Aaron Wiess’s culinary travels have taken him as far as Nevada, Florida, and North Carolina, but in March he returned to his home state to open up Aamani’s Smokehouse & Pizzeria on Dexter Ave. just off N. Maple.

The restaurant offers many of the same menu items as its predecessor, Little Porky’s, including ribs, pizza, fried catfish, and sandwiches, but Wiess has used his range of experiences to expand that already varied menu even further.

He grew up in Bay County, Michigan and worked in construction for twelve years after finishing school. He started out cooking at his uncle’s bar, then moved on to the now-closed Lost Arrow Resort in Gladwin, a culinary course in Las Vegas, and finally the Bellagio kitchen under Iron Chef winner Anthony Amoroso.

When Wiess was let go as part of a downsizing, Amoroso found him a job at another hotel kitchen in Tampa. From there it was a few more sous chef jobs at Miami and Boca Raton hotels and helping a few connections open their own restaurants. He planned to head back to Michigan but ended up taking a three-year detour fishing and cutting catches at a fish house in North Carolina.

His return home was precipitated when his father disappeared while on vacation with Wiess and his brother. “He wasn’t around so we went around looking,” Wiess recalls. “My brother called the hospital … all they told us was he was in the neurological intensive care unit.”

Their father was in a coma and given only a 2 percent chance of recovery. Miraculously, he beat the odds. But when he moved back to Marshall, the brothers rushed to find jobs nearby.

After Porky’s closed, Wiess brought the building’s owner a sample of his food and moved in shortly after. His father helped with some of the interior renovations, and created the intricate sign out front.

Working at so many hotels has given Wiess a wide range of cooking experience, and there are hints of Vegas and Miami in specialties like red pepper and mango coleslaw. The sole worker at Aamani’s, he often arrives at six in the morning to prep beef for his Thursday brisket special. For taco Tuesdays, he makes his own salsa and guacamole.

So who is Aamani? “Back in eleventh grade, my buddies Matt and Nick were sitting there in math class,” Wiess explains. “They were like, ‘You should open a restaurant’ … So I took the first two letters of my name, the first two letters of Matt’s name, and the first two letters of Nick’s name … I was jumbling them all around and all of a sudden I was like ‘Aamani’s!’

“The teacher was like ‘What! Go to the principal’s office.'”

Luckily for Wiess, ideas last longer than detentions.

Aamani’s Smokehouse & Pizzeria, 2529 Dexter Ave. (734) 213-2222. Mon.-Thurs. 10 a.m.-8 p.m., Fri. & Sat. 10 a.m.-9 p.m. facebook.com/AamaniSmokehouse