New Restaurant Moving Into Recently Closed Italian Bistro in Wyandotte

The doors at Michelangelo's Italian Bistro were closed Thursday, but could reopen in two weeks as a completely different Italian restaurant.

Polly Kenzie, general manager of Magdaleno Italiano in Lincoln Park told Patch the restaurant's owner and head chef, Ernesto Magdaleno Guzman, planned to move his restaurant to the newly vacant building at 152 Elm Street.

Guzman finalized the lease on the former Michelangelo's building Thursday morning.

Guzman was trained as a chef in Little Italy, a neighborhood in lower Manhattan in New York, NY who makes almost everything from scratch including bread, pasta sauces and salads, according to Kenzie.

Guzman was once the head chef at Bacco Ristorante in Southfield.

Kenzie said Magdaleno's specializes in fresh, amazing food.

"(Wyandotte residents can expect) quality Italian food like they haven't had before," Kenzie said. "He (Guzman) is just amazing. I've never worked with a chef like him before."

Former Michelangelo's employees will be considered to fill several positions at the new restaurant. Kenzie said she and Guzman are looking to triple their current staff because the new building is significantly larger than the former Lincoln Park location.

People with gift certificates to Michelangelo's will receive 10 percent off their entire bill when Magdaleno's opens in about two weeks. Kenzie said she hopes to participate in the August Third Friday event, which is a wine crawl including several Wyandotte restaurants.