The Ohio State neighborhood lost a landmark as Casa di Pasta closed doors at 2321 N. High St. at the end of January.

At 78, owner Stella Lombardi-Chapin decided to call it quits, selling the building to Sushil and Sunita Malhotra of India.

The restaurant will reopen in March as Delhi Darbar, which means “meeting place” in Indian, Chapin said. The Malhotra couple are in India and unavailable for comment.

“The mind wants to do it, but the body just can’t,” Chapin said.

After nearly 35 years of business, Casa di Pasta celebrated its closing with long-time customers on Jan. 27.

“(The customers) showered me as if I was a bride,” Chapin said.

“It was a fun, fun night with John Cooper, Jim Tressel and all of the old customers,” said Gloria Lombardi, Chapin’s sister and manager to Casa di Pasta for 20 years.

The decision to close was a difficult one for Chapin.

“It was like there was a death in the family,” she said, trying to hold back tears.

Ironically, the birth of Casa di Pasta was linked to another death in Chapin’s life. In 1965, her son Ricky was killed in an automobile accident near her house.

“I was devastated,” she said. “My husband told me I had to do something with my life.”

Chapin said her inspiration for Casa di Pasta came from her children.

“They said since I was always cooking for other people, I might as well open a restaurant,” she said.

Chapin began the daily task of making fresh pastas and sauces for paying customers on the corner of High St. and Northwood Ave. in 1969. Following the old family traditions, Chapin made all of the meals from scratch, but it was worth all of the trouble, she said.

“My customers cried for my meatballs,” she said.

Chapin almost made her customers cry when she thought about closing the restaurant after three years because of conflicts with the building.

“The lease was up and we didn’t know if we wanted to go on,” she said.

Chapin changed her mind when she found a house reminiscent of the villas she had seen on an Italian vacation.

However, the North High Street location was not the dream restaurant she had imagined. Chapin and her husband busied themselves with renovations, including reinforcing the floors with steel beams, before the restaurant opened again in 1972.

Chapin had other innovative ideas for her business. After a vacation to New York, she decided to tear up the front yard of the restaurant, installing Columbus’ first outdoor seating.

“I wanted a little Rockefeller Center in front of my restaurant,” Chapin said.

Chapin had a new dining hall built within 30 days after hearing Sen. Ted Kennedy would be visiting Casa di Pasta while visiting Columbus. The new area was slated to be named the Kennedy Room until the senator canceled his trip, Chapin said. The name was changed to the Opera Room and began hosting weekly performances by OSU music students.

Chapin and Lombardi agree some of the Kennedys were still one of the restaurant’s favorite customers, despite the senator’s failure to keep the dinner date.

“Ethel Kennedy was so sweet and lovable to my dad,” Lombardi said. “They were so down to earth and made us feel like family.”

OSU football players held a special spot in Casa di Pasta’s heart, Lombardi said.

“They would come into the kitchen and chat with us after they ate,” she said.

Bob Eckhart, a Casa di Pasta regular, was saddened by the closing. Eckhart, an OSU English lecturer, ate at the restaurant almost every day for seven years, he said.

“It’s like a hole in my heart,” he said. “It was a real campus institution.”

Eckhart said he was impressed by Chapin’s success in an era when women business owners and Italian restaurants were a rarity.

“She started when there were only three Italian restaurants in Columbus — she is really a trend-setter,” Eckhart said.

Former OSU President Harold Enarson and his wife Audrey always felt welcome in the Italian eatery.

“We could go there and be informal without having to be the president,” Audrey Enarson said.