A former Novi restaurant owner, who turned a pop store into one of Metro Detroit's most popular Italian restaurants, died yesterday at his home in North Carolina. Frank J. Maisano, 78, formerly of South Lyon, was the well-known, gregarious frontman for Maisano's Italian Restaurant in Novi, initially a Town Club Pop Store that he and his wife Jackie added a deli counter and few tables to in 1979.

Over the next 25 years, the Maisanos kept expanding the space as it grew in popularity, due to Frank's gregarious pitch and Jackie's delicious, homemade recipes. The traditional red-checked table cloths, Italian music and family wedding pictures that lined the walls - including one from the 1973 classic, The Godfather - all added to personal, traditional Italian ambiance.