Metro Detroit: Plymouth’s Cantoro’s Italian Market
If you live in the Livonia, Plymouth or Northville area, you are familiar with this weeks Fun Food Friday location . . . but you may not be familiar 100% familiar with all they have to offer. I’m talking about Cantoro’s Italian Market. Cantoro’s itself is a wonderful place to shop. They have so much to offer. Not just their meat/deli, produce and groceries you would expect to find walking in but also their fresh made pastas, specialty cheese department, an outstanding bakery, prepared foods section featuring over 50 different gourmet Italian dishes. I could go on and on about the market, but, did you know they also have a full service restaurant? We knew, yet in all the years we have lived in the area we have never been here for lunch or dinner.
We have always talked about going here but for some reason we never seemed to get to it…until now. The Trattoria is located on the western side of the store and is so much bigger than I anticipated. The entrance is actually in the front corner of the store and you would never know you were in a market. It is nice but not too fancy. There are 2 separate dining areas along with 2 separate bar areas…yes they also have a full service bar. We were joined by our friend Marx Elias, from First American Title, for a “business lunch” (which is a real estate and mortgage term for getting together with a good friend).
While everything looked so good, we couldn’t order everything, so we had some decisions to make. We started with the Trio of Bruschetta, which I had seen being delivered to someone’s table as we were walking in. It is a meal in itself. 3 large pieces of fresh grilled Italian bread one topped with the traditional tomato basil, one with a cannellini bean mixture with roasted veggies and one with fire roasted peppers, basil and garlic. For our entrees Teresa ordered the Linguini al Salmone. Linguini with salmon, garlic, red pepper, white wine and marinara sauce. Marx and I both ordered the same thing which was the Tagliatelle ala Bolognese. Tagliatelle is a pasta similar to a fettuccini noodle. I am a Bolognese fanatic, so whenever I see it I have to have it. Not only is the food absolutely delicious, the portions are huge! There had to be over a pound of pasta in each of our entrees.
Cantoro’s was inspired by the famous Italian markets in Rome, Venice and Palermo. Mario Fallone founded the highly celebrated Cantoro’s Italian Market in Livonia in 1967 which is now ran by his two sons, John and Michael, along with the Plymouth location. Cantoro’s is located at 15550 N. Haggerty Road between 5 and 6 Mile in Plymouth. The Trattoria is open for lunch Tues-Sat from 11AM-2PM and dinner from 4:30-10PM. Sundays they are open from 11AM-4PM and they are closed on Monday. Reservations are recommended but they also take walk-ins if space is available. They also have catering available and banquet facilities located in the upper lever that can seat up to 300 people. There is also a lower more intimate banquet facility in the basement that seats up to 90.
Until next week…live well, eat well and enjoy life!
- Keith & Teresa Becker