Wegaurant Steven Lelli's Inn on the Green
Stever T Pill'S Try
on the Green
Readers' choice for best Italian restaurant.
Allan Nahajewski { Contributing Writer
food, great service, clean and
// G reat
beautiful."
"Wow! From start to finish, it
was first-class."
"Great, romantic atmosphere. Can't wait to
go back."
"An original Detroit gem lives on!"
Those are a few of the comments from
guests at Steven Lelli's Inn on the Green in
Farmington Hills. It's no wonder that Jewish
News readers selected it as the area's best
Italian restaurant.
Yes, it's from the same heritage as the
legendary Lelli's on Woodward at Bethune in
Detroit, which was founded by Nerio and Irene
Lelli in 1939 and served the finest Italian food
for six decades before being destroyed by a
fire in 2000. Grandson Steven Lelli and owner-
partner Mark Zarkin opened their restaurant
three years ago at the Copper Creek Golf
Course on 12 Mile Road west of Halsted, carry-
ing on the traditions of the original.
"We're attempting to follow faithfully
Steve's grandparents' recipes and menus
and revive an old style of dining," Zarkin says.
"Everything's made from scratch — our soups,
sauces, pastas, dressings. It's really made the
good old-fashioned way."
Zarkin and Lelli have been friends since
childhood. "I grew up in Oak Park. Lelli's
was our family's favorite restaurant," Zarkin
recalls. "During the holidays, I would help out
in the kitchen sometimes." His early start in
the restaurant business also included peeling
potatoes at age 6 for Bloom's Kosher Catering,
owned by his aunt Shirley.
The early hands-on experience has paid off.
"I know the complete Lelli's history and the
recipes. I taste the sauces, soups and dress-
ings every day to make sure they're perfectly
prepared," Zarkin says.
That includes the famous zip sauce invented
decades ago by Nerio Lelli. "It's often imitated,
but never duplicated," says Zarkin. "It's really a
wonderful sauce for a fine piece of meat."
The chef at Lelli's worked at the original
location, and some of the servers have worked
at Lelli's for more than 30 years.
"We're just steady as she goes," Zarkin
says. "We've been around a long time.
6 JN Best of Michigan • December 2013
Mark Zarkin
We're consistent. It's a beautiful
place to dine, and we really are
a mom-and-pop operation. My
family is here all the time to take
care of our guests."
The clientele at Lelli's spans
the generations. "Grandparents
are teaching their grandkids
about Lelli's, telling them how
they used to eat at the restau-
rant Downtown all the time,"
says Zarkin. "A lot of customers have told me
they got engaged at Lelli's.
"Recently, a woman in her 90s came in
and brought us an original powder blue Lelli's
menu — the only one we've seen that doesn't
say 'since 1939'. Her nephew came in from out
of town, and she asked him to bring her here
for dinner."
Lelli's Inn on the Green has a main dining
room that seats 150 and expands into a
lower-level dining room for 70. A terrace and a
veranda each seat another 100 people. The fa-
cility is available for parties of all types. There
is no room charge for special events. On-site
and home catering is also available.
"For the first time in our history, we will be
open Christmas Day to give the Jewish com-
munity an alternative from the norm," says
Zarkin. "That's one of the benefits of having a
Jewish owner."
Which menu items
are the favorites at
Lelli's? "All of our veal
dishes are wonderful,"
Zarkin says. "Our most
famous menu item is
the Chateaubriand.
Probably our most
popular steak dishes
are the dinner cut and
extra cut filet served
▪ with the Lelli's double-
baked mashed potatoes
and vegetable. Our
▪ spaghetti Bolognese
° sauce is made from 100
percent ground prime
filet mignon — no pork
at all. And our famous
Lelli's minestrone is 100
percent vegetarian."
House specialties
include eggplant parmi-
giana, provimi calves liv-
er, medallions of prime
tenderloin Siciliano and
sliced tenderloin sherry.
All dinners include salad
or minestrone, potato
1–
and vegetable. Full six-
course meals include an antipasto tray, salad,
minestrone, spaghetti Bolognese, potato,
vegetable and spumoni or lemon ice.
The restaurant has 59 employees. Its
veranda on the Copper Creek Golf Course is a
popular spot for summer parties.
What separates Lelli's from its competi-
tors? "Besides our food and our heritage, at
Lelli's there is an owner-operator on site all
the time to take care of our customers' needs
and wants," Zarkin says. "We're here to keep
people happy."
■
Lelli's Inn on the Green is open for lunch from
11 a.m.-3 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays.
Dinner hours are 3-10 p.m. Tuesdays through
Thursdays, 4-11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays
and 4-9 p.m. Sundays. For reservations, call
(248) 994-1111. Information is available at
www.lellisinn.com.