Metro Detroit:Westland’s DeLuca’s
Growing up, we remember mom and dad taking us out for pizza at the local pizza place. This was back before there was a carryout pizza place on every block. To get good pizza, you had to go to an Italian restaurant like Mama Mia’s or Corsi’s. These were the 2 that were the “go to places” where we grew up. When we bought our first house in South Redford, we had the Mama Mia’s on Plymouth Road. But we quickly became fond of DeLuca’s in Westland. We moved to Livonia in 2001, and of course you leave a lot of your local favorites behind and find new local favorites. Well we recently made a special trip to get back to DeLuca’s and we are so glad we did.
DeLuca’s opened in 1957 by Vincent DeLuca and is still going strong today. Like many of these traditional Italian restaurants, not much has changed on the inside. Most of them have the same décor they had 40 years ago. That is not a bad thing! It is all part of the ambiance. Though DeLuca’s is not all modernized, its clean and well maintained. I love all the brick walls throughout the inside. It’s like being in someone’s basement.
What we like best about any traditional Italian restaurant is their pizzas and chicken parmigiana. You may remember a post of ours from a few years ago where we compared Mama Mia’s and Corsi’s chicken parm and antipasto salads. DeLuca’s is definitely in the running against both of them.
We started with a couple of glasses of house Chianti, which for $4.50 a glass was perfect, they also brought some fresh baked breadsticks and butter, another bonus you usually get at traditional Italian restaurants.
Of course we ordered the chicken parmigiana, with an antipasto side salad as well as their DeLuca’s Special square pizza (peperoni, ham, bacon, mushroom, onion and green pepper) The chicken parm was enough for the two of us without the pizza but leftovers are always welcome in our house. The chicken parm not only came with the salad but it also came with 2 sides which we opted for 2 sides of mostaccioli with meat sauce. The meat sauce was delicious. Salty, but not too salty.
Their menu is quite diverse for an Italian restaurant. Not only do they serve all the Italian favorites, but they also offer broasted chicken, BBQ ribs, and fried fish and shrimp, like a lot of the carryout pizza places offer on their menus. They even have a dedicated area for carryout orders when you walk in, indoor dining to the left and carryout to the right.
While we enjoy all the new fancy places we go to . . . DeLuca’s is a great place to go for a laid back, enjoyable and affordable dinner. Unfortunately they are not open for lunch, with the exception of Sunday when they open at 1:00. They also have a banquet hall and do a lot of lunchtime private events which is why they may appear to be open for lunch.
DeLuca’s is located at 27424 Warren Road on the NW corner of Warren and Inkster. They are open Tuesday-Saturday from 4-8PM and Sundays from 1-8PM, they are closed on Monday.
Until next time . . . live well, eat well and enjoy life!
-Keith & Teresa Becker