Mike Rowe Gives Back To Popular Grand Rapids Restaurant Owner
Mike Rowe from Discovery Channel’s 'Dirty Jobs' now has a show called 'Returning The Favor' which is a Facebook Watch Original Series, meaning you watch it on Facebook. And in the show, he gives back to people who are doing good within the world.
The latest episode of 'Returning The Favor' follows the plight of the mom and pop restaurants because it’s expected that around 50% of those businesses won’t be returning after the pandemic.
So they were looking for someone within the restaurant industry that was doing good and giving back to their community. That's when Ed Roehre submitted a post about Chef Jenna Arcidiacono, and what she along with her restaurant Amore Trattoria was doing during the pandemic.
If you’ve never met Chef Jenna, that’s too bad and you should change that, she’s all over West Michigan at various charity events and supporting other restaurants with her big personality and pink hair, but she also owns Amore Trattoria Italiana, on Alpine Ave Nw, in Comstock Park.
Vivacious and after her own heart is how 'RTF' show producer Sarah refers to Jenna in the opening, and that’s so true. They then go on to explain why they chose her, from changing her fine dining establishment to curbside and being able to stay open 7 days a week to also helping feed hospitals, police stations, ambulance services, even the mental hospitals in our area.
Chef Jenna says she’s blessed to be open and to be able to give back and help front line workers and families at home. She also believes we should all be trying to bring a smile to others.
So 'Returning The Favor' paired up with Ed, who dressed up as a unicorn and helped with the big surprise the show had for Jenna.
As Mike said the idea of the show is to "find people who are mindful of what's happening around them but too stubborn, too determined, too wacky, too driven..." and then to give back to those people.
They went through the planned surprise and visited Jenna at the restaurant - after a brief interview where Mike got to know Jennas’s story - they went outside to find Ed the dancing Unicorn and a $10,000 check to help Chef Jenna keep doing what she’s been doing here in West Michigan.
Such an amazing, heartwarming story for someone who is both of those things to so many people around West Michigan.
Thanks, Chef Jenna!