At Coppia in Chesterland, a Fine Dining Gem Worth the Journey

It’s no small feat to make some noise when you’re a tiny, not-inexpensive restaurant tucked away in sleepy Chesterland, but that’s precisely what Hedy Pastrán and Talia Trovato are doing at Coppia. The chefs, who met while working at the highly regarded Victoria & Albert’s restaurant at Disney’s Grand Floridian, have managed to bring fine dining down to an approachable level without surrendering one ounce of its grandeur.

For nearly 15 years, this modest ranch had been home to Sapore, a lovely restaurant affiliated with the Paganini School of Cooking next door. Early in 2022, the property quietly changed hands and reopened as Coppia. With the affiliation to the culinary school severed, the new operators had free rein in the kitchen to forge a new path. And where other up-and-coming chefs might be eager to flex their five-star cred, earned while working in extravagant resort and country club dining rooms, Pastrán and Trovato know precisely when and where to step on the gas.

“We strive to make people feel like they’re not in this small, little ranch in Chesterland, but that they are about to embark on a culinary journey,” says Trovato.

At Coppia, that journey can go one of two ways: a la carte or tasting menu. For far-flung guests like us, it made sense to go the prix fixe route so we could sample a larger variety of dishes. If I lived close by and made more frequent visits, I’d likely go the a la carte route and select the appetizers, entrees and desserts that appealed to me. Disillusioned by previous tasting menus experiences that simultaneously lasted too long and offered too little, I was more than pleasantly surprised by the ones delivered here.

Dubbed Cornucopia ($75) and Cashmere Coastline ($90), the four-course meals offered outstanding quality, variety and value thanks to robust portion sizes. The seasonal menus managed to bridge the gap between late summer and early fall, with clever nods to both along the way. One journey kicked off with the prettiest little lobster roll. Tucked into a housemade split-top bun and trimmed with microgreens, the sandwich had us pining for the coast of Maine. The other meal launched with an autumnal salad of greens, butternut squash, pumpkin seeds and goat cheese, all tied together with a warm maple syrup vinaigrette.

Next up was a pitch-perfect presentation of scallops, seared to a deep mahogany hue and arranged in a bed of grits. The grits were creamy but not overly indulgent and lardons of smoky andouille sausage nudged the dish into sweater territory. The other menu featured an elegant play on hash, with lush ribbons of shredded duck confit paired with golden brown potato quarters. Billed as “papas bravas” on the menu, we expected a blast of heat but there was none.

We chose to order wines by the glass as we went, but the chefs are happy to provide suggested pairings as part of the deal. To start, we enjoyed a white Sancerre ($16) and a white Rioja ($16). As the meal progressed, we moved onto glasses of Montepulciano ($16). Many around us were sipping creative seasonal cocktails conceived and mixed by the chefs at the tiny four-stool bar.

Tasting-menu meals are often plagued by excessive commentary on the pedigree of the ingredients enlisted and the chef’s motivation behind each dish. At Coppia I actually craved more information. Courses were often delivered with little or no explanation at all short of the name of the dish, typically a cute but enigmatic moniker like the Turkey Pardon and Steak Bravo. In this instance, the turkey was spared by a duck breast, whose cross-hatched skin was crisped up brilliantly, the meat below cooked to a buttery medium-rare. The sliced meat was paired with savory sauteed collard greens and a wedge of Thanksgiving-flavored stuffing. For proof that Coppia tasting menus do not conform to convention, look no further than that Steak Bravo, which stars a 14-ounce grilled ribeye, sweet potato fries and a dish of horseradish cream sauce.

Our sweet finishes of choice included tender poached pear with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce and a peanut butter mousse-filled pastry with chocolate ganache and nuts. Like every other dish that exited the kitchen, the plates were artfully arranged without veering into pretentious tweezer-land.

Come early December, Pastrán and Trovato will retire the autumn menu and unveil a winter-themed one. Guests can expect return appearances of ingredients like scallops, lamb, pork, duck and steak, but the preparations and supporting cast will have changed, thus giving food-loving fans delicious reasons to return.

Coppia
8623 Mayfield Rd., Chesterland
440-688-4480
coppiarestaurant.com

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