For chef John Gallagher, owning Nonna Maria's isn't simply a restaurant venture. It's a homecoming nearly three decades in the making.
Gallagher's family opened Maria's in the mid-1970s, naming the restaurant near Walnut Lake for his grandmother. It became a neighborhood favorite, serving pizza, pasta and other Italian-American staples – and it was where Gallagher got his start in the restaurant business as a boy.
Eventually, he left to build a career of his own, opening Little Italy in Northville and taking part in the openings of La Luna in Birmingham and Villa Maria's on Haggerty Road. After selling Little Italy, he built a successful catering and office café business.
Maria's, meanwhile, changed hands. Nearly 30 years later, Gallagher learned his family's old restaurant was available again. He sold his catering business in 2018, bought Maria's and reopened it that December as Nonna Maria's, bringing both the restaurant and his career full circle.
Today, the intimate West Bloomfield bistro still occupies its tucked-away spot in a residential neighborhood near Walnut Lake. But this isn't simply a nostalgia-driven restaurant.
Start with Spiedini Nonna Maria: layers of bread and mozzarella in an egg carriage with lemon, butter, olives and artichoke hearts. Or try the Truffle Gnocchi: Asiago-stuffed, pan-fried gnocchi finished with brown butter and thyme. Both put a distinctive spin on familiar Italian flavors.
The creativity continues through the entrées. Veal Di Mare pairs milk-fed veal with shrimp, lemon, butter and olives, while Sicilian White Fish is layered with seasoned breadcrumbs and Parmesan finished with ammoglio sauce.
For seafood lovers, Linguini Pescatore brings together shrimp, calamari, mussels, clams and salmon in a natural white-wine sauce. And the Short Rib Tortellini wraps beef short rib inside pasta and pairs it with vodka sauce and spinach.
There are plenty of familiar comforts, too, homemade meat lasagna with Bolognese to chicken piccata and eggplant Parmesan, along with a full wine and cocktail program. It's food that feels connected to the restaurant's past without being stuck there.
Nonna Maria's website offers an Italian proverb that's particularly fitting: “Old wine and friends improve with age.” So, apparently, can a restaurant.
nonnamariasbistro.com
2080 Walnut Lake Road | (248) 851-2500
More West Bloomfield Dining Worth Discovering
Fiddler International Dining
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The menu includes Ukrainian borscht, Siberian pelmeni, homemade meat blintzes and Chicken Tabaka – a whole Cornish hen flattened, seasoned with garlic and dill and cooked until golden. Fiddler also offers customized multicourse experiences featuring as many as 10 to 15 courses.
Don't miss: The house specialty lamb chops, or finish with Fiddler's seven-layer Napoleon.
fiddlerrestaurant.com
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Don't miss: Come for dinner or small plates, but stay for the cocktails and live music. This one's as much about the night out as what's on the plate.
knocktwicespeakeasy.com
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Stage Deli
Few restaurants are more woven into Metro Detroit dining history than Stage Deli Restaurant.
Founded by Harriet and Jack Goldberg in 1962 and located in West Bloomfield since 1982, Stage built its reputation on enormous deli sandwiches, house-made soup and plenty of corned beef. Its theatrical roots even live on in sandwich names such as West Side Story.
Don't miss: Keep it classic with hot corned beef or order the West Side Story with corned beef or pastrami, coleslaw and Russian dressing.
stagedeli.com
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Melt N Dip
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Don't miss: The Dubai Chocolate Cup. And bring someone willing to share, since the portions aren't exactly restrained.
meltndip.com
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