Iconic restaurant shuts down after 61 years

An iconic Michigan restaurant has closed its doors for the last time, just weeks after a reported visit from Gordon Ramsay . Firenze's Restaurant & Pizzeria in Warren, twenty miles north of Detroit, closed permanently on Monday. Wait staff were sent text messages telling them not to turn up for their next shifts due to the closure, the Detroit Free Press reported.

News of the closure comes after a clandestine visit by celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay filming his latest show was reported by locals on social media. Firenze's was first opened by Maria and Pasquale Rocca in June 1964. It soon became known for its pizzas, salad and other Italian dishes associated with its namesake, the Italian for the city of Florence.

One particularly beloved menu offering was the oven-steamed fall-off-the-bone ribs. During its sixty years of business the restaurant has eight owners, according to Maria and Pasquale's son Frank Rocca. Rumors that Gordon Ramsay was recently filming his new Fox Network show 'Secret Service,' abounded in recent weeks.

The show, which premiered in May, sees Ramsay informed about the issued facing a struggling restaurant by an inside informant. The famed chef then investigate the restaurant's shortcomings after hours before delivering a remodeling and revamped menu. Locals took to social media to share their memories of the restaurant over the years.

'It was sad when the original owners sold it. My in laws went there when it was very small so my wife grew up eating there. Then we ate there and did take [out] for the pizza when we lived in Centerline,' one local wrote on Facebook. 'I've been going there ever since I was a baby now I'm 30!' another wrote. Other speculated that the Ramsay show may have had a hand in the closure.

'Maybe this is part of the Ramsey rebranding of Firenze,' one local speculated. 'They will do a reopening for the show and prices will be sky high,' another wrote hopefully. It comes just weeks after another iconic Michigan Italian closed down . Moro's Dining, a beloved Italian institution in Allen Park, shut its doors for the final time earlier this month.

The restaurant drew diners from all over the Detroit district hungry for its shrimp scampi and veal, Minestrone soup and flambéed desserts. Dallas also lost one of its culinary gems last month. Hong Kong Restaurant, the oldest Chinese restaurant in the city , closed its doors after 63 years.

In Maine the iconic MacLeod's Restaurant in Bucksport closed in April. George MacLeod, and his wife, Katherine, opened the eatery in 1980 and hope a buyer will continue its legacy. It is not just independent restaurants that have faced closure this year with Olive Garden's sister restaurant Bahama-Breeze is set to sell the remainder of its locations .