Every senior has some trepidation about leaving campus life behind in eight months. For most, their anxieties arise from knowing they will soon be part of nothing more than the Great American Rat Race. Friends, kegs and alarm clocks sounding off at noon will all be things of the past. For me, my biggest concern has been leaving Campo de Fiori’s meatball sandwiches behind.
When I returned to Boston University last month to find my favorite lunch spot closed, I was thrust into a personal hell eight months before I was due. The first week of class, I checked back everyday, each time greeted by the same sign on the door:
Dear Patrons,
Due to a major technical problem with our equipment, we are obliged to close until repaired! We will do our best to re-open ASAP. Thank you for your patience.
The Campo Team
When a close friend, and fellow Campo-lover, told me the eatery had been closed since July, I knew something was seriously wrong. I started making phone calls. Actually, the same call repeatedly. I called in the evening, in the morning, on weekdays, on weekends — no one ever picked up at Campo headquarters.
The same friend reported that she had recently seen the manager of Campo near West Campus. She said he looked lost and downtrodden. This couldn’t go on any longer.
I had formed an unspoken relationship with this man. He was like an elementary school lunch lady sans the hairnet, who was there day after day seeing to it that I was nourished. You knew you could count on her, but did you every really let her know how much she was appreciated?
I started making plans. Legend had it – and by legend I mean an old Campo menu I kept pinned up on the fridge — that another Campo existed in Cambridge. I Googled the address and rounded up some friends who weren’t faint of heart. We rendezvoused at the BU Bridge at high noon and pointed our bicycles north. After a pit stop at the Shell Station to fill our tires and polish our kickstands, we set off along the Charles River.
Somewhere along the way, I began planning what I would order when we arrived at the Cambridge Campo. A meatball sandwich alone wouldn’t do. I would need at least a slice or two of pizza and a blueberry muffin. But what about the delicious roast beef and fontina cheese combination they dubbed the “Como?” I could always get a couple and freeze them.
Then the semesters of economics classes started to shine through. Why not buy a bushel of Campo goods, freeze them and sell them at a slight mark-up outside the BU Campo? I made a quick stop at a nearby 7-11 and bought out their entire supply of freezer bags. My journey would be rewarded in so many ways.
We wound our way through Harvard Square, receiving more than a few honks and hand gestures. There’s no time for traffic laws when Campo de Fiori waits.
We found the right street and circled around the block. No Campo. As expedition leader, I tried to keep my composure, but inside, my heart sank to my knees. Dismounting our bikes, we walked carefully around the building. I went into Finale and asked a man behind the counter if he could tell me where Campo de Fiori is.
“Campo de what? Never heard of it, kid.”
Oh no.
Circling the building once more, we realized there was a lobby inside with more shops that weren’t accessible from the outside. My spirits lifted slightly at the possibility, and I crept inside. The hall was desolate save one couple sitting on a bench. Maybe they knew of Campo.
“Right behind you.”
I spun around only to find boarded up windows beneath a sign that read “Campo de Fiori.” My head hanging, I walked out of the building to share the news with my friends who were waiting outside. Sad, but still hungry we went to the B. Good’s next door and drowned our sorrows in burgers and shakes.
After all of our efforts, the Campo disappearance is still a mystery, although we can rule out “a major technical problem” with fair certainty. Somehow I can’t help but think that maybe if I hadn’t helped myself to all those extra pieces of the bread and “free” refills, this all could have been avoided.
Amy Dannwolf is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences