he`s so original

Alex Grisanti knows what’s cooking.

It’s hard not to feel like there are ghosts in the room when you listen to Alex Grisanti talk about the restaurant business. After all, his family is inextricably linked with the history of Memphis: His grandfather, Elfo, and Big John were brothers, his dad Ronnie (or Rinaldo, depending on how Italian you’re feeling,) still comes around his namesake restaurant, and brother Judd runs Spindini. But Alex, along with Kim, his dynamo wife, are carving their own niche with Elfo’s, moving in April to the former site of Three Oaks Grill in Germantown, and expanding both the menu and the hours (the new Elfo’s will open for both lunch and dinner seven days a week). It’s hard to see how this father of four (the name of his 12-year-old son: Elfo) will do it all, but given his family’s history, don’t bet against him.

The best thing about wearing a skirt?: “All the attention! I’ve never had so much fun with a group of women.”

The best thing about reading skirt!?: “I love seeing all the successful businesswomen in town; no other magazine does it that way.”