RIGA-TONY'S SERVES ITALIAN WITH STYLE, FUN AND FLAIR
STEPHANIE KLETT
BILL BARTH
Tiff any and Mike Itsines at Riga-Tony's. The Itsines own Riga-Tony's with Anthony Russo, not pictured.
Imagine a dream that, as you awaken, the air is filled with the sights and smells of lasagna, stuff ed peppers, beautifully sliced Italian beef, meatballs, sausages, along with aromatic marinara and vodka sauces.
It's not a dream if you're at Riga-Tony's Delicatezzi Italiano, located for the past 25 years in the plaza at 5576 State Road 50, Delavan.
During most of that time we drove by from our hometown of Beloit, heading to our favorite hangouts In Lake Geneva. On several occasions we noticed the Riga-Tony's sign on the roadside and wondered what was over there in the plaza.
Now we have a home in Lake Geneva and it was past time to find out what we've been missing. The right phrase is, a lot.
It's a come-as-you-are space that packs an astonishing variety of goodness into a relatively small shop, even though it occupies two storefronts. Upon entering patrons will notice the cold case to the left and the fresh deli selections to the right, usually stacked with folks ordering enormous and tasty fresh sandwiches. Fresh-sliced Italian beef and sausages with varying degrees of spice are most popular.
A little farther is the freezer section, including delicious homemade pizzas. The bakery and dessert cases look sinful. We tried cannoli – best around – and there's a slice of cherry cheesecake we can't stop talking about for a future visit.
Adjacent to the deli is the restaurant and hot case – lasagna choices, rigatoni, sausage-peppers-potato, meatballs and more. We asked how much do they serve?
“In the summer we’ll probably go through 4-6 whole trays of meat lasagna (a day),” said Mike Itsines, who has owned the family store since 2022 with his cousin Anthony Russo. “Each one feeds nine. We’ll rotate sausage, peppers and potatoes at least 2-3 pans, and they’re 30 pounds apiece.”
Check out this number: In the summer Mike and the crew make and sell 600-1,000 pounds of sausage a week.
We sat down for a chat with Mike and his energetic wife Tiffany, who handles social media marketing, human relations, catering and, well, lots of other stuff including counter work. Mike and Anthony focus on the food and meats. They know their craft.
Riga-Tony’s remains a family affair. Joe and Joanie Russo ran a successful Italian shop in Chicago for many years before bringing their operation to Lake Geneva. It quickly caught on and has been a staple of the regional food scene for a quarter century. Under Mike and Anthony, cousins and now partners in the enterprise, business has been growing rapidly to the point it is stretching available space.
“Catering is something we’re really trying to push,” Tiffany told us. “Catering gets very busy in the summer. A lot of people have their lake parties, graduation parties, we’ve been doing a lot of weddings.”
It’s not all about summers and tourists, though. The 25-year family history means Riga-Tony’s has a big local following, providing food for gatherings year-round.
“December is the busiest month of the year, hands down. Crushes every other month,” Mike said. “Huge for catering. We have to close the hot case down. We have a separate entrance for catering, for pick-ups.”
The busiest day of the year? December 24, followed by New Year’s Eve and the Fourth of July.
The shop is also known for its high-quality prime beef steaks -the top USDA grade — trimmed out in the store.
“I hand-cut all the strips, ribeyes, all our steaks for our steak sandwiches, all the pork chops, all the sausage, everything we do over here,” Mike said. “Prime meats are more expensive, but I don’t want to offer a lower grade just to save the money.”
Clearly, that’s a theme for Riga-Tony’s. Quality counts. They don’t cut corners. And it works, with the customer volume to prove it. Some waiting time is typical and the place can be crowded, though ordering ahead is an option. For online orders and to check store hours, go to the website (rigatonysdelavan.com). “I don’t always think bigger is better,” Mike said. “We could use more space for prepping. I think people will wait for good food. I don’t care if there’s a line out the door. That’s exciting, that’s when it’s fun.” If the opportunity to expand in the plaza arrives, they have made their interest known. Meanwhile, when the weather’s nice, a comfortable outdoor patio is helpful. Mike and Tiffany understand why Riga-Tony’s succeeds. It’s the family connection and rich history, in Chicago and Lake Geneva. It’s that recipes have remained the same. It’s creativity with limited availability specialty sandwiches like the Drunken Mario, a massive concoction of chicken cutlets, homemade fried mozzarella, pesto on one side of the bun, ricotta cheese on the other, smothered in vodka sauce. (“There was nothing healthy about that sandwich,” Mike told us.) It’s Mike’s knowledge of the food business, after previously working as a distributor in the Lake Geneva area. It’s Tiffany’s deft hand with social media marketing. It’s Anthony working back of the house, and his brother Joe lending a hand with summer catering. Running this kind of business has to be a love affair. Even though it’s only open five days a week — and closes for a month during winter — Mike says he typically puts in 70-80 hours weekly with store time and prep schedules. In a sense he was made for it. “My family background, we always owned restaurants and hotels,” he told us. “It’s all I know.” We walked out wondering how it took us 25 years to get there. Then we went back twice in three days. Stephanie Klett is the president and CEO of Visit Lake Geneva, and the former Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Tourism. Her husband, Bill Barth, is the former Editor of the Beloit Daily News and a member of the Wisconsin Newspaper Hall of Fame.
