For 50 years, Café Cortina has remained a local beacon of Northern Italian food. The restaurant has also racked up numerous Best of Detroit wins here at Hour Detroit and was the second in history to earn our Restaurant of the Year designation back in 2003. Now, more than two decades later, I returned to see what makes Café Cortina an essential destination after all these years.
It was 1976 when husband and wife Rina and Adriano Tonon first opened the doors to the enduring Café Cortina, a restaurant built on familial love, Italian pride, garden-fresh food, and impeccable service. It was named for Cortina d’Ampezzo, which lies in the Veneto region of Italy where Adriano was from, a zone known for its rustic and hearty inland dishes — and the location of many of this year’s Winter Olympic events.
Café Cortina started as a family affair and has remained such, even after Adriano’s untimely death in 1993. Rina speaks fondly of her late husband: “We went to live in Italy for six months because I wanted to meet his family. Adriano was amazing and talented. Amazing with clients. We knew we wanted a restaurant together. This was always the dream for both of us.”
Many people thought Rina would close the restaurant after her husband’s passing. Instead, her oldest son, Adrian, came to her and said, “Don’t worry. I’m going to help you.” Rina, who believes that the restaurant business has to be in your heart, asked her son if it was in his. He confirmed that it was. Today, Rina, Adrian, and Rina’s younger son Giancarlo help run this historic and prestigious Italian restaurant, which still finds ways to charm in an ever-changing world.
At Café Cortina, expect all the hallmarks of Northern Italian dining — freshness, vibrance, elegance, and rib-sticking comfort with a little bit of theater. Read: This place is dark. Candles flickering on each table bring light to an otherwise pitch-black space. On a recent visit, I witnessed a waiter illuminating a patron’s menu with the flashlight on his phone; there are dimly lit restaurants, and then there is the cloak of seductive darkness that envelopes Café Cortina. Having dinner in such romantic lighting is exhilarating, a throwback to a time when dining rooms felt like stages (not well-lit classrooms), with the chefs, servers, and bartenders playing the parts of a theater troupe’s cast.
A confession: I have long perceived restaurant service to be overrated, inconsequential to my reviews at large. Recently, however, my appreciation increased tenfold. Good restaurant service can comfort diners just as much as a delicately layered lasagna, and thankfully, at Café Cortina, you don’t have to choose between the two. I was called “signor” more times in one night than in my previous 40 years on this earth combined. Each time it was uttered, the word tickled me, but I also found it endearing. For a second, they had me actually believing I was Italian royalty.
Witnessing good service is a lot like watching a physical stage performer. I found myself particularly enamored by the movements of our waiter, Manuel, who fervently used his hands while he spoke. I became mesmerized as they waved and circled, cutting through the air like the soft edge of a spoon slicing through an affogato warmly draped in espresso.
Café Cortina isn’t exclusively Northern Italian; it dives in and out of regions with swiftness — a Roman-style lasagna with braised beef, pine nut pesto, and béchamel; ravioli in a blush sauce that reads more American; a classic cacio e pepe; and an orecchiette with sausage and broccoli rabe that hails from Puglia, among many other Northern Italian classics, round out the menu.
A carpaccio with thin ribbons of Wagyu beef is showered with Parmesan and littered with briny jewels of fried capers. The Wagyu is sliced so thin that it appears translucent. Simple pan-fried artichokes (fiore di carciofi fritti) are served slick with olive oil, stuck with sea salt and mint, and served with a small trail of lemon aioli spooned out by Manuel himself. It’s a style of service that’s becoming increasingly rare. Where have all the good waiters gone? To Café Cortina, I submit.
On to the pasta: A lasagna vincigrassi (which comes from the Marche region of Italy, nestled between the Apennine mountains and the Adriatic Sea) is Café Cortina’s triumphant and signature dish. It comes with seven layers of eggy, handmade pasta sheets layered with ricotta, Parmigiano, mozzarella, fresh spinach, and a Veneto blush sauce, plus some basil aioli for good measure. I was astonished at how well this lasagna held its form. The layers of pasta are so thin, the lasagna itself so meticulously constructed, that every bite felt completely and utterly even. I do believe that this lasagna and a glass of red wine is what I’ll crave most from Café Cortina. The combination is pure, unadulterated Italian comfort.
Café Cortina has a very small selection of wine by the glass. The move here is to order a bottle, and you should embrace the bottle service wholly. I’d also suggest going for a cocktail up front — a Midnight Negroni proved to be perfect alchemy, the delicate sweetness from Campari tamed by the bitterness of Plymouth Gin. A good Negroni is all about the proper ratio of ingredients, and if anything, Café Cortina proves that the key to longevity is knowing proper balance.
After dinner, diners have the option to jumpstart their evening with a dessert list that skews espresso heavy. Think affogato, flourless cake with espresso gelato, and crepes plopped with espresso Chantilly cream. There’s also a substantial amaro list present here, and I fully urge diners to partake. My personal order: Braulio shaken cold. Shaking this amaro turns the digestif into a frothy concoction that feels like dessert in itself. It’s a perfect finisher to the meal — and something that will put one’s stomach at ease.
There’s an air of privacy to Café Cortina. Tables are spaced widely instead of being crammed next to each other. Conversations are private, hushed. The inhabitants of each table seem as though they exist in their own little homes. It’s a type of dining I haven’t experienced in quite a while, and by the time I looked at my watch, several hours had passed. I had gotten lost in the dramatic rhythm of this restaurant like an emotionally resonant film score.
As I left, Manuel opened the door for me, gave me a final “signor,” and wished me well. Thoughtful hospitality has a way of making you feel remarkable, and that’s what this classic restaurant so consistently achieves. Fifty years may seem like a long time, but for the Tonon family, it’s just a blip. “Our clients are special,” says Rina. “We don’t want you one time. We want you forever. And your family forever.”
Café Cortina is celebrating 50 years with special events, including The Culinary Evolution – Annual Spanish Dinner on June 29 and its Anniversary Fall Dinner on Nov. 2. For more information, visit cafecortina.com.
At a Glance:
Price: $$$
Vibe: Intimate and old-worldly
Service: Excellent
Sound level: Moderate
Dress code: None
Open: 4-9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 4-10 Friday and Saturday, 3-7:45 Sunday; closed Monday
Reservations: OpenTable
Parking: Valet and lot
Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible
This story originally appeared in the May 2026 issue of Hour Detroit magazine. To read more, pick up a copy of Hour Detroit at a local retail outlet. Click here to get our digital edition.
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