I started off with a glass of Falesco Vitrano Rosso from Carrie’s hometown of Norcia. I didn’t really spend too much time looking over the wine list, but was told this is the best of the bunch. Overall wonderful flavor and aroma. I would definitely order this again.

For appetizers, we had the salumi board and calamari. The salumi, of course, was wonderful. The Prosciutto di Parma, aged 18 months, was my favorite. A year and a half seems like a long time to me to cure meat and was impressed by the flavor. But Dominic shared that the Prosciutto di Norcia is aged 36 months and that it’s so good, it never leaves Italy! I also enjoyed the soppen presto (not sure of spelling) and the accompanying cheeses. There was a third, but I honestly can’t recall the name of it. Overall, the salumi board alone is worth the trip.

The finger-shaped calamari was pretty good, but not great. I can go either way with calamari. It’s definitely not something I ever crave but do enjoy if cooked properly. My husband on the other hand does, and this dish did not disappoint.

For dinner, Dominic fed us as if it was our last meal on Earth. We tried the lentils, gnocchi with mama’s famous white sauce, spaghetti carbonara and braised short ribs (osso buco style) with risotto. This meal is why I am back on the South Beach diet.

The Norcia lentils can be a meal in itself, with sun dried tomatoes, red onion and guanciale. Very satisfying and something I am eager to try to duplicate at home. The gnocchi wasn’t bad, but definitely not my favorite of the evening. It’s a very rich and heavy dish. I liked the sauce with the gnocchi, but was eager to move on to the other dishes – specifically the carbonara. Wow – what a pleasant surprise this dish was. I’ve made pasta carbonara a few times and ordered it out once or twice. It was always just ok, but one of those pastas I would continue to try because I knew there was a winner somewhere. This was it. A lot of artisanship went into this dish with the house-made pasta and house-cured guanciale. And of course the use of blue eggs instead of commercial eggs. The egg in general is key to carbonara and until that night, I operated under the impression that an egg is an egg. Not anymore. I couldn’t believe what a difference these eggs made to the dish overall. I would definitely order this again – but not anytime soon. Only because I already know what I am having the next time I go: braised short ribs.

I’ve often said my favorite local short ribs were created by Chef Keoko Turner, who is now in Atlanta. A close runner-up would be the selections at Flying Fig and Parallax. This dish in general is a favorite of mine and I often compare everything to Keoko’s short ribs. Not anymore. Saying Dominic’s take on this dish was delicious seems like an understatement. The meat and sauce were packed with clove, rosemary and cinnamon flavors. The meat, braised for four hours, melts in your mouth – literally. And served with risotto – an unexpected surprise. Jamie and I both left a lot of food on the plates, except for this dish. I ate every last bite, and a few of his. I do have to admit the best version of this dish was in Seattle this past weekend at Crush, but this one is hands-down the best locally.

For dessert, we attempted to have a few bites of the homemade gelato, which of course was made with the blue eggs. And again a noticeable difference. We sampled the vanilla, pistachio and peach. I was impressed to learn there is no food coloring in the gelato and that the recipe is from family members left in Italy. The vanilla and pistachio had the most intense flavor. I think each would give La Gelateria a run for its money. And according to Dominic’s wife, his gelato tastes exactly like the gelato at Babbo. To Dominic, that was the ultimate compliment.

Someone told me a long time ago that the restaurant was actually Carrie’s childhood home and that you could still see part of the original front porch. That’s true, sort of. You can have dinner outside the original front porch and it was a childhood home for someone, just not Carrie or anyone in her family.

A German family built the house sometime in the early 1900s and the Cerino family purchased it from the family in 1963. Many of the original items are still in tact, like the oversized fireplace. The German family would serve chicken dinners right from the front porch and used the basement as a speakeasy. During the tour, Dominic pointed out where the speakeasy once stood and the original tunnels that flow all throughout the house. Apparently, this was quite the house and family back in the day. Local legend says the FBI watched this house during WWII because they believed the Germans had a ham radio.

While in the basement, hearing about the tunnels and local legends – and just the fact that we were in the very old basement of a very old house – I had a feeling Dominic was going to tell me something I didn’t want to hear. So I quickly blurted out, “If you’re going to tell us this place has ghosts, I don’t want to hear it.” I’m terrified of anything scary. I successfully avoided watching Halloween or any of the Freddy movies growing up. I’m sure there are spirits and ghosts zooming around, I just tell myself they are all Casper-like. Well, either Dominic didn’t hear me, or didn’t take me seriously; because he went on to tell about his cousin that haunted the restaurant and caused minor problems.

“Goofy things,” he said, would happen. So he called Mary Ann, the North Royalton resident/ghostbuster who inspired the TV show “Ghost Whisperer”. Which made me chuckle and think of Dan Aykroyd and Ray Parker Jr. Apparently; Dominic had recently constructed a family tree going back several generations. He had inadvertently left out a cousin and she was upset she wasn’t remembered. That cousin, Virginia, was haunting the place. When Mary Ann told him this, he didn’t believe her. She said your cousin is here and is upset you don’t remember her. At first, Dominic didn’t. Then he remembered his Uncle Pete’s daughter from a previous marriage, Virginia, but everyone called her Ginger. She met with a very untimely and saddening demise back in the 1960s when Dominic was 8 and no one ever talked about it. At first, Dominic thought Mary Ann researched him – he was skeptical. But, she knew details about the entire incident that she could not possibly know – that he did’t even know. So he decided to call a family member who would know if this was accurate information and that person confirmed every detail. So in the end, Mary Ann helped Dominic remember his cousin, which was all Ginger wanted, and happily moved on. I’m happy to report there haven’t been any “goofy” things since.

Aside from ghosts, the 30,000-square foot restaurant has a nightclub, several banquet rooms (lots of weddings take place here), which feature crystal chandeliers from Milan his grandmother designed in 1972, and three dining rooms.

When we first got there, Dominic took us to the kitchen where he was preparing to cure bresaola for the first time. He shared he marinated the meat in the cheapest red wine (apparently an industry secret), bay leaves, rosemary, thyme, carrots, celery, onion, orange and lemon peels and salt/pepper. He then took us into a cooler with other cured meats, something he has taken a big interest in, but admits he is still learning. “I just threw away 20 pounds of pancetta, so I’m still learning,” he explained. “I’m still perfecting the skill and probably never will. I just wanted to learn it and will evolve with it.” (Dominic spent time with Armandino Batali, Mario’s dad and owner of Seattle’s popular Salumi, to craft his skill)

In the kitchen and cooler, I couldn’t help but notice how clean everything was – and just how much of everything there is. I mean gallons upon gallons of chicken and veal stock, marinara sauce, olive oil and every other ingredient indigenous to Italian food. There was even veal stock brewing in action – 80 quarts to be exact and what appeared to be an ore of some sorts for stirring.

I saw it all: dry goods area, bakery, live kitchen, prep kitchen, freezers, and tons of equipment. Things you can’t even get anymore, like the cast iron tilt skillet. “That’s one of the benefits of having an old kitchen,” said Dominic.

Yes, this place is big. Maybe too big. “We are so big and so much is going on,” said Dominic. “Some nights it doesn’t get managed properly.” This, I learned, is a huge frustration for Dominic. He absolutely can’t stand when someone does not have a good experience or someone is seated at a dirty table. He does not like things to fall through the cracks, but admits, the place is just too big for perfection every minute of the day.

“My dream is to be in a smaller place,” he said. “Five thousand-square feet, and 125 seats – that’s ideal. I would love to gut and give this place a new look, but I’m not sure this is the place we should do that – we would lose all of our grandfathering. This is a different market than it was 30 years ago. We’ve done it this way for 30 years, why change it. That’s what some people say anyway. But I want to get back to the way my grandmother did it, the way they do it in Norcia. I want people to experience what that feels and tastes like. I want to get back to basics.”

I was fortunate to spend over three hours with Dominic Cerino, Carrie’s grandson. We talked food, Mario, family roots, Cleveland issues, Alan Greenspan, ghosts, history and current challenges/issues that keep Dominic up at night. Dominic, I learned, is an extremely interesting man (he once worked as a chef in Antarctica) full of obvious passion and love for his roots, a remarkable palate and good business sense. He has a very interesting story to tell. In fact, he has several, which is one of his challenges: trying to tell too many stories instead of conveying one constant message. It’s a story he eagerly wants to share and have his customers, regulars and new (especially regulars) embrace. But it’s the fear that the message will have the regulars abandoning ship in droves that aids to his sleepless nights. I get the sense that he is trying to make everyone happy – but I wonder if he is happy in the process.

This cannot possibly be told in one post. Instead, it will be a series of sorts focusing on the traditional Q & A, the restaurant’s history (speakeasy, hauntings), vision (Norcia, Italy) and future (think small) and of course, our meal (I swear I’m still full).

Top 5 spices: red chili, black pepper, fennel, cinnamon and nutmeg

Favorite restaurant: Lolita and Baricelli when we have something special to celebrate

What restaurant do you miss: I don’t know. I don’t eat out that often to miss something.

Hidden café/restaurant Clevelanders have yet to discover: The Sausage Shoppe. This is a Cleveland treasure that should have national recognition. Norm (the owner) knew my father-in-law back in Germany. Norm is the real McCoy. The business will die with Norm because of the city and rezoning. He can’t leave it to his children. It’s a rotten shame. This will be lost and it shouldn’t. The city doesn’t realize what they are doing and what a huge loss this will be.

If you could cook for one person, real or dead, who would it be: My father passed away in 2001. I would love to cook for him and cook the lentils and food we are trying to cook now. He so loved food and would have loved what we are trying to do here.

Most unusual food you have ever tried: Roe/fish eggs. I don’t really care for them and the texture.

What do you like and dislike about Cleveland: One of my greatest loves is the month of October. This month makes it worth living here.

I dislike the complacency of the people to keep accepting incompetence. I’m not sure when it started, but look at Rockefeller and the tax passed on him, which made him move to New York. What if Cleveland had not passed that special tax on him and he and his billions stayed here and he built Rockefeller Center in Cleveland instead of New York? And it keeps happening over and over. And they are going to raise taxes again? Before you are a major league city, how about having major league schools?

Take the tax dollars and build a refinery. It makes a lot of sense to go back to refining. John Rockefeller’s stuff is still here and we have the greatest ports. This would create jobs and better lives for this city and its people. The city keeps making the same mistakes over and over. The infrastructure is not here. We want to build a convention center but our bridges are crumbling and schools failing? Where are your priorities? There is the technology to build this stuff and we can rebuild our infrastructure. Then we can build all the mega stuff. We have the ability to build really good ships if we wanted to. You can make stuff like this work if you have vision.

Look at Tim Hagan. The first thing he does is raise taxes. How can you possibly attract new businesses here and keep the ones we have? How do we keep people from moving on after school for better jobs? They need to find a way to create long-lasting jobs. We need to work together for a long-term solution. So, let’s build a refinery and give it to Exxon. So what if they profit, it will still be good for Cleveland and it will create enough revenue for stadiums, convention centers and whatever else the city thinks is worthwhile.

I hate politics, but I want to stay in business and I want to stay in Cleveland. I don’t want my sons to leave Cleveland for work. I want people to stay here. This is our home. We are fortunate to have a lot of great things in this city, but how long before the city can no longer hold onto the symphony? We already lost the ballet. Thank God for the Clinic and UH.