The name
Trattoria di' Stagione means "restaurant of seasons," and Chef Dan Chudik has taken the moniker to heart by creating a menu of Italian cuisine that changes not only with the seasons, but sometimes every week, depending on which ingredients are in season and plentiful.
Trattoria di' Stagione opened in April in the space that was the Radix Tavern and, before that, The Queen's Pub at 1420 Lake Dr. SE, Grand Rapids. Balwinder Bal, owner of the adjacent
Bombay Cuisine, which shares the kitchen with the trattoria, owns both restaurants. Chef Chudik, who owned the popular Tuscan Express in Cascade, is the passion behind the seasonal concept and the food.
"I've been doing the seasonal, local foods thing over 20 years," Chudik says. "Everybody thinks it's so hip now, but when I opened Tuscan Express back in '95 we were doing it. I wanted [this restaurant] based off local fresh seasonal products with our three farmers that we deal with on a regular basis. We cook for the seasons. In the summer we have light foods and in the winter we have a little heavier fare, supporting the local agriculture."
The menu changes so frequently that when asked what's for lunch or dinner, Chudik would only say that the spicy spaghetti is so popular it's offered regularly. Other than that, he couldn't say what might be available at the time this article is read.
Currently, the restaurant works with three Michigan farms:
Melody Bee Farms,
Green Wagon Farm, and
Real Food Farm. Plus, Chudik says all fish is marine stewardship council-certified from Bensenville, IL-based
Fortune Fish.
The restaurant offers a full bar, seats 120 inside, and shares a covered outdoor deck with Bombay Cuisine so patrons can order from either or both.
Hours: 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Mon. - Thu. 4 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., Fri. and Sat. Follow them on Facebook
here.
Writer: Deborah Johnson Wood, Development News Editor
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