four decades:

10. Pasta bolognese with chipotle soy chicken.
9. The cookbooks (especially Claire’s gumbo).
8. The name! Clever, distinctive, fun, descriptive — everything a locally owned small business should be in a city surrounded by chain-store suburbs.
7. Its commitment to organic produce, much of it from local farms.
6. The connection to local causes and organizations, from AIDS Project New Haven in its day, to Common Ground High School, from New Haven Reads to St. Francis and St. Rose of Lima’s schools.
5. The fact that workers were receiving a living wage — and health care — before it became trendy.
4. The soup-salad-bread special on winter afternoons. (Did I mention the chipotle soy chicken on the side?)
3. Memories of special-occasion meals with family, friends, and, on a cold dank May weekend 33 years ago, my dad when he came up for my college graduation. Seriously. That was the slice of New Haven we enjoyed most, the soup and the ambience.
2. Kashrut. Claire pays extra for cheese and agrees to adhere to strict rabbinical supervision so Jews who keep kosher have a great place to eat downtown.

1. Claire! She makes everyone who walks in feel special, from mayors to pooches, from professors to us schlumps, from Yale bluebloods to New Haven’s newest arrivals. She believes in us. She delights in trying not just new recipes, but new ideas. As New Haven had ups and downs, Claire has always believed positive change could, and would, happen. Here’s to the next 40 years!