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| Chappie’s
Lunch: The First Italian Restaurant in “The Village” |
| By
Al (Butchie) Carmanico |
| In
the early 1900’s, Europeans were immigrating to North America
in search of a better life. Two of these people, from the Reggio Calabria
in Southern Italy, were my maternal grandparents: Vincenzo Cianci and
Catarina Barbaro. They came to Canada and ended up in Ottawa, where
they began their new life together. They had two children, Joe and Mary
(my mom).
About this time, in a little town
in the Abruzzi Mountains called Repa Teatina, where the father of
Rocky Marciano (the famous heavy weight-champion) was born, a man
named Antonio Carmanico and his wife Maria Napolitano decided to take
their six-month-old son and move to the United States. They settled
in Camden, New Jersey, in 1905 and had more children. Among these
children was my dad, Albert (Chappy) Carmanico. After several years
the Carmanico family moved to Ottawa where Chappy, now in his late
teens, partnered up with Harry Menchini to form the Preston Athletic
Club. Their goal was to train young boys to box and wrestle.
Chappy was working as a labourer for
Frank Licari’s plastering company when the Second World War
broke out in 1939. By 1940 the war was intensifying and Chappy became
a Canadian citizen in order to join the army. With his past experience
as a boxer, wrestler and his knowledge of ju-jitsu, Chappy was sent
to assist in the training of new recruits. He was eventually transferred
to the Provost Corp where he supervised the moving of German prisoners
from Italy to various camps in Eastern Canada. Near the end of the
war, Chappy and a lieutenant were in a jeep chasing a deserter. It
was raining heavily and when they went around a curve the jeep slid
off a small cliff and rolled over Chappy, crushing his groin area.
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| In
1945, when the Second World War ended, Albert (Chappy) Carmanico was
lying in a veterans’ hospital recovering from his injury. He didn’t
have much in the way of education or marketable skills, but his wife,
Mary (Cianci) Carmanico, liked to cook and was good at it. Mary was
now pregnant with their seventh child. The Carmanico family lived in
a large building at 438 ½ Preston Street, with a large mortgage
and a store on the main floor that wasn’t bringing in much revenue. |
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Chappie’s
Lunch circa 1945-1956
Photo courtesy of Al Carmanico |
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The Carmanicos decided to take a chance
that people would enjoy having a place to eat out, even though at
the time dining out was not particularly fashionable for the average
person. But the Carmanicos knew they would have good food and large
portions for a reasonable price. And they were in a good location,
close to the various government buildings on Booth Street, Rochester
Street, and Carling Avenue, as well as the HMCS Carleton Navy barracks.
So they opened Chappie’s Lunch – the first Italian restaurant
in what was then known as “The Village.”
It was an exciting day in July of
1945 when the restaurant opened. The Orange Order were holding their
annual parade and as always had gathered in their fancy bright outfits
close by Commissioner’s Park to get ready for the march. The
Catholics and the Jews were just as excited as the Protestants to
see them marching with their loud bands. Before, during and after
the parade a lot of people came to the newly opened restaurant. Chappy,
Mary and their children, Mary, Tony, Kay and Theresa, were all busy
cooking and serving.
Neither Chappy nor Mary had completed
grade school, but now they were on their way to realizing the American
Dream. This could not have happened without the help and sacrifices
of their four older children. The oldest, Mary, was still a teenager
yet she was up bright and early to bake pies: apple, cherry and raisin.
(As a three-year-old my favourite was the lemon meringue.)
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| When
I grew older, no matter where I went people would ask about Mary,
who was always smiling and friendly with the customers. Tony was in
high school and could often be seen at the end of the counter studying
between serving customers. As the oldest son in a family of European
descent a lot was expected of Tony, with not much gratitude or rewards
in return. It must have been difficult to see his friends playing
ball or hockey when he had to stay home to work and study. My older
sisters, Cathleen (or Kay as people call her now) and Theresa, seemed
always to be together. Whether it was arguing with Mary about the
work or flirting with the young sailors, the two were inseparable.
From a young child’s perspective they seemed to float between
cooking, serving and cleaning and giving dad ulcers with their carrying
on.
Chappy
was the manager of sorts. He was in charge of ordering supplies, banking,
maintenance, and talking to his old army buddies, a lot of who had
become police officers. I remember Detective Lester Routtliffe coming
in and sitting on two stools to eat his spaghetti and meatballs, placing
one cheek on each stool. When I grew up and was working in the old
Ottawa Magistrate’s Court I got reacquainted with Lester and
another old army buddy of dad’s, Rene Lacroix, the godfather
of Lower Town. |
Chappie’s
Original Menu
Hot dogs .................................................
10 cents
Hamburgers ..............................................15
cents
Fish & Chips (homemade
fries) ................. 40 cents
Wieners & Beans
...................................... 40 cents
Ham or bacon and eggs
............................ 35 cents
A variety of sandwiches
............................ 15 cents each
Spaghetti with meatballs
(including bread &
beverage) .................... 50 cents
Coffee, Tea, Milk or
Pop ............................ 5 cents
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Another one of Chappy’s important
duties was being the part-time bouncer. People would drink at the
Prescott Hotel down the street and after it closed would wander down
to Chappie’s Lunch for a meal. Sometimes they came to challenge
the top gun former boxer and wrestler to a little “sidewalk
cleaning” as dad used to call it.
But the real force behind the whole
operation was Mary Carmanico. Mom was the main cook and seemed to
always be there making sauce, rolling meatballs, frying eggs and even
taking time to feed the three young ones: Al (Butchie), Joe and Ann.
Ann was the seventh child Mary had been carrying when the Carmanicos
started their venture and was born during “the restaurant years.”
The story goes that mom took about one and a half to two hours off
of work for the birth.
When Chappie’s Lunch opened
it served a variety of regular meals that other restaurants served,
such as hot dogs and hamburgers. What made Chappie’s different
from other restaurants in the area was my mom’s delicious recipe
for Italian spaghetti and meatballs. It was this unique feature that
contributed to the restaurant’s success and longevity. Chappie’s
Lunch operated from 1945 until about 1956.
I hope you found this little bit of
“Village” history enjoyable; it was great for me to turn
my mind to some of these past events. I loved growing up on Preston
Street and am very proud to have contributed in a small way to Chappie’s
Lunch.
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