12 minute read
A Little Pizza Their Hearts
By Dan Knapp
Osso buco specials aren’t something you’ll find at most diners. Authentic house-made bronze-die bucatini at a drive-in? Unlikely. And a slice of Italian sopressata hot honey pizza at a neighborhood dive? Fuhgeddaboudit.
So when Food Network star Guy Fieri rolled up to Northern Kentucky’s Camporosso restaurant in his tomato-red ‘68 Camaro to film an episode of “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” earlier this summer, it begged the question: Which category could this upscale eatery possibly fit into?
“I’d say we’d be a drive-in diner dive because it’s an old renovated, repurposed gas station,” laughs Eric Redfield ’89 CI, who — along with his wife Amy ’85 ED — converted an abandoned depressionera Sunoco station in Fort Mitchell into one of greater Cincinnati’s most celebrated family restaurants. “I think it’s a combination of everything.”
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It’s mid-afternoon on a late-July Tuesday, long past the expected lunch rush, but there’s still no open table inside the bustling dining room. An elderly gentleman totters past Eric, extends his hand and congratulates the newly minted local celebrity on his national TV debut — his 15 minutes of fame now served wood-fired and well-seasoned. It’s been like this since the episode premiered, when word spread that the community-minded business had its story brought to a national stage.
Outside, the covered patio is just as packed. The mercury hovers around 100. That sultry, velvet breath the Ohio River exhales hangs heavy in the heat, saturating everything (and everyone) in a sticky haze. Industrial-sized fans positioned on the perimeter provide relief to local devotees and curious newcomers drawn in by the show — diners willing to brave the sweltering heat for a bubbling, authentic taste of Naples.
The Redfields say that ardent fans of “Triple D” — as the show is also known — have converged on Camporosso from places like Philadelphia, Atlanta and Minneapolis just to get a taste of their much-talked-about fare.
“There are some people that will travel just to eat at “Triple D” spots — one guy told me this was his 140th!” Eric explains, incredulously. “They’ll come into town, eat, then catch a Reds game, visit the zoo or check out something unique to the area. They do that all over the U.S.”
Filming occurred over the first weekend in May — Derby weekend, one of the restaurant’s busiest — and Eric, although slightly disappointed they had to close their doors for the cameras, says he was a little starstruck when Fieri showed up.
“It was very exciting,” Eric smiles, calling the visit “electric.” “He was as nice and genuine in person as he is on TV. It’s unbelievable how he relates to people. It was like meeting somebody you hadn’t seen from high school in 35 years and catching up. That’s how he was; you could tell it was genuine.”
Eric admits he got more than a little choked up when the spikyhaired host and undisputed Mayor of Flavortown took a bite of his signature Cincinnati chili pizza and responded with the kind of emphatic, no-notes approval that chefs dream about.
“He goes, ‘This is dynamite.’ I started crying,” Eric confides. “I was trying not to, but the emotion just came out because we’re throwing our hearts into this, and to see it blossom and develop and to be so successful — it’s overwhelming.”
Although Eric’s emotional response was captured in a quick cutaway scene, Fieri’s effusive comments weren’t reserved just to Camporosso’s pizza with the lighter-than-air crust. After tasting the Bucatini all’Amatriciana, Fieri quipped, “The pasta really sings here, baby! You’d pry that out of my dead hands” before assuring the Redfields they’d “graduated to a level that many want but very few succeed.”
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This year, Camporosso — Italian for “red field,” a cheeky callback to the owners’ surname — expects to have receipts north of $4 million, not bad for a neighborhood joint with a maximum occupancy of 125 guests at any given time. The Redfields say that owner involvement is a key part of their success.
“We’ve been very fortunate with our financial growth from when we started until now,” Eric says, “and that allows us to not only take care of our staff, but we’re also taking care of retirement. It’s allowing us to support the goals that we’re passionate about and see where this will take us.”
Success looks good on the Redfields, but it hasn’t been easy. They acknowledge these days demand longer hours than their past corporate jobs ever did — Amy worked with clients like Pepsi and Nabisco in the hospitality industry, while Eric specialized in medical sales for Johnson & Johnson — but retiring early and plunging headlong into making pizza was the culmination of a decades-long dream.
“We talked about it for 30 years,” Amy says with a hearty laugh, “and then one day, I looked at him and said, ‘just do it.’”
Their leap into a new line of work came at an unconventional time. When the Redfields — soon-to-be empty nesters in, as Eric describes, the “Indian Summer” of their careers — finally took the plunge, daughter Shannon ’17 AS ’18 AFE was finishing her undergraduate degrees at UK and their other daughter, Jordan ’18 MED, was on her way to becoming a gastroenterologist.
“They didn’t grow up in the restaurant,” Amy says, “but they’ve absolutely watched it grow — from the very first dough stretch.”
“Amy and I, as well as two of our kids, are all proud UK graduates,” Eric beams. “It is a special place for all of us. Our son Adam, who graduated from West Point, is probably the biggest UK sports fan of all of us.”
The Redfields say that they saw a market void they wanted to fill. They wanted a place where people could come celebrate — after a sporting event or dance recital, “somewhere that the whole family could come and get something out of that experience.”
However, before they jumped ship on their regular 9-to-5s, the couple learned all they could about the restaurant business and crafting authentic Italian food. They imported an oven from Italy that they had installed in the driveway of their home, where they spent countless hours mastering the art of achieving a perfectly blistered pizza crust. They searched for the ideal location for their pizzeria and came upon the derelict garage hidden in plain sight on the edge of the old Dixie Highway. Eric was skeptical, but Amy, the granddaughter of an architect, recognized the building’s inherent charm and good bones.
Although it was a chore resurrecting a building suffering from both neglect and years of patchwork repair, the couple’s dream was finally realized in April of 2017.
Recalling the building’s humble origin, an operable garage door remains a focal point for the dining room. An imposing Marni Forni pizza oven that can bake a Margherita in about two minutes now sits front-and-center on the same spot where Model Ts and old jalopies once had their oil changed and tires rotated.
While the 1100-degree oven steals the spotlight, offering some visual spectacle with the dining experience, there’s one thing visitors won’t see: a freezer. Every item at Camporosso is prepared fresh every day — nothing is frozen.
“Our dough is proofed for a full 48 hours, and the sauce is made with fresh tomatoes that never hit heat until they hit the oven,” boasts Eric. “All those things make for an outstanding Neapolitan pizza. That’s our bread and butter; that’s really why people come back.”
Quicker than you can say “quattro formaggi,” Camporosso became a sensation with its extensive wine list, a distinctive streamlined menu and, perhaps most importantly, exceptional service.
“When a customer walks out the door, I want to ensure we exceeded their expectations,” Eric says. “Were they excited? Did they enjoy themselves? Did they feel like they were at a dinner party at my home? We try to provide an elevated customer experience at lunch, at dinner, you name it. If someone’s not happy here for whatever reason, I’m not happy.”
Asked what advice he might offer his younger self about opening a restaurant, Eric laughs, “Do it sooner — prepare yourself and just do it.”
“My younger self would never have envisioned our success,” he adds. “If you had told me before we opened that I could write the script on this restaurant and how it’s going to end up, I would’ve way, way undershot.”
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The Redfields are glad they accepted the invitation to have their dishes featured on the Food Network, but it wasn’t an opportunity they sought out. After hearing Eric deliver a keynote address at the 2025 International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas, “Triple D” talent scouts approached the couple. His 42-minute talk was a deep dive into the couple’s business ethos: offering culinary excellence, engaging their staff and championing community involvement. Those same values helped earn Camporosso the title of “Pizzeria of the Year” in August 2024 from the influential industry publication “Pizza Today.”
Sitting at a high-top table near the entrance, the Redfields sport branded shirts bearing the corporate logo. But just as the couple wear their hearts on their sleeves figuratively, they also showcase their guiding values quite literally: stitched into the fabric is a reference to a Biblical scripture that calls for humility and selflessness. It’s more
than a design detail; it’s a quiet reminder of the servant-hearted philosophy that shapes everything: from how they treat their guests to how they lead their team.
“We measure every decision against Philippians 2:3-4, “you not only look out for your own needs, but look out for the needs of others,” Eric paraphrases. “So that’s what we’re doing right now: ‘Is it good for this business and does it help other people?’ Who can’t get behind the general principle of looking out for the needs of others? It’s that simple. And since we opened, Amy and I have used this as a platform to serve others.”
Their dedication to employees and community shines through in a thousand different ways — like during the early days of the pandemic, when Camporosso distributed 100% of profits to staff and provided more than a thousand meals to frontline workers. Guided by this core value, the restaurant adapted quickly, adding takeout that became a surprising hit. With creative teamwork and support from Fort Mitchell officials, they balanced safety with service, all while loyal customers kept coming through the doors.
That spirit of service didn’t begin — or end — with a crisis. It’s baked into the business itself, from backing local sports leagues and hosting fundraising nights — like the sold-out event in early August that raised $60,000 for a fellow UK Wildcat suffering from a traumatic brain injury to help him get back on his feet — to rallying behind key neighborhood causes. Just as intentionally, the Redfields have worked to foster a workplace where everyone feels seen, respected and empowered to be themselves.
“Our team is made up of a lot of different people with different perspectives on life,” Eric explains. “We have employees of every religion, every sexual orientation all with varying political beliefs. Everyone has a voice. You can’t live on the extremes. You just can’t. Nothing gets done; nothing gets settled.”
As if on cue, Miles Laird, a longtime employee with Down syndrome featured on “Triple D,” sidles up to the table with a wave and a plastic container full of blue-frosted cupcakes for a coworker’s baby shower later that afternoon. He’s part of a spirited crew united in the Redfields’ mission to deliver service — and exceptional food — with a smile.
“It’s really simple: we just don’t talk politics here,” Eric adds with a grin. “We have employees as liberal as it gets and as conservative as it gets. And I don’t care if I’m somewhere in the middle — nothing gets resolved if people are arguing.”
That inclusive mindset has fostered something rare in the restaurant world: longevity. While industry turnover rates can hover around 75%, Camporosso’s attrition is a scant 10%, with many team members still on staff since the restaurant opened.
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The Pizzeria of the Year honor followed a string of other highprofile accolades, including top placement on numerous “Best Of” lists in the Cincinnati area and a nod from “Food & Wine,” which named Camporosso — along with Louisville’s Impellizzeri’s — as having the best pizza in the Commonwealth. (The 2021 list praised the pies as both “modern, glamour-puss pizza” and “gorgeous, often admirably true-to-style Neapolitans.”)
Even in the wake of a tidal wave of praise and media buzz, the Redfields and their team of four dozen employees aren’t floating on the sea of acclaim. If anything, Eric says, the swell of recognition has only raised the bar — pushing them to elevate both the food and the experience with relentless focus and care.
“With every one of those accolades, it makes us work harder,” Eric rationalizes. “We’re working harder to ensure we live up to that expectation. Yesterday, we (the staff and I) talked about the national and local exposure. We have to make sure we improve day to day, and then every guest leaves satisfied. So yeah, it’s gratifying, but we don’t take it for granted.”
Drive-in, diner or dive — it might not matter. Around here, it’s just known as Camporosso: the place where the food sings, the public connect and the heart behind it all beats a little stronger, every single day. ■
