It's all in the family at Tangredi’s

Michael Tangredi grew up in the kitchen of his family's street corner Italian restaurant on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx. By age 10, he was helping his father roll meatballs and perfecting his own tomato sauce.

His high school sweetheart and the woman who would become his wife, Maria, was also a kitchen rat in her father's Manhattan restaurant, Vincenzo's, where her grandmother taught her the family's generations-old, passed-down recipes.

After the couple married, they moved to Birmingham, Ala. to work at Sal's, Maria's uncle's eponymous restaurant. Naturally, when their son Michael ("Little Mike") was born, he became the Italian eatery's newest employee.

"Right from the hospital, he was in the restaurant," Michael ("Big Mike") said. "We took him to Sal's and set him right on the table."

"We have pictures of him doing paperwork and making pizza when he was 3," Maria said. "When it’s generation after generation, it just continues on that way. You just continue doing it."

The Tangredis are no exception.

Two and a half years ago, the family opened Tangredi's Kitchen on Elliston Place with classic, generous Italian dishes and an emphasis on fresh ingredients and even fresher seafood. Big Mike is the executive chef, menu crafter and manager all rolled into one; Maria is the friendly face at the front as well as the salad maker; and Little Mike, who is now 17, does much of the restaurant's paperwork and graphic design.

In early April, the Tangredis will debut Michael T's, where the restaurant torch is officially handed to Little Mike.

"It was my idea — to branch off the Italian — it's an American bistro with sandwiches, steaks, chicken dishes," Little Mike said. "We will specialize in fresh Maine lobster. There aren't any restaurants here that do that and I thought it would be a unique concept to bring to Nashville."

What kinds of food were you raised on?

Big Mike: My father did a lot of the cooking. Mostly Italian — chicken marsala, chicken piccata, spaghetti and meatballs. Every Sunday was pasta day. We'd make pasta frijole, a rolled meat with a filling. And hamburgers and hotdogs, things like that, but mostly Italian food. When you are in the restaurant business that's mostly all there is.

Little Mike: Pretty much anything on our menu. My mom cooks a lot. She does lasagna and manicotti.

What are your earliest memories in the kitchen?

Big Mike: Helping my father roll the meatballs.

Little Mike: The same, actually. I was probably 10 or 11.

What menu item are you most proud of?

Big Mike: The recipes are family recipes that go back generations. I think I am most proud of the zuppa di pece. It's mussels, shrimp, scallops, clams and calamari in a marinara or white wine sauce. That sort of gives you a bit of everything.

How did you become a Nashville Original?

Big Mike: [Little] Mike was looking into it. Whatever he told me sounded good at the time.

Little Mike: We know the owner of Tin Angel — just going in there we became friends. He told us a lot of the advantages, and now they have the gift card system. They started that right before the holidays, and we joined in late November.

What is your favorite ingredient?

Big Mike: Fresh basil.

Little Mike: Capers. I think it's a unique flavor.

What is your favorite kitchen tool?

Little Mike: Knives. I like to chop things. I am pretty good about doing it quick.

Big Mike: The mixer. I use it for a lot of different sauces I make, and meatballs — it saves a lot of trouble.

What is your favorite cookbook?

Big Mike: I don't have one. I don't look at cookbooks. I learned my family recipes being in the kitchen every day and watching and wanting to do it.

Little Mike: I don't have one either. I like to experiment a lot with ingredients I like.

Cooking tip?

Big Mike: Don't over-season. Taste it. Start out with a little and taste it before you do it and make sure it's not over-salted and spiced.

What is in your refrigerator at home?

Big Mike: Chinese food. That's it. We are never home.

What is in your CD player?

Big Mike: Jerry Garcia.

Little Mike: Nothing in particular. I listen to hip-hop and R&B.

What do you eat on a normal day?

Big Mike: I like a big breakfast — pancakes, French toast, bacon, eggs. Start out good. Then I just pick the rest of the day making sure everything is fresh and then I am pretty much done.

Little Mike: Something different every day. I normally spend more time deciding.

Big Mike: He likes to try every restaurant in town.

Little Mike: J. Alexander's and Bricktop's are my favorites.

What would you never eat?

Big Mike: Armenian food. Or, Indian food. I just don't like the smell.

Little Mike: I haven't come across anything I didn't like.

What was your most memorable dining experience?

Big Mike: My wedding. It was in New Jersey at The Palisadium overlooking New York City. There was beef Wellington and just a lot of food.

Any kitchen horror stories?

Big Mike: On Mother's Day, once the hood went out [at the restaurant in Birmingham]. It was already 90 degrees outside and we had a full dining room and no exhaust. We kept cooking but opened the door with fans to blow the air out. We got it fixed within a few hours, but it was a nightmare.

What is your guilty food pleasure?

Big Mike: Chocolate chip cookies. Chips Ahoy, I love them.

Little Mike: I get sushi take out a lot. Virago's red dragon roll is my favorite.

What would your last meal be?

Little Mike: Filet mignon.

Big Mike: Turkey sandwich. I am going to go easy.

If you weren't a restaurant owner, what would your dream job be?

Big Mike: Probably something to do with music — the audio side. I am really into audio. (He points to massive, five-foot-tall speakers in the corner of the restaurant.) The speakers are 27 years old, and the amp is 40 years old.

Little Mike: To be an attorney.

What is a little known fact about yourself?

Little Mike: I like doing Sudoku puzzles.

Big Mike: I don't like anyone to touch my cups (20-ounce, Styrofoam cups). It's what I drink my coffee out of. There could be 500 cups in the back and everyone knows not to touch them. [It started because] I didn't have a cup one day because everyone used them all and that was the end of that.

Tangredi’s Kitchen

2323 Elliston Place

320-0107

tangredisitaliankitchen.com