(WXYZ) — October is Italian Heritage Month, and we're back with a look at another restaurant in metro Detroit with proud Italian ties.
See the full story in the video below
Shewolf in Detroit's Cass Corridor is co-owned by Chef Anthony Lombardo, who grew up in an Italian-American family in Sterling Heights.
"I thought I was Italian, but I was not Italian. I had to really go back to Italy to understand it," Lombardo told me.
He found himself attending culinary school in Italy 20 years ago, and growing fond of how different each region of the country's cuisine is.
Watch below: Local Rochester restaurant brings authentic Italian flavors to Michigan
Eventually, Lombardo found his first Italian love, the wine of Piemonte. His culinary love language would speak to him again in the place he traces his own family lineage – Sicily.
“It’s super unique and also reminds me of Michigan in that it’s super multicultural," Lombardo said.
Leaving Italy and making a career in Washington D.C. for nearly a decade, Michigan and metro Detroit never left his mind .
"You could feel the city getting better. New coffee shop. Cool new restaurant with a unique chef. It wasn’t like that when I was a young chef. Now, there’s definitely a scene," he said.
Watch below: Italian Heritage Month celebrates Detroit's rich cultural legacy
He called it an infectious renaissance, something he's proudly been part of since he brought SheWolf to Detroit in 2018.
"I’m very, very glad to be here," Lombardo said.
SheWolf offers a contemporary Italian cuisine inspired by old Rome.
"We want to take you to Italy. We want to take you to the motherland. And B, create a culinary environment where a lot of these young chefs don’t have to leave Michigan in order to get the experience that they want," Lombardo said.
SheWolf's name comes from Roman mythology, inspiring the restaurant's menu and look, which in Detroit, he thinks fits right in.
"Because Rome, like Detroit, has a lot of history. Rise again, fall again. You should be able to lift SheWolf right out of the Cass Corridor and drop it in the middle of Rome, Bologna or Milan, and it would be a sexy, hot table to get.”
Lombardo is riding the success and has plans to open another restaurant no more than a block away from here that will feature Sicilian cuisine.
Check out one of their recipes below:
