Lauren Yee
Every year, a few days before the Yale College Opening Assembly, Claire Criscuolo of Claire’s Corner Copia, the vegetarian cafe on the corner of Chapel and College St., asks her staff to be just a bit more warm than required to the customers who push past their glass doors. “You were probably one of the smartest in your high school,” she tells me, “and now you’re here and you’re not the best anymore.” Her remedy to imposter syndrome, a phenomenon as ancient as Yale itself, is a steaming cup of tea, served in a mug bearing the words “be kinder than necessary,” alongside a generous slice of her popular Lithuanian cake with crumble topping.
When I first visited Yale for Bulldog Days, my mother and I headed straight from Union Station to Claire’s. Over the pleasant din of chatter and delicious vegetarian Reuben sandwiches, we talked about what the next four years of my life would look like. Because I eat a strictly kosher diet, I thought I would be making gastronomic sacrifices by making the move from Los Angeles to New Haven. Little did I know the fluffiest flax-seed pancakes I’d ever had were waiting on the other side for me.
When viruses sweep across Yale College, snowballing into the ominous Yague, Claire’s offers soothing options with organic ingredients. Claire remembers, “I had girls come up to the register, sniffling, asking ‘is there anything you can make me for my cold?’ So we made the Sick Girl’s Tea.” Featuring fragrance notes of cinnamon, lemon, ginger, honey and black pepper, the warm drink soothes the throat and warms the spirit, offering a touch of nurture for students who may be thousands of miles away from home for the first time. “Then I had boys coming in, lowering their voices, ‘can I have the Sick Girl’s Tea too?’ I said, ‘Of course, but you don’t need to whisper.’”
There’s nothing Claire loves more than uniting diverse crowds. When you walk into the restaurant, you’ll find a snaking line filled with people ranging from Yale professors to Orthodox Jews road tripping from Waterbury; practicing Muslims to undergrads who just want a kale smoothie on their way to class on Old Campus (guilty as charged). “When we sit down and talk, we often find that we all want the same things,” Claire says. “That’s why none of our baked goods contain alcohol (so Muslims can eat them), and all of our food is certified kosher.” The team takes their kosher status seriously, carefully inspecting all produce for bugs.
Growing up in a low-income family on the glittering Amalfi Coast of Italy, Claire’s mother emphasized whole foods like grains, legumes and vegetables. “She cooked that way because it’s all we had,” she recalls, “but nowadays, you get charged eighteen dollars a plate for Italian food.”
A former psychiatric nurse, Claire says she had a dream to become a psychologist. But in a time when student loans were uncommon, Claire said she chose to go to nursing school instead, spending her career primarily helping people affected by drug addiction.
Her childhood experiences were formative in developing her attitude toward empathy. Claire shares with a note of facetiousness, “I have a brother who is gay, and he wasn’t more or less annoying than any other brother.” Claire also grew up alongside a cousin, Suzanne, who had Down’s Syndrome. “She wanted the same things we all want.”
For the cafe’s 49th birthday, Claire’s is partnering with The Yale Child Study to help study child aggression. If you buy one of their beautiful soy candles (there’s even one scented like their famous Lithuanian cake), you’ll be contributing directly to that cause. If you mention their anniversary, you might just get a free sample of one of their spicy and sweet autumn drinks.
Claire sees her role in New Haven as to exude simple, old-fashioned compassion, fueled by plant power. She references the CDC-Kaiser ACE study, which tracks how adverse childhood events can be correlated with negative adulthood outcomes, including ill health or even death. “My question when I see someone in need is ‘what happened to you?’” she says. “Because what does it really take to hold the door open for someone who’s dropped their books or to offer someone in need a drink?”