We’ve had lots of questions about the name of the restaurant but I thought instead of just telling you what it means I’d give you the story behind it.

We met Carlo and Sofia a few years ago when they started coming to Run Muskegon after moving here from Italy. It’s hard to remember that Sofia used Carlo as a translator pretty regularly back then. We loved them from the very beginning but I was always inspired by Sofia’s fearlessness! She decided she wanted to do a triathlon and we began training together and finished the Ludington sprint with a very rough swim.

Together we have raced together, shared holidays, camped together, celebrated birthdays, celebrated life and of course cooked together. They really are like family to us. One day a group of us decided we would love to see their world and we planned a trip to Italy together-13 of us headed there together and it was amazing, I cannot wait to share some of those stories with you. Jeff joked with Carlo and said of course people would assume he was Italian. Give him a bottle of red and he may even speak Italian. Carlo said he would introduce Jeff as his nephew and from that point forward, Carlo was known as zio, or uncle and referred to Jeff as nipote, or nephew.

Once we got there, Carlo’s friends also took Jeff under their wings and before we left he had three Italian uncles. When we started looking for the restaurant we were so moved by our trip to Italy, with wonderful scratch kitchens where you could stop for a quick panino or stay for a long coursed meal surrounded in hospitality and love. Around these tables everyone was family. It was this sprit and of course a tribute to Zio Carlo that inspired the name, Nipote’s Italian Kitchen!

What’s in a name?