Chef Mark Tennie Returns Home to Open Trattoria Tennie in Manitowoc

Mark Tennie is turning a hometown return into a new pasta destination. On April 23, he will open Trattoria Tennie at 2204 Washington St. in Manitowoc, the former Grizzly’s site, with a casual Italian menu built around hand-rolled pasta and scratch-made sauces.

The opening carries extra weight because Tennie is not a newcomer testing a market. He grew up in Manitowoc, first worked in restaurants as a high school student at The Galley, and then spent years in kitchens across the country, including California, Montana, Pennsylvania and several Wisconsin cities. Now he is coming back to open his own place on the same streets where his food career began.

That homecoming is part of what makes Trattoria Tennie more than another restaurant opening. The project is being pitched as a neighborhood Italian spot with a cozy feel, not a formal dining room. Visit Manitowoc says the restaurant will specialize in hand-rolled pasta and pizza, a combination that puts the craft of the kitchen front and center. For pasta fans, that means the draw is not just red-sauce comfort, but the promise of dough handled by hand and sauces built from scratch.

The building itself adds to the story. Tennie saw the former Tony’s site for sale and decided to move on it, giving new life to a corner that has carried a long dining history in Manitowoc. The address has housed Tony’s Pizza and Casa di Amici, and in 2018 the Tony’s Pizza and Bar name returned there under new management. Trattoria Tennie now extends that restaurant lineage with a new chef and a sharper personal connection to the city.

Local interest was already building around the former Grizzly’s Food and Spirits location earlier this year, when readers were curious about what would happen to the space. Trattoria Tennie gives that address a clear next chapter, one rooted in a Manitowoc native’s career and a concept that leans on technique as much as nostalgia.

Reservations for the grand opening can be made by emailing mark@trattoriatennie.com. In a city with more than 100 places to eat, Trattoria Tennie is betting that a familiar name, a visible comeback and a handmade pasta menu will give Manitowoc a new reason to come back to Washington Street.