“Mangia! You Have to Take Care of the Baby!

Hey all! This is going to be a short post today. But I just wanted to tell you about this woman that came into the restaurant last night and shared her story with my husband. It brought a tear to my eye as Jim recanted the story. It never ceases to amaze me how generous my father was. My father has been gone now for seventeen years and we still get stories from our customers! Anyway, this lady came in for an order to go with her daughter. She has been a loyal customer since our days on lower Main Street. Apparently when she was pregnant with her daughter she developed an insatiable craving for veal.

As I understood it she was working in Poughkeepsie and living in Amenia/Dover area. Well, she would come in for her daily meal of veal. As she came in on a regular basis my dad and her got to be quite friendly. Progressing with her pregnancy becoming more and more obvious my dad would make a point to make her get off her feet. She said she would sit on a stool in the kitchen. ad would say to her “Mangia, you have to take care of the baby!”

At this point in the story the woman doubled over in laughter and joy as she remembered the story! (From what I can gather from this story is that she must have been going there to get orders to go. As she waited for her order my dad made her sit and would give her something to eat for the long ride back home.) As she recollected herself she continued with her story…

As she neared the end of her pregnancy and would waddle into the restaurant she didn’t have to pay for her meals anymore. Finally when the day came that she delivered the baby she made sure that my dad knew that she had the baby. Of course my dad did what he knew best on such an occasion in true Coppola style! A huge Italian meal (with veal of course) was delivered to the hospital!