It’s a tale as old as time: Two Italian families, intertwined by friendship and marriage, in the kind of globe-spanning love story usually reserved for the big screen. It all led to Carletti’s — a new Italian restaurant rooted in history and heritage, a staggering feat of historic preservation and the culmination of a veritable fairy tale that saw two Italian families cross the ocean to start anew in Oklahoma.
“To me, this is a museum of Oklahoma history,” mused Gina Foxhoven, one of the three historic preservationists — along with Chip Fudge and Larry Davis — behind Carletti’s, and the great-granddaughter of the restaurant’s namesake. As we chatted, overlooking sweeping views of the distant downtown skyline, that image of an edible museum comes to light. It’s in the vintage photos lining the walls, harkening back to when this space was the original Kentucky Club, a Prohibition-era speakeasy from 1939. It’s in the prints of people arrested here, for gambling and vice in the once-hidden social club.
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That bucolic vision is in C&R Grocery, the rural Haileyville grocery that the Carletti and Ravaioli families built after emigrating from Italy, now revived as a small market in front of Carletti’s that’s stocked with sausages and cheeses from Lovera’s in Krebs. And it’s in the tear in Foxhoven’s eye as she reminisced about her uncle Robert, a wellspring of family history and inspiration, whose detailed stories laid the foundation for the restaurant’s branding. He passed away shortly after sharing his final story with Foxhoven in early 2025, and she announced the restaurant concept — steeped in family history — at his funeral. “I had been sending my new branding to him, and his family said on his deathbed he was smiling ear to ear,” she recalled. “It was a special gift to give him at the end of his life; the gift of the completion of writing our family story.”
That story, stemming from Giovanni Carletti operating a grocery store and boarding house in Haileyville, where he met fellow Italian immigrant Roberto Ravaioli, is woven into every facet of Carletti’s, along with a suave new iteration of The Kentucky Club in the rear of the space. The two patriarchs became fast friends, and eventually in-laws, when Carletti’s daughter Palma married Ravaioli’s son Tony. Said Foxhoven, “It’s this epic love story that crossed the world and met in small-town Oklahoma.”
Rachel Maucieri
And today, that story continues at Carletti’s and The Kentucky Club, two beautiful concepts under one roof, intertwined as sincerely as the Carletti and Ravaioli families. Two-thirds of the space is Carletti’s, which features C&R Grocery in the front, followed by a lofty dining room, a private event space called the Horseshoe Room, a custom video wall depicting family footage and rows of curtained booths in cozy crannies inspired by horse stalls. Heritage is on the plate too, in the form of “sacred family recipes” like hulking meatballs, Nonna’s Lasagna and Ravaioli Bolognese. For dessert, guests can order tiramisu, lemon bars and Palma’s Torta Italiana by the spoonful, while cocktails from The Kentucky Club include a “Thoroughbred” selection of jockey-inspired originals (e.g., the Wintergreen Julep with bourbon, mint syrup, bitters and powdered sugar) and family-influenced “Heritage” cocktails (e.g., The Pope’s Blessing, with rum, Licor 43, cold brew, coffee liqueur, whiskey, amaro and whipped cream). Food and drinks are the same in each space, and Chris Becker — founder of Oklahoma’s Della Terra pasta company — served as consulting chef.
Between bites, as sunset sinks over the Oklahoma State Capitol building in the distance, and the fireside Kentucky Club reaches a crescendo of clinking glassware, new details reveal more stories. Like the Chihuly-inspired ribbon hidden above the bar, and the chilly cream cheese mints handed out at the end of each meal, using Foxhoven’s Nonna’s recipe and cast in custom molds. It’s a form of heartfelt historic preservation and storytelling, intertwined through the harmonious heritages of a landmark space and sacred family histories.
“I treat this as a museum, as much as a restaurant,” Foxhoven said. “Where you can get lost in a little bit of storytelling along the way.”
