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Arrivederci, Old Friend

Casa D' Angelo's on Fairfield Avenue Bids Farewell

By Jim Mount

Fort Wayne Reader

2010-03-08

The building stands vacant now at the corner of Fairfield and Kinsmoore. A once vibrant and bustling restaurant now a shell of memories given over to the ravages of time and awaiting an uncertain future.

Casa D' Angelos' on Fairfield has been vacant now since Sunday, February 21 when they hosted a final fund raiser for Bishop Luers. The staff of the Fairfield location has since been dispersed out to the various Casa locations around town. The building once known as Gouloffs that would become Casa D' Angelos' is empty now save for the memories that fill its kitchens and dining rooms, indelibly etched by the bonds of friendship and good food over the passing of the years.

Over the years, despite losing a significant amount of business, the Fairfield location still had a number of loyal customers, many of whom came in the final weeks leading up to the closing for one last dinner or one last drink at the bar. One such customer is Cheryl Feverda, who has been coming to Casa's on Fairfield since its opening in 1984. Sitting at a table in the bar on the last night of business, she shared a few memories of Casa D'Angelos' early days. “ It was a lot busier of course,” she said of when they first opened. “ It seemed like it was a very steady business. The food was always good, you could always count on it and you may have had to wait awhile but you would always eventually get a table.” Asked what she would miss about the restaurant the most she immediately says “the staff, every single one of them I know by name. There isn't a friendlier staff that is more willing to please, that remembers me, that teases me. We've had a lot of our firsts here, birthday parties here, graduation parties here, but mostly I'll miss them teasing me.”

The closing has affected a lot of people in the local community but none more so than the staff of Casa D' Angelos'. One of the mainstays of the Fairfield Casa's was its manager, Lou Mespell. “I started for Casa within a year after they first opened the location on Coldwater Road in 1977,” Mespell says. “Most people I've spoken with over the years don't remember that location. They've often mistaken the Fairfield store with being the original, though it opened a few years later.”

Mespell says with the exception of a paper route and a brief tenure at another Italian restaurant, Casa's has been his only job; “I started as a Prep Cook and was hired in the same day I went in for an interview. According to the chef who gave me the job, the owner of Casa D'Angelo was reluctant to give me an interview because of my appearance. I don't feel it was my clothing attire that was in question though. I had really long hair like almost everyone else in the 70's and looked like a hippy. I guess maybe he wasn't comfortable with that and maybe thought I might not last. Well the chef said as long as I had it in a ponytail I could wear it as long as I wanted. I have to chuckle each year that goes by since my not lasting there is approaching year number 33.”

Declining fortunes of the Fairfield neighborhood with the sharp downturn of the economy are factors that led to the closing. “Unfortunately, several major factors started weighing on the Fairfield store and its livelihood,” says Mespell. “With Lutheran Hospital moving and the demise of Southtown Mall several years back showed troubling signs on the business's traffic. Finally with the deep impact of the recession beginning in the middle of 2008 and Taylor University moving out after May 2008, left us with the mere support of the neighborhood in which we were located, though we couldn't expect them to bear the weight of all those entities in which we lost.”

Despite the loss of what amounted to his home away from home, Mespell understands the reasons leading up to the closure and has complete faith in his employers for the past 33 years and has confidence that the Fairfield clientele can expect the same level of service at the other Casa locations. “I know the Casa family held out for as long as they could with keeping the Fairfield store in operation specifically because of all the support that was given to it in past years. And I've no doubt that they vow to keep those customers and their trust by offering the same dining tradition they have grown to know at all the other four locations.”

Late on the final Saturday night, everyone has just about left the building. Loyal customers over the years have had their final meal at the Fairfield store and have since moved on. The staff and employees have left the building for the final time, heading over to Curley’s Inn to celebrate their final moments together over a few drinks before parting ways. The only people left in the building are Lou and his wife Maureen. Lou makes his way through the building following a usual routine, making sure the doors are locked, shutting everything down and turning out the lights. He makes his way through the kitchen into the bar and from the bar to the main dining room. Ducking behind a server’s station, he turns out the dining room lights for the final time. Maureen makes her way out the front lobby and as Lou sets the alarm she steps out of the building. Lou soon joins her and together they look up at the canopy with the Casa D'Angelo signature. It's a moment that sinks in with a sad finality.