Detroit: West Village’s Mumma Maria’s House
If you are like us, you love Italian food, especially old school Italian. We all know the local places, which we love to go to, that do it right. There’s Carraba’s in Dearborn Heights, Corsi’s and Mama Mia’s in Livonia and Redford and DeLuca’s in Westland. Then there are famous Detroit eateries with historic mob backgrounds like Mario’s on 3rd or Café Roma (formerly Roma Café) . In our travels, we found something for this week’s Fun Food Friday location and it is super cool.
While I have never experienced it, I can imagine growing up in an old school Italian family and getting together for Sunday dinners at mom’s. NOW, you don’t have to just try to imagine it, you can experience it, at Mumma Maria’s House located in Detroit’s Historical West Village. The moment we saw this place we had to stop and try it . . . and we were not disappointed!
Mumma Maria’s House is exactly that - A HOUSE, which has been converted to a restaurant. It was opened by Carl Giordano in January of 2020 just before the COVID shutdown. He started it as a tribute to his late wife Maria who passed away in 2018 at the age of 57 from MSA (Multiple System Atrophy) after being misdiagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease 6 years earlier. “Mumma Maria” is how she was known by her grandkids, and family meals were a large part of their lives. Following Maria’s passing, Carl and family founded the Mumma Maria MSA Foundation “specifically to spread better awareness by sharing Mumma Maria’s story to health care providers including educators, radiologists, physicians, physician assistants, nurses, emergency/trauma units, advocates, caregiver, children, family members and friends who may be involved with the patient.” As stated on their website.
“Although Carl had always cooked, doing it for a crowd started for Carl Giordano at the Solanus Casey Center on the East Side, run by the Capuchins. “It started with meatballs,” says Giordano. He was grieving the untimely death of his wife and the Center was a place he felt secure. Turns out the meatballs and the Italian sauces were big hits. In 2019 Giordano won a meatball contest sponsored by Fox 2's Chef Bobby Nahra. In January 2020 he opened a restaurant “inspired by the late Maria Giordano” in a century-old house in West Village.”
Mumma Maria’s House is located at 8122 Kercheval 1 block east of Van Dyke and right down the street from Marrow, another favorite of ours. We fell in love the moment we saw it! We thought even if the food was just OK we’d still really like it. Well, the food is better than OK, it is absolutely outstanding! The staff is super friendly and make you feel at home. There is not a lot of indoor seating, maybe 20-30 tops, but they have a huge wrap around porch for outdoor dining when the weather is nice. There is also a walk up “Grab n Go” counter for carryout orders.
We ordered the Marriage Salad, which is served with choice of 2 meatballs, 2 sausages or pulled pork (we went with the meatballs) and their chicken parmesan which is served over linguini. The salad was awesome! I wouldn’t picture a salad with meatballs, but why not? It was so good, the meatballs met in your mouth. The chicken parmesan, which is our favorite thing to share whenever we have Italian, was equally delicious. The marinara sauce, AKA Mr. G’s Sauce, is simple yet not lacking all the flavors we love in an Italian red sauce. The salad and entrée were more than enough for Teresa and I to share. Toss in a split of Prosecco and glass of wine and we were good to go.
This is definitely a place we will go back to again and again! As…I said we absolutely fell in love with the place. It is worth the 25 minute drive from our house, even to get some carry out for lunch, AND it is only 7 minutes from Eastern Market…that other place we love to go to.
Mumma Maria’s House is open Wed & Thurs from 11-8, Fri & Sat from 11-10 and Sunday at 11-8 they are closed Mon-Tues. Reservations are recommended but not necessary and can be made through Opentable.
Until next week…
- Keith & Teresa Becker