Copia comes to Clayton

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Photography by Kevin A. Roberts

The 36-ounce prime rib with broccoli and Yukon mashed potatoes

When the flagship Copia opened downtown, 14 years ago, diners gawked at its sheer size: 18,000 square feet and a massive rear patio with a retractable roof—the city’s first. Co-owner Amer Hawatmeh is a graduate of the “bigger is better” school of business, so when the 200-seat former Morton’s space became available, the onetime owner of Clayton’s Nantucket Cove, yearning to return to the modish suburb, joined forces with partner Eyad “ET” Tammas. Copia is both novel and old-school. Tammas’ idea was to bring a winery feel to an urban restaurant. Hawatmeh, a C-store operator, also envisioned Copia as a retail outlet for wine, selling it for less than other restaurants do (35 percent more than wholesale for to-go bottles or a $10 corkage fee in house). Wine is displayed everywhere: behind the host stand, on dividers and racks throughout the red-painted–and–limestone-veneered rooms, and in a private Champagne room with sliding glass barn doors. There are 900 varieties in all, including 40 offered by the glass. The presence of Copia, the Roman goddess of plenty, also extends to the plate. (Prime rib is offered in four generous cuts, including a Flintstones-esque 96-ouncer.) But the prices are more befitting Epiphron, the Greek god of frugality. (An 8-ounce tenderloin dinner with duck butter is just $31.95.) The Clayton location has a patio, too, and thanks to live music and late-night happy hours it’s become a mid-county magnet. “And if we could have done another retractable roof,” says Hawatmeh, “believe me, we would have.”