Tag: Alex Grisanti

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Grisanti’s 2.0

Elfo Grisanti’s new dining room (Photo: Michael Donahue)

Elfo Grisanti’s, which opened two years ago in Southaven, Mississippi, is finally looking the way owners Alex and Kim Grisanti originally envisioned it.

A private dining room and the ladies bathroom still need to be completed, but, other than that, all the remodeling is done, Alex says.

The restaurant at 5627 Getwell Road has the same vibe as his dad’s legendary restaurant, Ronnie Grisanti & Sons, which was on Poplar Avenue near the viaduct. Elfo’s bar, which resembles a “big horseshoe,” is now completed. It has 18 chairs. “We built it like a U-shape. Like the old Ronnie’s.”

They knocked out the wall where the pizza oven was located so they could make the bar bigger, Alex says. “And we took the bay next to it, too.”

Teresa Brown and Krista Vind, who did the interior work at Elfo’s, also did interior work for Emeril Lagasse’s restaurants. Vind did the concrete work on the bar tops. “It’s actual concrete. And it’s crazy ’cause my bar shines like marble.”

Like his former restaurant in Germantown, the color scheme at the restaurant is black and gold. The walls were made to resemble “18th-century walls,” Alex says. “They did all these mosaic walls. It’s beautiful. It’s a whole different place. All the walls are concrete. They look like they’re stained. They’ve got that gray, black, and white like you see on the old buildings in Italy.”

The kitchen also got an overhaul. “I bought a new conveyor oven. Our kitchen has been totally redesigned to cook our food. I put in a new pasta boiler. I got new pasta machines to make my fried ravioli and pizza dough.”

Alex also re-hired former employees. “I got all my guys that have been with me and my dad for 20 years. They’re back with me in the kitchen.”

Elfo’s menu features beloved dishes made from Grisanti family recipes, some of which date to the first Grisanti’s restaurant, “Grisanti’s on Main,” Alex says. “In two or three months we’re going to start back all our specials. Every day a fish special, a pasta special, a beef special, and a soup of the day.”

Alex and Kim are seeing a lot of familiar faces at Elfo’s. “All our old customers are eating with me. They are realizing they live in Germantown, and it takes them no longer to drive to Mississippi than it would Downtown.”

And locals are discovering what a Grisanti’s restaurant is like. “These people have never experienced anything like it. Now they’re loading up down here. Oh, my gosh. They call it ‘Cheers’ now.”

Alex and Kim also relocated to Southaven. But Alex remembers what it was like when he opened the restaurant. “It was like the unknown. I didn’t know anything about Southaven. I didn’t know anything about the area where we were.” But, he says, “It’s just been a blessing. We are in the hot spot where everything is getting built.”

Silo Square, the 288-acre, $200-million mixed-use project along Getwell Road, currently is in the works. “And a friend of ours is building another 120-acre development.”

Alex and Kim still have future plans for Elfo’s. “We’ve been slowly talking about the front. Doing a little outside patio. Piazza. But it’ll probably be next year before we get around to it. We’ve redone so much work inside bringing it up to our standards.

“We wanted our customers to have the true Grisanti’s experience — white tablecloths, good service, big glasses of wine. It just took a while to get that dialed in.”

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Spaghetti Southern: Elfo Grisanti’s

Alex and Kim Grisanti (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Elfo Grisanti’s, by Alex and Kim Grisanti, opened in November of 2020 at 5627 Getwell Road in Southaven, Mississippi.

“We built this thing in the beginning of the pandemic and we succeeded,” says Alex Grisanti. “We did what everybody else told us we were pretty much stupid for doing.”

The restaurant, which customers dubbed “Grisanti’s Southaven,” is still going strong.

When Covid hit, Charles Cavallo, owner of The Cupboard Restaurant, let the Grisantis open their 9Dough1 food truck in his parking lot. “This was when all the restaurants were closed,” Alex says.

The food truck, which they still operate, specializes in flatbread pizzas, Italian salad, cannelloni, and panna cotta. “Instead of sitting around waiting for something to happen, I got out there and got after it. It threw us into a whole other level of being back on our feet and being able to take care of our family and get us to where we are now.”

The Grisantis originally brought their food truck to Southaven in March 2020 and parked it in front of a liquor store. Before they left work that day, developer John Reeves asked them if they wanted to open a restaurant. The space was perfect.

Grisanti’s originally was split into two sides with a wall. Alex and Kim opened up the side with a brick oven as a to-go pizza spot. “People were stir-crazy from being inside. They wanted any opportunity they could to get out.”

They opened up the other side for fine dining that November. A lot of the locals weren’t familiar with the Grisanti name, he says. But, he adds, “We stayed. We never shut our doors since we opened in November.”

They later closed the pizza section, which they turned into a bar. “I ripped the wall out and I did a big U-shaped horseshoe-type bar like we had at Ronnie’s,” Grisanti says, referring to his father’s old restaurant, Ronnie Grisanti & Sons, which was on Poplar and Humes. 

“That’s where so many memories were made in our family,” he says. “Those are the things that make Grisanti’s. We don’t ever want that to die. We want people to have their special times and memories of Grisanti’s being good times and happy times.”

They hired interior designer Teresa Brown to design the bar area. She did the walls in white-brushed concrete. “They look like they’re a thousand years old,” Grisanti says. “It’s very European. Heavy. Antique looking. And then she did another wall. It’s black with gold leaf on it. I told her ‘Mafia modern’ is what I wanted the vibe to be, the feel of the restaurant.”

To run the bar, Grisanti also hired Tim Harris (one of the old bartenders from Ronnie’s), Missy Katz, and Janay Carmona.

The bar is now open — and customers love it. “They’re calling Grisanti’s ‘the Cheers of Southaven.’”

But, he says, “Hopefully, by the end of November will be the official christening of the new bar.”

Similarly, the dining room color scheme is gold with black accents. “I want everything to be serene and comfortable and white tablecloth. I don’t want you to feel that it’s all stuffy and proper. I want it to have some fun and whimsical things.”

Like Ronnie’s old restaurant on Poplar, Grisanti’s has photos of customers hanging on the bathroom walls. “All the restaurant is filled with black-and-white pictures of the family. The decor is very upbeat and modern with twists of the past.”

Grisanti’s also features live music on Thursday nights.

As for the food, Grisanti says he’s hired “a top-notch chef.” 

His next step? “To get back to focusing on my kitchen and my recipes.

“My first concentration is to do what we’ve been doing for 115 years and do it right. I want people to eat my Miss Mary’s salad, Elfo’s special, lasagna, spinach, and manicotti and say, ‘This tastes like it did 40 years ago, 60 years ago, 70 years ago, 100 years ago. I want people’s taste buds’ memories and everything to go, ‘Wow. Why I come here is for the camaraderie of what you’ve been doing since 1909.’”

Grisanti also does his specials. “I stay pretty true to my Northern Italian way of cooking, which is pretty much what is fresh and seasonal. I try to live by my heritage in cooking, which is take a natural raw product and let it speak for itself. I’m not into all this freeze it, shock it, put gelatin on it. I’m not the scientist here. I’m just an old-school, burn-and-bruise chef.’” 

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Alex Grisanti Slated to Open Fine Dining Side of Elfo’s in Southaven Mid-December

CREDIT: Francesca Grisanti


Francesca Grisanti

Alex Grisanti at his new Elfo Grisanti’s Northern Italian Cuisine

The fine dining room of Elfo Grisanti’s Northern Italian Cuisine — Alex Grisanti’s new restaurant in Southaven — is slated to open in mid December.

“I’m ready, baby,” Grisanti says.

One side of the restaurant — “Elfo’s Pizzeria”— already is open and features the same type of Northern Italian-style pizza Grisanti serves at his 9 Dough 1 pizza truck.

“The pizza side is open and the food truck is running,” Grisanti says. “The pizza side has been running for a week consistently. I’m done with that now. I’m moving on to the dining room side.”

His new Elfo’s will be reminiscent of the Elfo’s restaurant he owned for years in Germantown, Grisanti says.

Describing the dining room, he says, “It’s comfy, cozy. It’s beautiful like my other Elfo’s. It’s got gold metallic walls with white tablecloths.”

Francesca Grisanti

Elfo Grisanti’s Northern Italian Cuisine

The walls also “are covered with black-and-white family photos like my old Elfo’s.”

The bar, he says, has a white marble checkered pattern on it.

The restaurant is “going to be very quaint. It’s only going to seat about 50 and the bar, 15.”

His new Elfo’s also reminds him of the original Ronnie Grisanti’s restaurant, owned by his dad, the late Ronnie Grisanti. “This place reminds me of  Union and Marshall with the Ronnie Grisanti’s atmosphere. It’s going to have pictures hung in the bathrooms, family trees going down the walls. It’s going to be beautiful when it’s done. And we’re getting done.”

As for the bar, he says, “We’re going to have that Elfo’s and Ronnie Grisanti vibe at the bar going on. The bar is separated by a wall.”

Customers will be in the bar “whooping it up” while diners on the other side are eating.

Francesca Grisanti

Elfo’s Pizzaria at Elfo Grisanti’s Northern Italian Cuisine

For the food, Grisanti says, “This place is going to have the Union and Marshall menu, but with nightly specials.”

Fare will include dishes Elfo’s and the Grisanti family are famous for. “Lasagna, homemade ravioli, spinach, garlic bread.”

This will included his chicken raviolis and his “homemade Bolognese sauce with tagliatelle  thick pasta.”

And, he says, “My pasta special and beef special of the day every day.”

The restaurant was named after Grisanti’s grandfather, the late restaurateur Elfo Grisanti. “The guy who really started everything. He’s the one who started the cooking and making us what we are.”

Alex Grisanti is ready for diners to experience that Grisanti vibe in Southaven. “Glasses tinkling, people giggling, a little Frank Sinatra in the background, nobody with frowns on their faces, everybody positive, loving to be here. Loving them to be here. I want these people to be embraced by the whole Grisanti atmosphere.”

Elfo Grisanti’s Northern Italian Cuisine is at 5627 Getwell Road; (662) 470-4497

Francesca Grisanti

Alex Griisanti at Elfo’s Pizzeria at Elfo Grisanti’s Northern Italian Cuisine

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Alex Grisanti to Open Elfo Grisanti’s Northern Italian Cuisine in Southaven



Alex Grisanti is slated to open a new restaurant, Elfo Grisanti’s Northern Italian Cuisine, during the second week of September in Southaven.

It’s a first for the Grisanti restaurants, says Grisanti, the chef/owner of the new restaurant. “The first time we’ve been in Mississippi.”

Alex Grisanti

The restaurant at 5627 Getwell Road was named after his grandfather as well as Grisanti’s 25-year-old son, Elfo.

The restaurant will have two sides. Grisante describes the side that will open first as a “plain, simple pizzeria” featuring a brick pizza oven as well as bistro tables on an outdoor patio.

The fine-dining side will have white tablecloths and large black-and-white photographs of family members, including his father, the late Ronnie Grisanti. The look will be reminiscent of Alex Grisanti’s former Elfo’s Restaurant in Germantown. “The dining room is going to be cozy, casual,” Grisanti says, and will include “three little private dining rooms.” 

As for the food, Grisanti says, “We are doing what my dad did in 1979 at Union and Marshall. I am going to serve true Grisanti Italian comfort food.” Which also is what his grandfather and great-grandfather Pietro “Mr. Willy” Grisanti and his wife, Mary, served at their Memphis restaurants, he says. 

“My grandfather Elfo told my dad,’If you cook my Elfo Special, my spinach, and my manicotti, you can make a living for yourself for the rest of your life.’ That’s what my dad did and what I did.

“I’m cooking like the Grisantis have cooked since 1909: Cold, chilled salad bowls. My dad was always big on salad bowls, and his had to be cold. The lettuce had to be cold with Miss Mary’s dressing on it. I am going to give Memphis and Southaven what we did at Union and Marshall and on Poplar.

“On weekends I’m going to run fish specials, beef specials, but I’m also going to have our original manicotti, the spinach, Elfo Special, the lasagna.”

Customers also will find chicken cacciatore, eggplant parmigiana, and other traditional Grisanti favorites, Grisanti says, and the “big hand-toasted ravioli.”

“I’m going back to the basics. The big loaves of garlic French bread with butter and parmesan cheese. Just all the old-school comfort food. Family friendly price points where you can bring the family in. I want to be just the old simple, Italian restaurant that my family started out with. That’s what we did.”

In addition to his son Elfo, the restaurant will involve his entire family, including his wife, Kim, and their other children, Francesca, Alexis, and Luccabella.

He’s excited to open the new restaurant. “Southaven has been nothing but warm and welcoming. We’re as happy as we can be.”

Grisanti will continue to operate his food truck, “9 Dough 1.”

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Alex Grisanti Now in the Kitchen at Ronnie Grisanti’s Restaurant

Alex Grisanti now in the kitchen at Ronnie Grisanti’s Restaurant



Ronnie Grisanti’s Restaurant at one time was known as Ronnie Grisanti & Son Restaurant.

It’s a “sons” thing again. Alex Grisanti recently joined his brother, Judd Grisanti, in the kitchen at Ronnie Grisanti’s Restaurant in Regalia. Their brother, Dino Grisanti, is one of the owners.

Alex, who will continue to operate his 9-Dough-1 food truck, is glad to be back.

“My dad’s name is on the building,” Alex says. “I want to keep that Grisanti quality going that Memphis is used to, and give our customers what they expect out of us Grisantis.”

Judd, who opened Ronnie Grisanti’s Restaurant, in September, 2018, says, “The restaurant was never mine. The restaurant was never about me. The restaurant was never about Alex. It’s about our heritage. It’s about our family. We’re brothers. And it’s great to be back in the kitchen again, cooking alongside each other like we did for 27 years.”

The Grisanti brothers cooked at the Ronnie Grisanti’s restaurant when it was at 2855 Poplar at Humes. Dino, who also is in the car dealership business, worked in the kitchen at one time. Alex was chef/owner of the old Elfo’s restaurant in Germantown.

Judd and Dino asked him to come back, Alex says. He says he told them, “When I wasn’t on my truck, when my truck’s not working during the holiday season when we’re not so busy, that I would come help him and make all the pastries and stuff like that.”

“That’s what kind of got me back there,” says Alex, who now will be doing all types of chef duties in the kitchen.

And, he says, “When Judd’s not there, at least there’s a Grisanti in the building. Like me and dad, Judd, down on Poplar. Just like the old days.”

His food truck – or bus – business is doing “phenomenal,” he says. People still are going crazy over his crawfish pizza and other pizzas.

“This is coming up on our third year with the food truck. I worked nine shifts in the food truck last week. Our business has tripled. Because we’re feeding hospitals and their nurses and big companies where people have to go to work. Like right now, we’re at Campbell Clinic feeding all the doctors and nurses here.”

And, he says, “We built a new truck this winter and it’s doing great.”

It’s actually a “cargo, transport bus,” he says. “I got a bus five or six months ago and it took me all winter to build it. But it’s out and done.”

Judd and Dino aren’t the only ones happy to have their brother in the kitchen again. “I think my dad and my mom would be happy about us being in the kitchen again,” Judd says. “I know he’s smiling.”

Ronnie Grisanti’s Restaurant is at 6150 Poplar Avenue, No. 122, in Regalia; (901) 850-0191

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Changes at LYFE downtown and Jim’s Place

According to Patrick Noone, LYFE Kitchen is more of a collection of neighborhood-specific restaurants rather than a chain.

“We have 14 restaurants across the country, and we try to serve each community in which we are located,” Noone, head of brand and marketing for the Memphis-based company, says.

Recently, the Carlisle Corp. collection turned their eyes on their downtown Chisca location and asked themselves where they could improve.

“We did a little soul-searching,” Noone says.

The answer came in the form of offering full service, an improved menu, a full bar, and a ramped-up patio.

“People wanted full service, a great bar atmosphere, and a great patio,” Noone says.

As far as their menu, Noone points to items such as the Cucumber Bites appetizer as a new favorite, offering seared tuna atop their edamame hummus balanced on a cucumber slice ($6); their barbecue chicken flatbread ($8); and their Turkey Meatball Martini — ground turkey covered in Pomodoro sauce and Asiago cheese, served in a martini glass ($6).

“We took a lot of dishes we were told our customers loved and tweaked them a little, and we added a lot of new dishes,” Noone says. “We made a big effort to offer a more upscale experience but keep it in the same price range.”

They now offer a full bar complete with specialty cocktails, most with names inspired by the historic space in which they are served.

“Most of the people on our staff are into hand-crafted cocktails, so they all collaborated on the drink menu,” Noone says.

In addition to offering full service — the only location in the country as of now (the East Memphis site will offer it, as well as the new menu, in August) — perhaps the most significant change they have made is leveraging their greatest asset — the killer patio.

Starting Thursday, the Chisca site will host Thursday Patio Parties with live music, drink specials, and free tacos with the purchase of beer, wine, or a cocktail as well as their very own farmers market.

“That is the other part of regionalism and serving our communities,” Noone says.

The first patio party, which runs from 6 to 8 p.m., will include complimentary hors d’oeuvres.

The Chisca LYFE Kitchen closed for a couple of months beginning in December and recently debuted its reimagined concept on March 9th after a series of friends and family openings to test-run the new model.

“We listened, and people have been tremendously responsive,” Noone says.

LYFE Kitchen, 272 S. Main, 526-0254, lyfekitchen.com. Open 10 a.m to 9 p.m. daily.

Alex Grisanti considers himself lucky to have a millennial for a son.

“They’re the ones holding the cards,” the veteran restaurateur says.

His ace of spades, Elfo, comes in especially handy after the father-son duo joined forces with the other century-old restaurant family, the Taras, who have been serving up Greek cuisine mixed with American standbys in the form of Jim’s Place since 1921.

You read that right. Two families of Memphis restaurant lore have joined forces. With Alex Grisanti as head chef, adding some of his delectable darlings to an already appetizing menu, Jim’s Place is holding a royal flush.

In early 2016, Alex closed the popular Elfo’s in Germantown and has been working in the restaurant consulting business ever since.

He had begun to look for a new space when he was told that Jim’s Place was looking to make a major change.

“We talked, and they weren’t ready to get out of the restaurant business yet,” Alex says. “They wanted to keep swinging, and I’m here to help do that.”

He brought in his team of consultants and watched and tallied numbers for a while, looking at what on the menu sold and what didn’t, and began implementing some new dishes where necessary, tweaking some others, and leaving some exactly the same.

“They have some of the best gumbo I’ve ever had,” Alex says.

They kept the jumbo shrimp and souflima and added the signature Grisanti Gorgonzola filet, Miss Mary’s salad, Italian spinach, and toasted ravioli.

He also kept some of the longtime Jim’s Place people, including the 30-plus veteran Wayne Scott, who hand cuts all of the steaks and is the genius behind that gumbo.

“They have unbelievable steaks,” Alex says.

They have daily specials, including soup, pasta, seafood, and beef, and Alex intends to have the best hamburger in Memphis.

“My son says it’s all about the bread,” Alex says.

They have new beers on tap, exotic and local, and Alex is working on building up their bourbon and Scotch collection and has already had his way with the wine list.

Another big change is the hours. No longer open for brunch, they now offer only dinner starting at 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday. They’re closed on Sunday.

“They’re really great guys. They’re restaurateurs, like my family,” Alex says. “I’m here to give 100 percent.”

Jim’s Place, 518 Perkins Extd., 766-2030, jimsplacememphis.com. Open Mon.-Sat. 4 p.m. until.