Growing up in New Haven’s Wooster Square, colloquially known as Little Italy, Claire Criscuolo picked up a thing or two about making hearty, home-cooked meals. Last week, the restaurant she’s owned and operated for most of her life, Claire’s Corner Copia — a staple for Yale students and locals, located right down the Green — turned 47 years old. 

In 1975, a newlywed Claire and her husband, Frank, found themselves “struck by how restaurant food was so different from [their] food at home.” On visits to Frank’s native Gloucester, Massachusetts, the two frequently ate at a restaurant named “The Raven,” where she enjoyed authentic food made with fresh ingredients.