News & Reviews Of Mancuso's Trattoria
Life skills taught with pizza
Special needs kids pitch in at workshop
Rita Poliakov, Windsor Star
Published: June 26, 2009
Spencer Fram,10, left, and Iesha Ellwood, 11, are shown the tradition method of making pizza
by chef Enzo Mancuso at Mancuso Trattoria on Erie Street East Wednesday June 24, 2009.
Photograph by: Nick Brancaccio, The Windsor Star
The five kids in Mancuso's Trattoria are mesmerized by the pizza oven. They stare in awe, watching as a small fire flickers and dances inside, quickly heating the pizza they just made.
"Can I help?" one asks, peering into the back of the restaurant. The question turns into his mantra as he watches the flames. "I want to help. Can I help?"
And he can, thanks to Enzo Mancuso.
On Wednesday, Mancuso hosted his third pizza workshop for special needs kids from John Campbell public school.
The class of five included kids with autism, Down syndrome and non-identified symptoms.
"It's pretty cool. You see their faces, now they're eating something that they made," Mancuso, the owner of the restaurant, said. He held two other workshops on Tuesday and last Thursday, where he helped kids spread out sauce, pick their own toppings and gently sprinkle them onto the pre-pulled dough.
"I want to do it all the time. It's so amazing to see these kids making pizza," he said, adding that he wants to continue the program in the next school year.
The pizza workshop started when a teacher from John Campbell brought her child to Mancuso's restaurant. Mancuso offered to let her son help make a pizza, and was asked if he'd be willing to do the same for the special needs class at John Campbell.
"I have a soft heart for special needs (children). My godson is special needs," he said. "I said yes right away."
According to Dana Niklas, a teacher at John Campbell, the workshop teaches kids more than just how to spread sauce.
"For kids in a special education class, everything around us is a life skill," she said. "It's math skills ... you're learning kitchen skills, health and safety skills, you're learning to work together," she said.
But mostly, they're having fun. Especially Iesha Ellwood, a Grade 6 student that quickly fell in love with her crisp, white apron.
"I'm like Ratatouille," she said when Mancuso tied it on for her.
The class has cooked before at school, but for most of the kids, it was their first time cooking in a restaurant.
"It was good because we got to put our own toppings on," said Omer Link, a Grade 7 student. "At our school, it doesn't look like this."
To Danielle Hanrahan, an educational assistant at John Campbell, the workshop offers the kids a choice.
"They're excited about being able to pick their own toppings," she said. "They're special needs, their choices are very limited... (Here) they don't have to compromise on what they want."
The workshop ended with a medal presentation. Each child received a shiny medal with the words MVP emblazoned on the front.
"What does it say?" Ellwood was asked. Carefully, she turned it over and read the words.
"Most valuable pizza makers."
By Molly Abraham, www.hourdetroit.com
Published: February 19, 2009
Mancuso's Trattoria: Built around a wood-burning brick oven, this unpretentious spot on Windsor’s Via Italia sets a cozy scene with faux-stone floors and walls and a friendly demeanor. The thin-crust pizzas and flatbreads, as well as lasagna, manicotti, cannelloni, and veal Parmesan, are all are finished in the oven for a rustic touch. Proprietor Enzo Mancuso formerly ran the now-shuttered Tutto Ristorante.
555 Erie St. East, Windsor;
519-254-6213.
L & D Tue.-Fri.,
D Fri.-Sat.-Sun. $14 H
Mancuso's Trattoria keeps fare simple and classic in new, cozy location
Molly Abraham, www.detnews.com
Published: Thursday, November 27, 2008
Enzo Mancuso's landlord did him a favor when he raised the rent to an amount that motivated the restaurateur to close his Tutto Ristorante at 866 Erie Street East in Windsor.
When Mancuso relocated to a spot just down the street, it was to a cozier space, and one that seemed just right for a menu of simple Italian fare. And given the current climate, it turns out to have been a well-timed move.
The trattoria fits Erie Street, otherwise known as Via Italia, very well. It is built around a wood-burning brick oven -- the oldest in Windsor, as far as the proprietor knows -- and the atmosphere is completely unpretentious, with the kind of friendly service people have come to expect in Windsor.
Faux stone floors and walls decorated with insets of mosaic tiles in bright blue, yellow, red and green lend an upbeat feeling to the simple room that seats 80.
Patrons sometimes watch as pizza maker Guillermo Artico brings in a load of wood to feed the oven, where not only pizza, but many other dishes are prepared, including an excellent half-chicken that arrives at the table with a glistening deep-brown finish.
Flatbread topped with fresh rosemary and garlic, or fresh tomatoes and goat cheese also comes out of the oven, as do whitefish and tilapia.
Several other dishes, including classic lasagna, manicotti, canneloni and veal Parmesan, are finished in the oven for a nice woodsy touch.
Pizza maker Artico also provides a very popular dessert, pizza dough filled with Nutella spread and drizzled with chocolate, a treat big enough for a table to share.
Among other house specials: four-cheese-stuffed gnocchi, available each week with a different sauce, ranging from wild mushroom to tomato and sausage or even meatballs. The gnocchi are handmade by Mancuso's aunt Alba (who won't reveal her recipe).
The crunchy rolls that come to the table are from the neighboring Italia bakery, and they team well with the hearty pasta e fagioli soup or the antipasto platter of prosciutto, olives, marinated artichokes, roasted red peppers and cheese, a bargain at $7 and typical of the gentle price structure here.
Note that the restaurant closes between lunch and dinner -- "It's the Italian way," says Mancuso.
Oh, and that space at number 866 that formerly housed Tutto?
Still vacant.
You can reach Molly Abraham at (313) 222-1475 or
abraham67@comcast.net.
Homestyle attitude gives Mancuso's definite edge
Ted Whipp, Windsor Star
Published: Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Essential simplicity. The wood-burning oven burns bright and hot and the dining
room looks cosy, at the new Mancuso's Trattoria, 555 Erie St. E. near Howard Avenue.
Open barely two weeks, the attractive place already looks like it's been here much
longer with the bustle of customers, servers and cooks.
The display of family photos in the foyer hint at the homestyle attitude: essential
and easy with items like grilled panini sandwiches, hearty soups and straight-from-the-oven
pizzas.
Tablecloths and dark chairs dress up the look and help soften the stony decor of
so much stucco and brick and decorative concrete floor.
The makeover of a former Italian restaurant includes attentive service. And lots
of it during a recent visit.
The menu combines lunch and dinner, with items for different budgets and appetites.
The grilled panini sandwiches, side salad included, provide an ample portion for
lunch.
It's a hearty and simple approach here. There's one menu combining both lunch and
dinner and prices under $15. Besides the pizzas, pastas and other entrees, the menu
offers several seafood entrees of note in a city where it seems so scarce on menus
and a deliberate move by Enzo Mancuso, who operates both his new namesake restaurant
and Tutto farther east on Erie Street.
Entree items include potato and vegetable side dishes, and customers have the choice
to add more, such as a salad or pasta.
Mancuso opened the restaurant to offer more diversity and a more casual approach
and menu.
Expect changes at Tutto, on the menu and in the dining room, early next year.
Mancuso's Trattoria, 555 Erie St. E., is open Monday to Friday for lunch, from 11:30
a.m. to 3 p.m. and dinner from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. and on Saturday for dinner, from
4:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. and Sunday from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.; telephone 254-6213.