Campbell couple offers taste of Latin America in new restaurant



Mark and Milly Rosa, owners of Calle Doce at 284 12th St. in Campbell, stand outside of their restaurant and bar. The husband and wife are Puerto Rican and wanted to bring a taste of their culture to the city.
By EMMALEE C. TORISK
CAMPBELL
Stepping outside of Calle Doce often leads to a sudden, and rather unfortunate, jolt back to reality.
Gone are the potted palm trees, the faux windows open to photographs of lush Puerto Rican landscapes, and the mouth-watering smells of dishes such as pernil y arroz con gandules (roasted pork, rice and pigeon peas) and bistec encebollado con arroz y habichuela (steak with rice and beans) wafting from the kitchen.
You’re back on 12th Street in Campbell, despite feeling as though you’ve just left a beachside restaurant.
That reality check is precisely what Mark and Milly Rosa, the owners of Calle Doce, are hoping for.
“My wife and I travel to Puerto Rico, and we enjoy the culture, the food,” Mark said, noting that they visit about once a year. “When we come back here, unless we have family members making it, we can’t find [the food]. We wanted to bring a slice of Puerto Rico to Campbell, Ohio, to make people feel at home.”
The restaurant and bar, at 284 12th St., opened barely two months ago, though Mark and Milly, who live in Campbell, began their planning long before.
“A lot of long days and a lot of long nights,” plus three times the original budget, went into transforming a former Pizza Joe’s into Calle Doce, Mark said, adding that the entire process took about a year.
Mark and Milly are Puerto Rican, and said they based the original menu on traditional dishes they grew up eating. Their Peruvian chef, Juan Carlos Eyzaguirre, helped them to expand their offerings to include food from other Latin American countries, as well.
Now, the menu also boasts options from Peru and Cuba. Most meals prominently feature rice, a staple of Puerto Rican cooking, along with plantains, beans and roasted pork.
“These are our parents’ recipes,” Mark said. “How much more authentic can you get?”
Milly added that everything on the menu, including appetizers and American food, has so far sold very well. Items that didn’t were taken off, she said, noting that she and Mark are always open to suggestions.
“The biggest critics? Our own culture,” Milly said. “We’ll do whatever to get it right.”
Both Mark and Milly admitted that this is their first stab at owning and operating a restaurant.
The two, who said they had no idea what they were getting into when they began dreaming of running a Puerto Rican restaurant, still work full-time jobs when they’re not at Calle Doce. Mark is an electrical contractor, while Milly is an administrative assistant. It’s a lot to take on, they said, and they depend a lot on their chefs, bartenders and servers — a team of eight.
The effort the couple has already put in and will continue to put in is worth it, however, especially when they see the expressions of delight on their customers’ faces, Milly said.
“It’s been fun,” Mark said. “I hope we stick, and I think we will.”
Calle Doce, which means “12th Street” in Spanish, is open Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and on Fridays and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to midnight. Fridays and Saturdays also feature dancing, and the bar stays open until 2:30 a.m.