For more than two decades, Ernie Cribari has had his living and his love.
His living was law enforcement, slapping handcuffs on criminals and fugitives as a state constable in Midtown Harrisburg and as a member of the PA Task Force for fugitive recovery.
His love, though, was always food, an affection gained at an early age by watching his grandmother Concetta and his mother Luisa, both from Calabria, Italy, work magic in the kitchen while he grew up on Allison Hill.
Now, his living and his love have become one as last month he opened his namesake trattoria, Cribari’s Ristorante, on Reily Street, in the space last occupied by Nonna’s Deli-Sioso.
“I always loved to cook,” said Cribari, a Bishop McDeviitt graduate who recently turned 50. “I saw an opportunity to get away from the handcuffs and guns and pursue my passion.”
Cribari, a 32nd-degree master Mason, actually had years of experience in the kitchen, as he’s long volunteered as the executive chef for Cedars Grove, the Mason-affiliated catering hall on Jonestown Road east of Harrisburg. So, after Nonna’s closed, he phoned owner Ray Diaz and asked about the space. And not only did he acquire the restaurant, but bought the entire building, moving into the spacious, beautifully renovated apartment upstairs.
Upon walking in, the restaurant looks much like the old Nonna’s, as Cribari acquired the place lock, stock and barrel. Beyond the decor, though, the differences are substantial.
The menu is streamlined and the prices substantially lower. Cribari starts with a core of traditional Italian dishes such as chicken parmigiana, rigatoni with a hearty, homemade tomato sauce and penne with a vodka sauce (with real Grey Goose vodka). Around those items, he wraps lunch favorites, such as hot and cold sandwiches, and even a few uniquely American dishes, like the pulled pork barbeque, of which Cribari is rightly proud.
He’s also not hesitant to get creative. Cribari’s offers specials each day, often a pasta dish, such as, on one recent evening, homemade lobster ravioli and, on another, penne and sausage in a savory marinara sauce.
At $17.95, the New York strip steak–center cut Angus beef served with a baked potato and vegetable–is, by far, the most expensive dish on the regular menu. Nearly every other item is less than $10, a price-point that, Cribari said, other area restaurateurs told him was too low.
“I’m not trying to get rich,” he said. “I just want to pay my bills and make my customers happy.”
Along the way, he’d like to give something special to the community that he’s called home all of his life.
He’s pledged to use as many locally sourced products as possible. And when he says local, he means local–produce from the Broad Street Market, a soup offering from the Soup Spot, perhaps some items from Garden Fresh Market & Deli, all located in Midtown Harrisburg. And, like Nonna’s did, he plans to start “dinner and movie” specials with the Midtown Cinema across the street.
But, mostly, he wants to give the neighborhood an affordable place to catch a nice meal, a restaurant that is friendly and comfortable and treats its patrons like one large, extended Italian family. In a way, he wants to re-create the feeling he had during his youth on Chestnut Street on Allison Hill, where food and family and friends all blended so warmly together.
“Having my own restaurant has always been my dream,” he said. “It’s even more special to be able to serve my neighborhood and community.”
Cribari’s Ristorante, 263 Reily St., Harrisburg. Open Monday to Thursday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. BYOB. 717-412-0550.
