CAJUN CONNECTION A taste of New Orleans

Louisiana sisters create a new life here by opening a Cajun restaurant.
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
YOUNGSTOWN -- Cynthia Campo's eyes welled up -- but just briefly -- as she spoke of leaving her flood-soaked past behind in Louisiana.
Tuesday was Mardi Gras, after all, and it was a time to celebrate -- even if you have lost your home, your job and your community.
"It's only sad if you let it be," Campo, 25, said as she put away some family snapshots, which are all she has left of her life in St. Bernard Parish.
These certainly aren't sad times for Campo and her sisters. They sang and danced together Monday night as they finished preparing for the opening of their new restaurant -- Cajun Connection at 7 S. Richview Ave.
The celebration continued Tuesday when city hall workers placed the restaurant's first order -- Southern fried chicken, country catfish, Cajun shrimp and seafood gumbo.
Displaced by Hurricane Katrina in August, Campo and her sister, Virginia Dalon, 29, have made the West Side their new home.
Family here
It was an easy decision. Their sister, Dawnell Campo-Salway, 40, has lived here for 15 years and encouraged them and their parents to come here as the hurricane approached. Once their homes were devastated, Mahoning Valley residents overwhelmed them with gifts of money, clothes, toys and furniture for rented homes.
"The community gave me a sense that I wanted to be here," Campo said. "Even though I can't fish for crabs, I'm looking forward to building a new life here."
The family's livelihood used to depend on commercial fishing -- trapping crabs, dredging oysters and trawling for shrimp. Donald Campo, whom the sisters affectionately call Daddy, had his line of ships nearly wiped out.
He and his wife, Peggy, also have been living on the West Side but are considering restarting the fishing business. The sisters' four other siblings either have returned to Louisiana or stayed in other states that they fled to.
Staying put
The sisters who are here, however, say they are remaining. Both have two children. Virginia's husband, Garry Dalon Jr., is working at Home Depot in Salem, and she is working at a Boardman restaurant.
She said there is no reason to go back to Louisiana.
She would be worried about her children contracting diseases. Her sisters are here, and friends have moved out.
Her home was filled with five feet of water, so she considers everything a total loss, though the insurance company isn't covering the full value of the home or its contents. She isn't sure how she will pay off her mortgage without the insurance.
Those thoughts, however, are on the back burner as the sisters work on creating the restaurant.
No one in the family has operated a restaurant before, but Campo-Salway said developing the menu was easy.
"This is real New Orleans food," she said. "When we used to go to Virginia's, she had red beans and rice cooking on the stove. Daddy really does make gumbo."
For now, the restaurant is located in the back of a Mahoning Avenue building and offers only carry-out and delivery service. The front of the building is vacant, and the sisters hope to open a dining room in a few months.
They worked with city officials and the state's Small Business Development Center in preparing a 29-page business plan. The key, they think, is a market niche -- authentic Cajun food.
"I know we'll do well," Campo-Salway said.
Measure of success
She added that she'd like to think they would be so successful that they would be sipping drinks in the Caribbean next winter, but her real measure of success comes from her father.
"My Daddy told me, 'Success is you being able to pay your bills. Virginia being able to pay her bills. Cynthia being able to pay her bills, and you all singing and dancing when you close for the day."
XCajun Connection is open daily from 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. The phone number is (330) 779-0177.
shilling@vindy.com