Salvatore Scaloppini: Larry Bongiovanni’s appealing trattorias are scattered around town, but the Grosse Pointe Woods outpost seems to have caught the imagination of the neighborhood. The Ron Rea-designed spot fills a niche between the expensive Italian restaurants and the more modest ones. Its accessible menu of fresh housemade Italian pastas with classic sauces, as well as chicken, veal, seafood dishes, and a well-stocked bar — coupled with friendly and efficient service — is a hard-to-beat combination. 19655 Mack, Grosse Pointe Woods; 313-886-3350. L & D. daily. $12 H Non-Smoking
Ocean Prime: Cameron Mitchell certainly has the knack of creating crowd-pleasing restaurants, and his newest in a free-standing building on the golden corner of Big Beaver Road and Coolidge certainly attests to that with its spacious, high-ceilinged dining room and menu of fish and steaks that is a more contemporary take on the traditional steakhouse. The lively bar scene in the cocktail lounge is a plus, as is a very well-trained staff in white stewards’ jackets. 2915 Coolidge Hwy., Troy; 248-458-0500. L & D weekdays, D Sat.-Sun. $24 Smoking only in the bar
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