​Dear friends, 

 

This is Sam & Paul Mincarelli, owners of Cafe Campli, and we have some bittersweet news to share. 

We are moving to Italy this summer to open our next restaurant and begin a new chapter of our lives.

 

During a recent trip to Penne, our home in Abruzzo, we finalized a contract to reopen a historic restaurant in the center of town that had been closed for the past three years. We had bemoaned its closure; it was one of our favorites. We even joked about re-opening it when it first closed, eventually deciding that would be “crazy” and questioning whether we were ready. The years passed and there it sat: fully equipped, furnished, but locked-up, the city’s culinary heart without a pulse. We were approached by the landlords and a friend of ours in town with a too-good-to-be-true deal to reopen the restaurant, and when the world presents an opportunity like that, one absolutely has to take it. Unfortunately, that means leaving something behind.  

 

Cafe Campli opened its doors in November of 2022, our first restaurant venture which blossomed out of a cooking blog and pure ambition. Since opening, we’ve been surprised, humbled, and proud of the dedicated team who joined us and the regulars who have supported us, many of whom we now call friends. To our staff: none of this has been or is currently possible without you, you have helped shape our dream into people’s favorite restaurant, you have made every shift fun (the farthest thing from “work” imaginable), you have embraced every pivot with grace and professionalism, and we owe you so much of our gratitude. You will always have a spot on our team…seriously though, are your passports up to date? 

 

To our friends and regulars, we love you guys and will remember you fondly. While it feels good to be a “regular” at a bar or restaurant, it means three times as much to the restaurateur; this is our vision, our passion, and to be supported like that is humbling. In the coming weeks, we’ll look forward to serving you and sharing a few more memories together. We are in awe that we get to do this, since moving to Italy has been a life-long dream, but saying goodbye and leaving behind something that was good, dare we say pretty great, weighs heavy on our hearts. The sincerest Thank You to all who made it so. 

 

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​​​​The last day of Cafe Campli will be this summer, we still have a few details to iron-out, but we’ll announce the exact date soon along with special events planned for our last month. Which brings us to another piece of business: if you’re interested in opening a concept (restaurant, retail, or both) in our current space, or are so upset that we’re leaving that you might consider taking over the reins of Cafe Campli, contact us! oursundaygravy@gmail.com

 

Above are photos of some of our favorite memories from Cafe Campli, and below are a few of our new restaurant space in Penne & the town. 

 

Located in Penne’s “centro storico,” historic center, our new (very old) restaurant space is classically beautiful with graceful white arches and terra cotta flooring. The previous iteration, the one we knew, was called Tatobbe, and it was always wonderful, serving typical regional dishes and perfect pizzas. It had the feeling of a place that would always be open because it had been - for over 100 years - until quite recently. Now, it comes to us to reopen this cathedral to Abruzzese cuisine.  

 

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We look forward to a future filled with new experiences, but will always hold our time at Cafe Campli dearly in our hearts. It is where we first did the thing we always wanted to do. 

 

Abbracci e ci vediamo presto,

Paul & Sam