Elfo Grisanti – Memphis Flyer

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

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.”