BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Heavy hearts were balanced with perspective Friday for Rachael and Luke Prosseda.
The siblings, who had talked about running a restaurant for more than a decade, realized a dream in the opening of the Vineyard Di Norma.
The family bought The Vineyard, an Italian restaurant in Fountain Hill, in September 2021, and a rebranding followed.
But Friday morning, Rachael Prosseda shared the “difficult decision” to close the doors of the Vineyard di Norma for good, effective Dec. 24.
“It goes without saying owning a restaurant is hard and expensive, and lots of aspects of it are out of your control," she said in a phone call.
"You can only do so much to influence people and get the word out.
“It was difficult for us to break through and show who we are and what we value and why we do what we do, and it was really important that we do those things.
"It wasn’t an easy decision. It wasn’t a quick decision. It just comes down to it being really tough financially to sustain.”
A full family affair
The siblings considered the restaurant, at 605 N Fiot St., an homage to their ancestral home in Italy.
They spoke to LehighValleyNews.com in February 2023, describing the cooking as labor intensive and “a very slow process. A very proud process …very much pomp and circumstance.”
The restaurant also has been a full family affair. Their parents moved to the Lehigh Valley, with cousins following.
They all helped run things, Rachael Prosseda said, and patrons seemed excited to see the restaurant with new beginnings.
“While it was met really well, it wasn’t able to be sustained,” Prosseda said.
“It was a hard location in Fountain Hill. [In terms of eating out] people plan ahead, understandingly, but because it’s a little bit trickier of a location and it’s not a strip mall you can pull into, maybe it limits people’s idea of, ‘Where can we go for dinner tonight?’"
But she described guests as kind and generous, and connections created to local farmers, artisans, creators and community members.
“We were able to build a family within the service industry — people who encouraged and supported,” she said.
'This is what we believe in'
In the restaurant’s final days, Prosseda said, the family has no regrets about how things have played out.
They’re also mulling over plans, she said.
“My brother, absolutely, this is life," she said. "Cheffing is his career.
“We’re really supporting him and we have some ideas, but it really might be an opportunity for him to kind of grow and how we can support him in that.”
"We never lost that perspective. Even when it was the hardest, we thought, we’re going to keep standing by our ethics and still doing that because this is what we believe in."Rachael Prosseda
While there’s no hard concept or plan for what might come next, the Vineyard di Norma will hold pop-ups with friends from Life in Liquid featuring “creative and innovative cocktails," she said.
The dinner events will take place from 6-9 p.m. Nov. 13-14 for tiki-themed drinks, along with fun bites and foods in the Thanksgiving/Hawaiian fusion area.
She said if things go well, they hope to do it again in December.
“We want to showcase what we’re about, which is having fun, being creative and offering high-quality, tasty food and showcasing our vendors," Prosseda said.
"We never lost that perspective. Even when it was the hardest, we thought, we’re going to keep standing by our ethics and still doing that because this is what we believe in.
“Again, it makes us feel good and we have no regrets. We have such an amazing staff and we love them so much. All of our front of the house servers are like ‘We’re staying ‘til the end.’
“We want to go out with a bang and celebrate what we’ve done.”
