It’s a Wednesday night in Troy, and Carrabba’s Italian Grill hums with the warmth of a kitchen full of neighbors. Tables glow with glassware, plates arrive in procession, bottles are uncorked with quiet ceremony. But the true draw isn’t the food or drink.
The magnet here is Clint Richardson, proprietor of Carrabba’s, who has turned monthly wine dinners into something more enduring than a themed meal. He is building community, one course at a time.
Richardson grew up in rural Alabama, where the nearest neighbor was five miles away and families raised, butchered and cooked everything themselves.
“It wasn’t glamorous,” he says, “but it meant I was in the kitchen from the time I was six.”
His grandmother, his first mentor, rose before dawn and carried the family through the day meal by meal. She let Richardson experiment, with one rule: eat what you make. That blend of freedom and accountability shaped him as much as any culinary school.
In college, he studied software engineering but found his calling in the kitchen. “We kept our dorm door open 24 hours, always had food going. People left a dollar in the tip jar, and it turned into this little community.” He smiles. “I didn’t know it then, but I was already doing what I was supposed to do.”
Carrabba’s wine dinners are a continuation of that ethos. Each month brings four courses paired with wine, moving from light to rich — perhaps lemon balsamic salad and scallops with Sauvignon Blanc, vegetable ravioli with Pinot Noir, a wood-grilled branzino with The Prisoner Red Blend, then chocolate mousse with Cabernet Sauvignon.
The meals are educational but never pretentious. Richardson delights in disarming new drinkers. “There’s no wrong way to enjoy wine. My job is to help you understand why you like what you like — and maybe surprise you.”
Themes keep things playful: a Halloween costume dinner, an Alice in Wonderland night with Richardson as the Mad Hatter, a Caribbean-inspired rum and jerk-spiced feast. He slips in bourbon and sangria dinners for variety.
The point, he says, isn’t gimmick but participation. “There’s a difference between spectating and being part of something. When people laugh, dress up, take photos—it’s theirs as much as ours.”
What matters most to Richardson is not the menu but the connections. “They come because they’re hungry,” he says. “They come back because they feel known.”
The room reflects that spirit. Couples who stumbled in once now return with dozens of friends. “We stopped by two years ago for dinner and were invited to join the wine dinner,” one guest recalls. “There were eight of us then. Now there are 50 or 60 every time.”
For Richardson, that’s the difference between a meal and a memory.
He arrived in Michigan four years ago to steady the restaurant after the pandemic, thinking it temporary. But his wife, Mary-Kate, suggested they try a winter. They stayed. Their children now wander the dining room, greeted by name.
It is not lost on him that he’s building in Troy what he once longed for in Alabama: a place where neighbors feel connected. “It’s like 'Cheers,'” he says. “That’s what I’m trying to do here — create a place where you belong.”
And so, each wine dinner becomes more than food and wine. It becomes a rehearsal for belonging, a community drawn closer with every toast.
SIP & SAVOR IN TROY
Experience Carrabba’s Wine Dinner Oct. 14 or 22, featuring the bold blends and striking labels of Orin Swift Wines; 600 W. Big Beaver Road. Call (248) 269-0095.
Other Troy wine dinner destinations:
• Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurant, 151 E. Big Beaver Road; (248) 781-8811
• Maggiano’s Little Italy, 2089 W. Big Beaver Road; (248) 205-1060
• Fogo de Chão Brazilian Steakhouse, 301 W. Big Beaver Road; (248) 817-1800
“It’s like 'Cheers,'” Richardson says. “That’s what I’m trying to do here — create a place where you belong.”