There’s a practice in farming to leave land fallow or intentionally dormant, in biblical times it was a law to allow land to rest every 7 years. This practice, allows the soil to regain fertility. There’s no doubt a connectivity between intentional rest and the harvest that it produces. We also need that reprieve, a strategic dormancy that allows our creativity to grow, so as we approached 7 years from the time we began our journey we also recognized it was time to take a break. We were called to travel back to Italy and be reminded of why we opened the doors of Nipote’s; food, close to the land, slow to the table; artisans that have practiced their craft for generations, cheese, prosciutto, balsamic, pasta and wine with generational evolution and reverence. Traditions passed between fathers and sons, grandmothers and granddaughters, uncles and their nipotes. Our intention was to spend a week in Italy and take a week to reset; that stretched into a month, call it a Ferragosto celebration, and then as we spent time reflecting on our passions we thought about how we could continue to get even closer to what we love about Italian food and wine. Slower food, more artisan, truly special experiences of food dancing with wine, celebrations of small boutique vineyards in the glass and expressions of love on the plate. We’ve done this through the years with our wine dinners and they’ve always been our favorite evenings; strangers enjoying a meal together, laughter filling the room and creativity emanating from the kitchen. While we always love these bespoke dinners and guests continue to ask for more of these, we’ve been limited over the years by the energy daily dinner service takes. So this became a dilemma, finding a way to create special meals, celebrate community and introduce boutique wines from our sister peninsula to west Michigan. We didn’t have the answer and so we continued to till the fallow land, a few months of seeking and reflection and as one door closed a window started to open…in this case a wine window.

We will close the door to traditional restaurant service. This isn’t an easy choice. We’ve been fortunate to always have a full dining room and wonderful regular guests, we hope many of you will join us on our next adventure. We will reopen as an appertivo bar, boutique Italian wine shop and Friday night Supper Club. Monday through Thursday we’ll open from 2-7 for wine and aperitivi, we will serve light snacks and sweets but we will not have a full menu. This will be much like the bars you’d stop in across Italy for a Spritz and chips or antipasti and a cocktail. In addition to the bar, we’ve expanded our retail wine selection to over 50 offerings featuring every region in Italy, along with wine & food accessories that we love. We’ll be offering a wine club with a bottle of the month, tasting notes and pairing ideas, starting in January (a great Holiday gift idea for your favorite wine lover). Friday nights we’ll host reservation only wine dinners, locally sourced, handcrafted meals with hospitality and experience at the center in an intimate setting. We continue to have a passion for our community and we’ll expand and leverage our take & bake options as a way to support local charities and community groups with handcrafted pasta dishes prepared in our kitchen, baked and served in yours. We will also have a Take & Bake for Two option. Pasta bakes and lasagna will continue to require a one day advance order with Pick ups available M-Thursday 2-7.

Please know that we continue to root our decisions on what best serves our family and our community. Food, should always be an expression of love and for us that means cooking in a way that honors that commitment, that community. We hope to see you in for a glass or bottle of wine, maybe at our table for a Friday night wine dinner or at the counter to pick up a take & bake. As always, sending love from our table to yours. Cin! Cin!

When one door closes a wine window opens…