There is something about Westwood that stays with you as you age.
I grew up less than half a mile from where Neroli stands today, in Islington. I played sports at Westwood High School. Some of my closest friendships and favorite memories were formed on the fields, in the schools and around a community that felt like it would always be exactly as it was.
Then, life happens. We graduate, go to college, then begin our careers. People get married, raise families and sometimes move hundreds or thousands of miles away. Faces change, businesses come and go, and the town we knew as kids evolves.
But then Thanksgiving rolls around!
For generations of young adults, the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving has become an unofficial homecoming. College students return and grown children come home with families of their own. Old teammates reconnect and friends who haven’t been in the same room together for years suddenly pick up a conversation as though they saw each other last week.
When we created Neroli Ristorante, I wanted it to become one of those places where moments like this can happen.
Yes, Neroli is a restaurant, and we care deeply about the food we prepare, the drinks we serve and the experience people have when they walk through our doors. I’ve always believed a great restaurant can be something more. It can become part of the fabric of the community it serves.
That notion is particularly meaningful to me because this is my community.
Recently, we created a television ad celebrating Westwood athletics and gathered a dozen current Wolverines from different sports, each wearing their jerseys, around a Neroli table – we take care of the family! The response was incredible, and made me realize we had tapped into something people here genuinely care about: the memories and connections they made growing up in Westwood.
The 2026-27 Wolverines had a great meal, the parents and grandparents loved seeing their kids in a commercial, and the imagery of teamwork, friendship and camaraderie struck a chord.
One of my favorite things is seeing today’s Westwood High School athletes come into Neroli for a special night. Maybe they’re hosting a pasta dinner, celebrating a season, a victory or simply spending time together. I know from experience that someday they’ll look back on these years differently than they do right now. The teammates sitting beside them in 2026 will likely scatter across the country, but the bond they’re building in Westwood will remain.
Neroli will be one of the places that helps bring them back together.
That’s what makes the Wednesday before Thanksgiving so special. Look around the room and you may see recent graduates catching up after their first few months away at college. At another table might be people who graduated 10, 20 or 30 years ago doing exactly the same thing.
Different generations and different stories, but the same hometown. Every November, when so many familiar faces find their way home, I’m reminded exactly why we opened Neroli Ristorante.
Welcome home, Westwood.
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