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The home away from home

Eleanor and John Birch originally are from Canada, but moved to Lake Highlands in 1984.

“We didn’t have parents in the city where, when it’s been a long day, we say, ‘Let’s go to Mom and Dad’s for dinner,’ ” Eleanor says.

Instead, for the last 24 years, they have found themselves saying, “It’s been a long day. Let’s go to Momo’s.”

The tradition began in 1989 after the family went to northern Italy for six weeks while John, an orthopedic surgeon at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital, studied a new technology. The couple brought along their children, 2-yearold Craig and 4-year-old Cailin, and being in a hotel for the first three weeks, they ate out quite a bit.

“All of a sudden we realized that, yes, we could take our children to restaurants,” Eleanor says.

They had noticed Momo Italian Kitchen when they moved to Lake Highlands, but thought, “We have small kids; we’ll go later,” she says. “When we got home from Italy, we thought, ‘We’ll go now.’ ”

It became a Sunday-evening tradition. The restaurant was quiet, with good food (“They’re fastidious in their preparation,” Eleanor says). Plus, Momo’s has always been family-oriented, she says, and “let the kids practice their restaurant manners in a nonthreatening area.”

Cailin will turn 28 this summer, and Craig just turned 26. They both left home to pursue education and careers, but “when the kids come back, the first night we always go to Momo’s,” Eleanor says. “It’s been a big part of our life.”

Craig is preparing to move back to Dallas for an orthopedic residency. “He was saying, ‘I can get back to the Momo’s routine!’ ” Eleanor says.

“It’s kind of like home,” she says. order like a regular

The Birches don’t order the same dish every Sunday night. “We shake it up,” Eleanor says. Over the years, they’ve tried everything on the menu. For someone who likes white sauce, she suggests the capelli d’angelo with asparagus; anyone partial to red sauce should try the shells with modo mio sauce.