Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachael Grossman.
Rachael, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I grew up in Negaunee, Michigan, and originally fell in love with cooking in my grandmother’s kitchen (just up the road from Strega Nonna) on Main Street. I’d go over to her house after school once a week as a little girl. She’d feed me a wonderful after-school snack, and then we would cook together, bake cakes, play cards, and I’d nap on her lamb skin day bed until it was time to finish whatever was coming out of the oven. My grandma Jean was a wonderful cook and mostly inspired by haute French cuisine.
I’ve always been drawn to Italian cooking, and I completely fell in love (and continue to fall in love) with the Italian table, the culture, the hospitality when I first went to live and work in the Italian Countryside outside of Rome back in 2008, after graduation from Le Cordon Bleu Culinary School in L.A. I worked at an Agriturismo (farm restaurant), where we grew our own vegetables, picked and pressed our own olive oil & wine, had chickens for fresh eggs and meat, and made homemade pasta every day. I love the rustic simplicity in the Italian kitchen and the way that the dishes really let the ingredients shine. A simple garden tomato rubbed on grilled bread with good olive oil and flake salt, handmade pastas with nothing but lemon and oil, fresh fish simply grilled with some fresh garden herbs. These are the dishes that inspire me most.
I moved to Portland, OR, in January of 2009 in search of a ‘real job,’ but instead, I ended up back in Europe that spring for a while- cooking for the Cannes film festival and then WOOFing my way around France and eventually of course found myself back in Italy, where I felt so well taken care of. I wanted to remember every bite, every generous soul, all of the wonderful hospitality and bring it back to share. That summer, I returned to Portland worked for almost a year at a fancy fine dining restaurant and hotel where I was in charge of the handmade pasta program until one day, I came home and ordered a shiny new commercial kitchen built inside of a trailer on the internet and decided it was time to start my own project.
A month after I turned 21, I opened Artigiano, an authentic Italian-style Osteria with a sweet and compact little kitchen inside of a trailer. The dining “room” was all outdoors, al fresco style, just like the little osterias dotted along the Italian coast with outdoor seating. I ran Artigiano seasonally from May-October for about 13 seasons. Artigiano has become a multi-course dining experience with a cult following. While I closed for the winters, I’d travel back to Italy each year for at least a month to re-inspire, usually working for a few weeks at a restaurant there or just meeting people and working my way into their grandmother’s kitchens to really learn the good stuff. I’d spend about a month back in the UP for the winter as well, to spend time with family, enjoy the natural snowy beauty, and cross-country ski. Before heading back to Oregon to re-open, I’d usually take another trip somewhere tropical to swim and surf, to dance, to experience art and other multi-cultural inspiration. What can I say? I had the perfect life.
And then 2020 hit– and I spent 6 months in the UP that winter and spring while I waited to see what the pandemic shut down would bring. Meanwhile, I cooked with my mom, sang songs with my dad, skied every day with my sister and an adorable white lab, and found a giant old brownstone in downtown Negaunee for sale that I decided to buy, renovate, and eventually open Strega Nonna.
The name Strega Nonna, which means “Grandma Witch,” was inspired from a favorite Italian fairytale about a grandma who has a magical pot – she can cast a spell to make the pot cook pasta.
My mission has always been to re-create the experiences I’ve had while living and traveling through Italy. I’ve embraced the role of the Italian grandmother that everyone wishes they had (or that they do have.) I decided to bring that experience here to my hometown of Negaunee to bring people together over memorable dishes and drinks in an unhurried, fun, and casual atmosphere, including live music and multi-course feasting. My hope is to be part of revitalizing the downtown area of Negaunee with delicious food and a cozy gathering place for the community.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Ha ha ha! The road has potholes, sinkholes, rocks, roots, bumps, twists, and turns.
The biggest struggles at first came during the renovation phase. My building was built in 1873; need I say more? It will always be a project but rewarding, too. I’m really happy with the way the restaurant turned out, my crazy fun paint job, the brand-new kitchen, and the magic it will bring.
I think my other biggest challenge is staffing, managing staff, bossing, etc. Being a new restaurant that is such a large space with a large bar, it took some time to get systems in place that worked, so that, of course, was hard on some of the staff as we changed our minds and changed systems a lot, in the beginning, to make it run smooth. I also really struggle with being in charge, even though I’ve been running my own place for 15 years out west, as my Oregon biz was a smaller space and grew organically. I had an amazing tight-knit team out there and a front-of-house manager who really acted as a partner with me out there since 2014.
I am really thankful for the staff that I have now at Strega, and I’m looking forward to taking many of them to Italy this winter and the inspiration we will all bring back together.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Strega Nonna?
Dining at Strega Nonna is a little different… Here, we’re trying our best to share the type of dining experiences we loved in Italy. The food is inspired by our memories, both from childhood and our international travels. All while highlighting the Upper Peninsula’s ingredients, regional specialties, cultures, and traditions. Food is served family style, dishes come out slowly, dining is unhurried, wine is plentiful. It’s served in a joyful, colorful environment surrounded by art and music. Every night is a party, and you’re a guest. Whether you’re one person, a couple, four people, or a large group, the best way to dine here for dinner is the “menu completo.” It’s like dining at your Italian grandmother’s home. All menus are set up like a multi-course traditional Italian meal and will include antipasti (an array of appetizers), primi (usually two pasta dishes- one seasonally inspired and one handmade favorite!), secondo (main course/meat dishes), and contorni (side vegetables and/or salads.)
Our menus feature as many local ingredients from local farms as possible. Our focus is on highlighting authentic style European and Italian faire, international food, and U.P. regional dishes. The bar features local beer, craft cocktails, and lovely, affordable wines from Italy and the Michigan region.
We typically offer 4-course Family- Style dinner experiences for around $55/person. Once a month, we offer special events or regional Italian 7-course dinners for $75/person. We always offer wine pairings as well.
We do also offer a small rotating a la carte menu for people wanting to stop in for a lighter dinner or for drinks and snacks.
Strega Nonna also has a small marketplace, “The Negaunee Bazzar,” stocked with local and imported specialty items like olive oils, vinegar, chocolates, cheeses, wines, tinned fish, cooking utensils, and more.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I’ve been very lucky. I was born with a very supportive family, willing to help me and cheer me on, even though rash decisions (like buying an 8,000-square-foot building that was built more than 100 years ago)! I was amazingly lucky in Portland, where I met Josh Chang, who helped me grow and become wildly successful in my business there, in turn giving me the opportunity to start Strega. The community of Negaunee has been wonderful to me, very welcoming and many of the people actually helped me to paint and renovate my building in the early stages. I hope that I continue to be lucky and that the city of Negaunee continues to grow and revitalize.
Pricing:
- 4-course dinners $55/person
- A la Carte Mains $20-40
- 7-course specialty dinners $75/person
Contact Info:
- Website: www.strega.fun
- Instagram: @streganonnanegaunee
- Facebook: Strega Nonna
Image Credits
Josh Chang
Sydney Jones
