It’s fitting that Palombo’s Italian Restaurant looks like a converted house. The Jackson Township eatery is warm, cozy and inviting with food that tasted homemade (in a very good way). The family-run restaurant opened in 1979—brothers Rick and Mark Palombo took over the businesses started by their parents Anthony and Beverly—but its history dates back to the 1880s. Palombo’s was once the Zimber Inn and salon, a neighborhood gathering place in the former town of Marchand.

My husband, Dave, and I visited Palombo’s a couple weeks before Christmas, around 6 p.m. on a Thursday. We were seated quickly in a comfortable corner booth. During our meal, the restaurant steadily filled up with families and, based on snippets of conversations I overhead, plenty of regulars.