It’s an honor to be invited to help a friend celebrate her birthday anniversary, but when the celebration is at a restaurant you have been longing to patronize, it’s an evening tied with a big ribbon and glitter.
Angelo’s Northwood Villa is just over the Michigan line on Dixie Highway and shares fans from Toledo and Monroe. The villa is a delightful step back in time to when it was operated by the late Gen Dokurno, an expert restaurateur who also owned the Northwood Inn on Summit Street.
The Villa figures in the gangster history in the 1920s and is mentioned in the Toledo History Museum tour, “Glass City Garters, Gambling, Gangsters, and Gin.”
For several years, it has been in the capable hands of Alex and Angelo Tsipis. As manager, Alex practices the many culinary skills he learned watching his father when he was a child at the family restaurant in Monroe.
Thankfully, Alex and Angelo Tsipis have preserved the elegant ambience and use it now as the background for superb food.
When we arrived at 5:30, the main dining room was already filled with diners at linen covered tables. It’s a major plus nowadays when a restaurant uses linens. Somehow, a nicely dressed table makes the food more appealing. I might add, customers tend to dress up to coordinate with the ambience.