Regina’s Pasta Shop
Lake Village, Arkansas
“ It has always been my dream to have a business and my job with the state was ending so we decided to open a shop. ”
Lake Village, Arkansas, is home to a large community of Italians who first came over to work the Mississippi Delta’s cotton plantations as sharecroppers.
Regina Moyer and husband Ronnie are keeping that Italian culture alive in the village through Regina’s Pasta Shop, on the shores of Lake Chicot. Before opening the current location, Regina was running the shop out of her house, taking orders, cooking, and delivering it all herself. Now in the new location, Ronnie is in charge of making the pasta, and Regina just about everything else.
Growing up, was there a special dish that your parent’s always made you?
“ That would be spaghetti and meatballs, because I grew up with it. We had that every Sunday for lunch. Spaghetti with meat sauce and fried chicken. My mother wasn’t Italian, she was english, but, she married my dad when she was 14 years old. Nonna taught mama how to cook Italian food. How to make the pasta, the bread and everything like that. The recipes that I do are basically the same, but I critiqued them. Ronnie says I add my love to it and that makes it taste all the better. ” — Regina
“ The first time she invited me to her house. Well, I pulled up into the yard. Her daddy is not that tall, but her brother’s are all real tall & she has four of them. I saw them come out with the short man and I didn’t know if wanted to go in anymore. I went in, and they had prepared the spaghetti and fried chicken. You see, I’m an old country boy, I’m used to eating fried chicken and all that, but, I never eaten something so good in my life like that homemade pasta.” ––Ronnie
