rts &entertainment
The Best Of Everything
Cee a7
S
11ALIA
01V
room
Proud Palmas
Sposita family 'does it right" at neighborhood ris-torante.
*-
AHD THE
IMPERIALS
Fri, & Sat.
oct. 18 & 19
ITAI
ift
Celebrity Showroom
;
w 7096 East Fourteen Mile Road
9/20
2002
4111 1
(Between Mound &Van Dyke)
(586) 268-3200
F
!. ew restaurant opera-
pounds served in the three
tions are considered
short years ... not counting
too much better than
chateaubriand with its approxi-
a good family-owned
mate amount of 75,000
and operated neighborhood
pounds.
Italian eatery.
Being a true authentic
So very much pride goes into
Italian restaurant, veal, of
each minute that these moms
course, would also be a large
and pops run their store.
seller ... and its 15,000 pounds
DA NNY
Sposita's Ristorante on 14
of veal is coupled with 40,000
RA SKIN
Mile Road between Orchard
pounds of chicken.
Local Columnist
Lake Road and Farmington
Sposita's Ristorante kitchen,
Road in West Bloomfield, .
with its eight burners, is no
started out slowly for about three
more than 20 feet by 20 feet ... smaller
months ... until something almost like
than many kitchens in homes ... On _
magic, seemed to add an even greater
another side, another small area, 17-by-
spark.
24 feet, is used solely for preparing and
This was three years ago ... as Sposita's
salad making ... In this later spot is also
approaches its anniversary date of Nov.
spaced a dishwasher and six coolers.
16.
About the salad region, the vegetables
In this short span, almOst 200,000
are all washed thoroughly ... Nothing is
people have passed through its door ...
frozen.
an amazing accomplish-
ment where family pride
overruled everything else.
The beginning of a
much-accepted neighbor-
hood success occurred
when the name was
changed to that of the
family ... and called
Sposita's Ristorante ... a
true honest-to-goodness
Italian family-owned and
operated restaurant.
Owners Joe and Lois
Sposita, with their general
manager son, Tony, have
done right by their family
name ... and can hold
their heads high in the
restaurant business.
Their restaurant has
Joe and Lois Sposita, owners of Sposita's Ristorante.
become one of envy ... as
customers who have eaten
the world over look upon it as their
Healthwise, the Sposita family's fetish
favorite • ... and hall-of-famer Tigers.
about cleanliness is quite strong ... Its
sportscaster Ernie Harwell, who retires
high marks from the Oakland County
September 29, and wife Lulu, among so
Health Division is usually in the very
many, are regulars.
laudable 90 percent range.
The numbers accumulated by this
In the kitchen, Executive Chef Paulo
restaurant are even more amazing when
Pichardo, Sous Chef Kenny Guiden and
considering the kitchen size ... from
salad and pasta chef Mana Raham, have
which comes food to serve 140 people
been at Sposita's since it opened ... as
in two rooms ... one with all tables and
have most of the servers.
another with 17 stools at the lounge bar
Of the more than 13,000 gallons of
with five booths and tables.
soup that have been made by Sposita's in
Its No. 1 seller, filets and other steaks,
its three year existence, the homemade
have amassed the total of over 150,000
minestrone is without many equals ...
chockfull of vegetables and full-bodied.
The traditional Italian dishes like veal
parmigiana, linguine with red or white
clam sauce, etc., are superb ... Its grilled
veal chop, with most of the fat trimmed
away, is a delicious treat..
Filets are prepared in three sizes ... reg-
ular, extra and petite ... but the same
meat is also used in the preparation of
tenderloin Marsala, tenderloin Piccata,
tenderloin Antonio and tenderloin
Siciliano.
Back on November 16, 1999, few
people thought the restaurant would
attain the heights it has reached today ...
Certainly not Joe, Lois or Tony ... Its
modest beginning seemed to catch a sec-
ond wind as it shoved ahead like sage-
brush in a hurricane.
People came to try it out ... and
returned ... again and again ... bringing
others with them ... who also kept
returning.
This wasn't just another
Italian restaurant ... It was a
very good family-owned and
operated neighborhood Italian
restaurant with few equals.
They've used 16,000 pounds
of yellow onions ... 8,000
pounds of Spanish onions,
16,000 pounds of shrimp,
almost 150,000 pounds of
potatoes ... Numbers in three
years that would make many
restaurant owners salivate with
delight.
As is so prevalent in a good
Italian family-owned restaurant
like Sposita's, value received is
predominant ... All meat and
fish dinners include garlic
mashed potatoes mixed with
parmesan cheese, minestrone
soup, antipasto tray, house
salad, pasta with meat sauce or marina
sauce, and bread and breadsticks basket
... Same for pasta dinners except for the
potatoes and, of course, the pasta side.
The meat sauce used mainly for
Sposita's spaghetti, is the recipe of Joe's
mother, Mary Sposita, from her days in
Calabria, southern Italy ... Mary at one
time was cook for Johnny and Peter
Ginopolis at their Ginopolis' restaurants.
Steaks served at Sposita's are with the
luscious zip sauce ... Paolo's own recipe
of Diablo sauce, is requested quite often.
Another member of the Sposita fami-