Rosie Carrabba

Born Rose Marie Mandola into one of Houston’s most prominent Sicilian-American families, Rosie Carrabba is the matriarch behind the Carrabba’s restaurant empire. The Mandola family migrated from Sicily to Bryan, Texas in the 1890s before settling in Houston, where they became cornerstones of the city’s Italian culinary scene. Rosie is the sister of STHS alum Damian Mandola ’71 and the daughter of Grace Mandola, the family’s beloved grandmother whose recipes became the foundation of every kitchen bearing the Carrabba and Mandola names — and for whom Grace’s on Kirby is named.

Rosie married Johnny Carrabba Jr. — known to everyone as “Mr. C” — and together they ran Carrabba’s Friendly Grocery on Navigation Boulevard in Houston’s East End, where their son Johnny Carrabba III ’77 grew up working behind the counter. When Johnny III and his uncle Damian opened the original Carrabba’s Italian Grill on Kirby Drive on December 26, 1986, it was Rosie and Grace’s home recipes that filled the menu — the same recipes that still define the kitchen today. A second location on Voss Road followed in 1988, and the Voss restaurant was later renamed “Rosie Carrabba’s” in her honor.

To this day, Rosie greets guests at the Voss location nearly every day, seven days a week — a living connection to the family traditions that built one of Houston’s most enduring restaurant legacies. Her granddaughter Mia is the namesake of the Mia’s Table restaurant chain. Rosie appeared on the PBS cooking show “Cucina Sicilia” and has been honored by Houston’s Italian Cultural and Community Center for her contributions to the city’s culinary heritage and philanthropic community.