Sunday Sauce is a monthly Milwaukee Record series about the area’s Italian food, the places, the people, and the traditions that make a meal feel like home. I’m chasing how these restaurants, grocery stores, events, and small details keep feeding people comfort, community, and a sense of belonging in a loud world.

In this entry, we are going to West Allis and visiting Mama Mia’s (8533 W. Greenfield Ave.; 414-475-0400).

I’m a sucker for a great neon sign, especially a vintage one, and Mama Mia’s has always had one of my favorites. Then there’s the wonderful green vertical sign jutting out over Greenfield Avenue, accompanied by one simple, gorgeous word: PIZZA. Together, it lights up those few blocks in a way I’ve always found alluring. If I were judging a book by its cover, this is one I’d always want to read. I was happy to finally stop in for lunch.

The dining room has terracotta-orange walls, deep burgundy booths, and framed mirrors running along one side. Colored light filters through the glass-block windows, giving the space a warm, slightly stained-glass glow. Enlarged family photos hang throughout the restaurant, each accompanied by a small informational plaque. This is precisely the kind of thing I love, since I’m apparently the target audience for wandering around a restaurant and studying its walls like I’m in an art gallery.

Unfortunately, when someone is eating thin-crust pizza directly beneath a photograph and a stranger is hovering over them to read the historical placard, it starts to feel less like research and more like unusual behavior. I was only able to examine one of them closely, but it was enough to inspire me to dig deeper into the restaurant’s history.

From The Iron Mines To Mama Mia’s

Mama Mia’s has been at its current Greenfield Avenue location since 1971, though the restaurant predates that.

I found some fascinating history about the family through an immigration story published by Northern Michigan University. From what I could gather, the family originally came from Sambiase, Calabria, Italy.

The story begins with the family patriarch, Felix Barbiere, who worked in the iron mines of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. After an injury prevented him from continuing in the mines, he opened a confectionery shop and began making sandwiches that became popular around Marquette County.

In the 1950s, Felix’s son Anthony Barbiere moved to Milwaukee and opened up Mama Mia’s near 49th Street and North Avenue with Alvin Fernandez.

The family opened several restaurants over the years, including another Mama Mia’s in Ishpeming, Michigan.

The family’s story felt similar to my own Italian-American background. Apologies to regular readers, since I allude to this often, but I was excited to find another family history rooted in the mines of the Upper Peninsula. I hope to make the trip north to further explore and write about it in the future.

What Came First, The Chicken Or The Eggplant?

That trip north will have to wait. For now, I was back in West Allis, sitting in a booth around lunchtime on a Tuesday afternoon, and within about 10 minutes of sitting down, nearly every table was occupied, a reassuring sign.

For lunch, I ordered the chicken parmesan, which came with one breaded chicken breast served over pasta with marinara, mozzarella, and parmesan. Before getting into it, though, it is worth asking a question as nearly as old as time: Which came first, the chicken or the eggplant?

The answer is eggplant. Eggplant parmesan has roots in southern Italy, where sliced eggplant is layered with tomato sauce and cheese. The basic preparation eventually provided the blueprint for the Italian American dish we know today.

When Italian immigrants arrived in the United States, meats that had been expensive in Italy became more affordable and accessible. Cooks began applying familiar breading, sauce, and cheese preparations to veal and chicken cutlets, helping chicken parmesan become a comfort food staple.

Garlic Butter And Chicken Parm

History lesson complete; it’s time to return to lunch. Before getting to the chicken Parmesan, however, I had to try Mama Mia’s famous homemade garlic bread, which recently inspired a surprisingly spirited debate on the Milwaukee subreddit. The divided response makes sense because this is not timid garlic bread. It arrives fully drenched in garlic butter, to the point that I feel like it would have been Linda Richman’s favorite. I understand the appeal, even if I could only handle it in small doses.

The Mama Mia’s chicken parmesan lunch portion features one chicken breast, hand-breaded with garlic bread crumbs and parmesan cheese, served over pasta with marinara and baked beneath melted mozzarella and parmesan. The marinara was tangy and good, while the chicken was juicy and tender with a great crisp around the outside. The baked mozzarella melted over the chicken like a curtain dropping across a stage. Overall, it was a satisfying lunch!

Mama Mia’s checks the boxes it needs to check, serving affordable Italian-American comfort food in a busy neighborhood restaurant with roots stretching from Calabria to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Milwaukee, and West Allis. The chicken parmesan captures that journey. I may not personally be strong enough to withstand the garlic bread, but generations of customers continue to love it.