Cocozza American Italian – Memphis Flyer

Love is in the air, so they say every time Valentine’s Day rolls around, but isn’t love always in the air? At least, we find that to be the case after delving into these three Memphis couples’ love stories. With class president battles, spilled spaghetti, and flutes and pianos, these stories are, dare we say, better than any rom-com.

Patrick + Deni (Photo: Justin Fox Burks)

Deni + Patrick

Patrick and Deni Reilly are at work together every day. Patrick is the chef and they’re both owners of three restaurants: The Majestic Grille, Cocozza American Italian, and the upcoming Cocozza American Italian location in East Memphis.

They remember when they met. Patrick, who is from Dublin, was general manager at the Gibson Lounge at the old Gibson Guitar Factory. Deni, who is from New Jersey, worked with DoubleTree hotels. Sean Costello introduced them at his concert in 2001 at the Gibson Lounge.

“I was pretty smitten,” Deni says. “I thought he was pretty cute.”

“I said we should go out to lunch sometime,” Patrick says. “And she leaned over and kissed me. And I said, ‘Or maybe dinner.’”

“I gave him my number,” Deni says.

They began dating. Deni remembers when her parents visited Memphis and met Patrick for the first time. Her mother told Deni’s sister, “She’s in love.”

“I was headed in that direction,” Deni says.

“It’s one of those things,” Patrick says. “We were friends for a while. Then we dated for awhile. We broke up for awhile. I was divorced and I was really gun-shy about another relationship, so it took a minute. I don’t know when I knew, but I knew when I made that commitment. And that was a couple of years later.”

Popping the question backfired at first, Patrick recalls. “I had a plan. I was going to propose at McEwen’s.”

He was all set to propose. “I had the ring, which my friend Suzanne Hamm helped me pick out, and I had it all arranged in my head.”

They went to dinner. “But for some reason they kind of rushed us out. They dropped the check on us really fast.”

So, Patrick didn’t have time to propose.

And, Deni says, “I also spilled spaghetti sauce all over my shirt.”

Patrick then came up with Plan B. The Christmas tree was still up at the Peabody Hotel, so he suggested they have a drink in the lobby. He thought that would be “a fun romantic spot” to ask for Deni’s hand.

But, he says, “There was a fire alarm or something and 200 people in their pajamas with blankets in the lobby. It was so strange. We ended up going home.”

“He lit the fire and some candles, took the ring out of his pocket and said, ‘Here,’” Deni says.

Patrick told her, “I’ve been trying to give you this all night.”

“I think I laughed and kissed him and said, ‘Yes,’” Deni says. — Michael Donahue

David + Holly (Photo: Courtesy David Shotsberger)

Holly + David

Music brought them together, and their music remains decades on.

“We met in piano class,” says David Shotsberger.

It was a mandatory class for serious music students on the campus of Penn State University, piano proficiency. In it, students sat at their own keyboards, listening to themselves on headphones. The professor could select which student to hear and speak to with a special headphone setup. A few keyboards away from his own, Shotsberger saw another student named Holly.

“I noticed her, and the professor noticed me noticing her and told me — through the headphones — to pay attention to the lesson,” Shotsberger says, laughing.

That was 1993. Holly studied flute performance. David studied music composition and theory. He was a hometown guy, from right there in State College. She was from Pittsburgh. They became friends.

About a year later, they ran into each other on campus and agreed on a date. Dinner was at the then-Penn-State-famous Gingerbread Man (or G-Man). The restaurant closed in 2014 to make way for Primanti Brothers, an iconic Pittsburgh sandwich shop and bar.

Whatever David and Holly talked about on that first date stuck, and that conversation almost certainly included music. For years, the couple would talk about music, play music together, and go to shows together. Holly would travel with, occasionally sing with, and sell merch for David’s family’s traveling gospel and country group, New Life.

The two stayed together and married in 1998 at the Eisenhower Chapel right on the campus of Penn State. That was May. By July, David had selected the University of Memphis for his doctoral work and the couple relocated to the Bluff City. By then, Holly earned a master’s degree in speech language pathology and a job hunt in a new city loomed.

“ I think when you’re that young, you’re just a little bit more adventurous, maybe, willing to go do new things and go to new places when you know no one there,” she says. “So, moving to Memphis felt like an exciting adventure at the time.”

They stuck together, relied on each other, established Memphis as home base, and made friends. Memphis was temporary, anyway. Who knew where they’d end up after David finished his doctorate program?

Turned out, Memphis had plans for David and Holly. He earned a one-year appointment at the U of M and later became the director of operations for the Memphis Symphony Orchestra for a couple of years. Holly worked as a speech language pathologist in early intervention clinics in Marion, Arkansas. David is now the creative director for Advent Presbyterian Church and directs the jazz band and teaches music technology at Rhodes College. The couple raised two children together, and Holly now works as a speech language pathologist in the Memphis-Shelby County Schools.

Memphis and music have remained constants in David and Holly’s lives and relationship over two decades here.

“For sure it’s about the people that we’ve met here,” Holly says. “Memphis has brought many dear friends that we’ve done life with for 25 years or so. They’re family now. So, that makes Memphis home.”

They still play music together and know each other in a special way that only musicians can. David says Holly is the person he’s played music with the longest, around 32 years or thereabouts.

“She’s one of the best musicians I’ve ever met in my life,” David says. — Toby Sells

Anthony + Patricia (Photo: Courtesy Patricia Lockhart)

Patricia + Anthony

In high school, Anthony and Patricia Lockhart ran against each other for class president. Patricia won, but Anthony, to this day, claims it was rigged.

“Now that is slightly true,” admits Patricia. “I think the principal had something to do with it. I didn’t get the popular vote, but I got the teacher vote.”

Still, that didn’t stop Anthony from asking her out once they were at the University of Memphis. “The light hit my skin just right one day,” she says. Anthony says they were distant friends and he wanted to see where things would go, so he looked up her email address in the campus directory.

“She sent her number back real quick,” he says.

For their first date, they went to McAllister’s Deli and the movies at the Malco Paradiso. Neither of them can remember what movie they saw, but they know it was a good first date and they know it was March 2005, an anniversary they still celebrate today. “I’m forced to do that,” Anthony says, to which Patricia replies, “Oh my gosh, you are not forced; you are highly recommended to comply.”

By November, Patricia had moved into Anthony’s, and by April, Anthony proposed. A year later, they were married. “This is not a story we recommend of our kids ’cause this is just the way the cookie crumbled for us,” Patricia says. “My aunties even were like, ‘Patricia, wait five years.’ And I didn’t see the point in waiting because I knew that I was going to be with him.”

“We had fun. We wanted to do everything together,” Anthony says. “We had a great time growing and experiencing each other. It was like we were progressing together. We had a lot of firsts together.”

“If I were to give advice to people, I would say the person that you married is going to change,” Patricia says. “The Anthony that’s sitting beside me is different from the Anthony — in some ways, not a whole lot of ways — that I married, that I started dating 20 years ago. His views have changed; taste buds have changed. And it’s all about loving a person through their changes, and Anthony has seriously loved me through all of my quirky changes and mood swings, especially with hormones and having kids — all of the things.”

“Communication is definitely necessary, either good or bad,” Anthony adds. “[You need to] have an open mind and communication.”

Today, Patricia, an assistant principal and writer (sometimes for the Flyer), and Anthony, a site inspector for the Memphis and Shelby County Division of Planning and Development, are parents to four children: Eve (11), Elijah (13), Elliott (13), and Aiden (16). The kids say their favorite parts of their parents’ marriage are their humor, how well they get along, and “the way dad looks down at mom and [she] looks up at [him] when [they’re] in the kitchen standing close to each other.” And Eve, especially, likes that she can poke fun at them.

“We’re a big family, and we enjoy each other, like genuinely enjoy being around each other,” Patricia says. “And what I love about being a parent with Anthony is that I could walk in and be like, ‘I’m a 20 percent parent today. That’s it.’ And he’s just like, ‘Okay, I got 60, and 80 is enough for today.’”

“I think parenting definitely helps you kind of grow a little bit,” Anthony adds.

But in between parenting and working, the two also know to make time for each other, to date each other. “I’ll be at work, and sometimes being an assistant principal is extra, extra stressful,” Patricia says. “I’ll get this calendar alert and it’s him putting a date on my calendar.” — Abigail Morici

Cocozza American Italian/Facebook

For The Majestic Grille, COVID-19 was the mother of re-invention.

Owners Deni and Patrick Reilly have not reopened the Downtown restaurant, not yet comfortable putting staff and diners at any risk. They are, however, putting their kitchen and patio to work, but completely transformed.

On Wednesday, July 15, the Reillys will unveil Cocozza American Italian. It’s a ghost concept, a virtual restaurant operating out of The Majestic kitchen but with an entirely separate brand and identity.

“The Majestic is not really viable right now with the current state of the economy and with the absence of our main revenue sources,” states Patrick. “Not only is the business not there yet, we’re just not comfortable putting our staff at risk indoors in a dining room setting with all the unknowns. When we reopen The Majestic Grille, we want it to be the full ‘majestic’ experience that both our staff and patrons crave.”
[pullquote-1] When Cocozza (pronounced cu-COH-zuh) opens next week, diners will have three ways to enjoy. To-go customers can order, prepay, and tip online at www.cocozzamemphis.com, and pick up orders at reserved, sign-posted spaces at Peabody Place and Main in their car or on foot at the entrance of The Majestic Grille. Or, Cocozza staff (wearing masks, of course) will bring orders to patrons in their cars.

You can also enjoy dinner on the newly decorated Majestic patio. That experience is touchless; menus and payments all available on your phone.

Can we talk about the food already, please? Yes. The food at Cocozza is the food that made you fall in love with food in the first place.

Cocozza offered a media preview of some of the dishes and drinks on their menu. It was an Italian feast in two bags. These two bags right here:

Here’s everything that was in those bags. Holy moly. (Yep, even the table cloth and red candle.)

We started with the antipasti plate, natch. It was a perfect mix of cured meats, cheese, and pickles, and roasted red peppers. It’s recommended for two to share but it was plenty for three of us and some leftover.

The baked garlic bread was simple and everything you want garlic bread to be. If it was an online date, the garlic bread’s ID photo would perfectly match it IRL. Crunchy, soft, garlic-y, and perfectly cheesy.

Cocozza’s bucatini alla enzo (Italian, I suppose, for all good things put together) is big, airy noodles tossed with prosciutto, pancetta, mushrooms, peas, garlic, and olive oil.

The spinach manicotti really hits you in the comfort zone. Its secret sauce is the secret sauce. Cocozza describes its red sauce as “old school red sauce.” And it shows.

I always wondered what Henry Hill’s (Ray Liotta) meat gravy tasted like in “Goodfellas.” Remember? He’s making it all coked up while constantly checking outside to see if the helicopters were still flying over? No? Check it here at around the :30 mark.

The Majestic Grille Unveils New Ghost Concept: Cocozza American Italian

It’s the kind of red sauce that takes all day. The kind you don’t have patience for so you splash some Ragu over some ziti and — bada-bing — that’s amore.

Cocozza has that time and you can taste it right there in the sauce. It was amazing on the manicotti, the eggplant parmesan (which hits the comfort-food bullseye), the meatballs, and the pencil points (penne). I’d probably eat the red sauce on a road-weary steel belt.

But the favorite of the preview, though, was the chicken piccata. I’ve probably seen this on menus and passed it right over. Never again. It’s a sautéed cutlet with lemon, capers, and white wine butter. After Cocozza’s, though, I’m not passing on the piccata ever again, especially theirs.

The drink menu is filled with Italian classics. The Pirlo is a white wine and Campari mix poured over Pellegrino and ice. The Spaghett “has hot summer day written all over it,” says Cocozza. For it, pour a Memphis Made Junt, add Aperol, with a squeeze of lemon. You will want to do this. The Frozen Strawberry Surrender is Old Dominick Honeybell Vodka Aperol, lemon juice, and strawberry syrup.

“We’ve pulled from family cookbooks, dishes from our favorite Jersey restaurants, and American Italian traditions that Deni and her family grew up with,” says Patrick Reilly.

The Cocozza food and drink menus are full, maybe not what I thought with a ghost-concept restaurant. You can indulge childhood favorites, like fried mozzarella and ravioli. Or, get a grilled filet or baked salmon oreganata.

Either way, Cocazza is as versatile as the Reillys during this pandemic. Order it in (or sit on the patio) if you’re trying to impress that special someone. Or, order it in and get that added layer of comfort as you and yours lounge on the couch in your sweats.

Oh, the name, right. Cocozza comes from Deni Reilly’s American Italian roots. Her grandfather’s family came from a tiny town called Filignano in what is now the Molise Region of Italy where generations of Cocozza men served as mayor. Just like many turn-of-the-century immigrants, her great-grandfather, went by another name, Ferguson, when he arrived in the states, forgoing the family name, Cocozza.

Don’t forget about the Helen’s Favorite Tiramisu. It’ll be your favorite soon, too.

For more information, look ’em up on Insta, Facebook, and Twitter all at @CocozzaMemphis.