3 Andiamo sites to be steakhouses

Signs for the new Joe Vicari's Andiamo Italian Steakhouse have already been installed at Andiamo's Bloomfield Township restaurant on Telegraph Road. The company's new steakouse menu is tentatively set to debut Aug. 6 at the company's Bloomfield Township, Dearborn and Warren restaurants. (Credit: Charles Hill)

The Andiamo Restaurant Group's three premiere locations, including its Warren flagship, will be renamed and converted into upscale Italian steakhouses by early August, Andiamo founder and CEO Joe Vicari confirmed Tuesday.

The new concept -- called Joe Vicari's Andiamo Italian Steakhouse -- will feature a wide selection of aged, high-quality steaks and chops, more fresh seafood choices and updated sides and salads, along with a core group of the traditional pasta dishes "that made us who we are today," Vicari said.

The new menus are tentatively scheduled to be unveiled Aug. 6 in Warren, Dearborn and Bloomfield Township.

Dining room renovations are under way this week in Warren and will begin next week in Dearborn. Vicari said the Bloomfield Township restaurant was remodeled three months ago -- before he planned to change the menu.

"But when we started thinking about it, we thought of our three premiere locations and thought (the steakhouse concept) would be good. And the excitement we've generated has been pretty good," he said.

The inspiration for the change was a meal he had last summer in the Tuscan countryside, he said.

"We went to this great Italian steakhouse and said, 'This would be phenomenal in Detroit,' so we kept working on it, and that's how it evolved."

Increased competition in the Italian dining segment has increased since he opened the first Andiamo in 1990, he acknowledged, but that's not the main reason for the change.

"Our No. 1 seller at Andiamo is our filet, so what we decided is to jump into it and give customers the best of both worlds -- all of our great Italian favorites they like, and give them an option if they're looking for selections of steak, oysters, fresh seafood."

Sourcing the meats has been a key part of the process, he said. Ground beef for the Andiamo Grande Meatball starter and the chopped steak, for example, will come from nationally known New York purveyor Pat LaFrieda. Pasture-raised veal and lamb will come from Wisconsin-based Strauss Brands. Steaks, such as a 32-ounce long-bone rib eye called the Andiamo Tomahawk, will be house-aged.

"We're dry-aging and wet-aging and getting 38 days of aging on our product," Vicari said. "We're going a little more in depth than some other places."

Check averages at restaurants with the new concepts will go up, he said, "but our profits will probably go down," because of the difference in ingredient costs.

Vicari agreed that going more upscale runs counter to the trend at many other restaurants. But his experience opening Joe Muer Seafood at the Renaissance Center last September persuaded him he's making the right move.

"We saw the success of Joe Muer's and looked at the size and what people are ordering. ... They're willing to pay a fair price if they're getting what they expect. That's what we're banking on. We're going to deliver what we're promising."