[Metromode] Bustin' Up the Boy's Club: Metro Detroit's Female Mixologists

Jackie Foucha at The Oakland. Photo by David Lewinski Photography for Metromode.

Last week we ran a story about the rise of craft cocktail culture in metro Detroit and some of the key players who have pushed it forward. While forward-drinking female bartenders Lola Gegovic, Jacqueline Foucha, and Adrianne Martin were all name-dropped, the focus was all on the boys in the business. Through conversations with people interviewed for that story, it became glaringly obvious that female bartenders in metro Detroit get none of the press that their male counterparts do.

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[Model D] Detroit Institute of Bagels now open in Corktown

After a long (yet worthwhile) wait, Detroit Institute of Bagels is finally open in Corktown, putting an end to Detroit's days as a bagel desert and bringing with it some much-needed breakfast bagel sandwiches, bagels and lox, and free Wi-Fi in a beautifully designed historic building on Michigan Avenue.

Read more. 

[EID Preview] A Boy and His Bagel Shop: Detroit Institute of Bagels

All photos by Nicole Rupersburg.

It's two days before Detroit Institute of Bagels officially opens to the public. Owner and chief bagel-maker Ben Newman looks tired. Scratch that: he's straight-up exhausted, wearing the expression of a man who has spent countless hours and sleepless days working on getting his business ready to open and now is finally ready to do it. It's a face I've seen before.

Ben has spent nearly three years and $500,000 to make his bagel dream into a bagel reality, and on Thanksgiving Day, Detroit Institute of Bagels will welcome its first official customers. Why Thanksgiving Day? Because there's plenty going on around downtown, like the Thanksgiving Day Parade – that's over a quarter of a million people right there. There's also the Lions game. But more than anything, after nearly three years of planning, nearly two years after acquiring the building at 1236 Michigan Avenue, and nearly a year since full-on construction started (they were delayed while waiting on Rehabilitation Tax Credits), Ben just needs to get the shop open. It's a story I've heard before.

It's been about two and a half years since Ben and I first sat down inside his Corktown flat and chatted about Detroit's emerging food start-up scene. Back then, Ben was a starry-eyed bagel maker, figuring things out as he went along but excited about the prospect of bringing fresh homemade bagels to Detroit's bagel desert. But it wasn't just that – bagels are and always were a means to and end, never the end in themselves. Ben is an urban planner by trade; his goal was always to take a vacant property and make it an active space, a place that would employ people in a city where jobs are still desperately needed. "Once there was traction behind bagels I knew they could be a vehicle to do those things I was passionate about," Ben says. "Now my thing is for [my employees] to be successful, and the bagels are their avenue to be successful."

In the time since Ben and I first talked, Detroit Institute of Bagels has gained a tremendous local following. Their clever branding endeared them to Detroiters, with wink-wink jokes of Detroit as a "bagel desert" and artwork that played up their name as an homage to the Detroit Institute of Arts (which Senator Carl Levin also winked at yesterday). They successfully funded a $10,000 Kickstarter campaign. They were a semifinalist in the first-ever Hatch Detroit competition, and lost as gracefully as anyone could possibly lose. Now, as of yesterday, DIB was officially announced as a recipient of a $50,000 grant from the Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy – a grant 18 months in the making, and a sort of coming full circle from their early days as a Hatch semifinalist. It seems that everyone in Detroit is rooting for their success.

But timing is everything. A lot has changed in these last two and a half years. Detroit has changed, and dramatically so. Which isn't to say that every new business that opens isn't still greeted with a whole lot of fanfare – they still are – but the time will inevitably come that every new restaurant that opens in the city of Detroit isn't treated as the second coming of Slows. It's not a bad thing; when we eventually get to a point where there are so many people and so much activity that the singular hive-minded enthusiasm for each and every new place peters out and a new business opening is just business as usual, well, Detroit will really feel like a REAL city, Geppetto. That being said, Ben is relieved he started this when he did. "Everything happened at a fortunate time," he says. "I'm glad we started this project two years ago because so much has changed since then. It just happened at the right time to get the support we needed."

Now the Michigan Avenue commercial stretch in Corktown has not only the Slows/Sugar House/Astro Coffee corner, but there's a whole lot more going on – Two James Spirits (another Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy grant recipient), Brooklyn Street Local, MotorCity Wine, Ottava Via, Bucharest Grill, Rubbed, and Batch Brewery have all opened recently or are opening soon. If Ben tried to buy this vacant building now, the asking price might have been a lot higher, perhaps prohibitively so.

But things have worked out for Ben and DIB so far, and just getting to the point of opening is a pretty big deal. The historic building, which sat vacant for about 40 years prior to Ben purchasing it, was completely gutted. Original brick walls, archways, and wooden ceiling beams were exposed and preserved, now a design highlight of this, the "best-designed bagel shop in the world" (a comment Ben once made in jest and then sort of became a thing). Windows were knocked out to let in natural light. A second building was added for bagel production. Wood that once covered the ceiling was repurposed for the interior. The floors were re-done with reclaimed wood from an old gymnasium. Bars and tables were made with reclaimed wood from old bleachers. Industrial restaurant equipment was reclaimed from restaurant supply stores throughout the city, which stock used equipment from restaurants that have gone out of business or upgraded their equipment. The entire space is a testament to sustainability and reclaimed urban environments, truly the very heart of Ben's personal ethos and a shining reflection of Detroit's culture of revival, of reclaiming what is old and forgotten and making something new and thoughtful out of it. Out of the ashes, and all of that.

There is also a pocket park out front, with windows that look into the kitchen at specific points in the bagel-making process. Again, from an urban planning perspective, the park was an important addition for Ben. "Taking the context of Campus Martius downtown and Roosevelt Park across from Slows, both less than a mile away [in opposite directions], there aren't really any good points in between where a pedestrian can relax," says Ben. "A three-quarter-mile walk elsewhere, no one would think twice about that, but here [you have to walk over a freeway]." He plans on programming the space in the warmer months with movie nights and other activities.

As a brand-new business owner, Ben is still figuring things out as he goes along. As any home brewer-turned-professional brewer will tell you, transitioning from home equipment to high-volume commercial equipment isn't as easy as doubling the recipe. Things like payroll, insurance, point of sales and credit cards, inventory expenses, finding distributors for every food item, and dozens of other details are all part of business pre-planning – things you don't necessarily consider when first starting out as a start-up – and more things pop up every day. Now Ben has people – about 25 altogether – depending on him for a paycheck; another of his urban investment goals that he can now make good on. After the New Year, Ben plans on making bagels for wholesale, which will undoubtedly be a huge boon for his business. But for now, Ben just needs to get open – and a good night's sleep, but that's probably a few weeks off still.

Detroit Institute of Bagels will be open 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day and 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day thereafter, seven days a week. They'll have seven standard daily bagel flavors as well as rotating "small batch" bagel flavors and over a dozen house-made cream cheeses and spreads. They have a full menu of breakfast and lunch bagel sandwiches – including a lox sandwich – and soup made fresh daily. There's free WiFi available with purchase for those who want to grab a bagel and coffee and hunker down to get some work done. The window behind the main counter is an operable service window that can potentially be used for late-night service and special events in the future. And Detroit's days as a bagel desert are finally over.

Want to see more? View the Flickr set here.

[NEWS BITES] Detroit Institute of Bagels opens this Thursday! (YES, Thanksgiving Day!)

We have waited. Oh, how we have waited. We have waited ever so patiently. We have waited since the building at 1236 Michigan Avenue looked like this:

And have watched it slowly but surely transform to this:

And now, after all that waiting, the time has come: Detroit, LET THERE BE BAGELS!

What are your plans this Thanksgiving Day? Are you going to head over to Woodward and watch the newly extended and expanded America's Thanksgiving Day Parade? Are you going to head over to Ford Field for the Lions game? Well, here is yet another reason to give thanks this Thursday: now you can start your day with a some hot toasted bagel action thanks to Detroit Institute of Bagels, which will be officially opening their doors to the public on Thanksgiving Day!

We have watched this for nearly three years now ("we" including both you, dear readers, and the royal we, as in EID personally) as DIB has evolved from just another spirited startup in a home kitchen in Corktown to a full-fledged bagel bakery and cafe located right on Corktown's main business drag on the fast-growing eastern end where Brooklyn Street Local opened last year, MotorCity Wine opened earlier this year, Rubbed will open soon, as well as a second Bucharest Grill location. We have watched them compete in the first-ever Hatch Detroit contest, and lose more gracefully than anyone has ever lost. We watched them raise a modest $10,000 via crowdfunding and move forward with their plans to open the best-designed bagel shop in the world. We have eagerly watched their progress on TwitGramstaBook, and now, after all that time - and a lot of blood, sweat, and tears out of owner Ben Newman, no doubt, while we've all just been all like, "WHY AREN'T YOU OPEN YET ALREADY NOW OPEN OPEN OPEN" - Detroit shall be a bagel desert no more!

That needs more exclamation points.

Detroit shall be a bagel desert no more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reading back on my first interview with owner and bagel maker Ben is almost like traveling back in time. It was spring 2011 - in those moments just as Detroit: The Renaissance was really starting to hit - and my, things were very, very different then, even just a short two and a half years ago. I mean, I wrote, "Not only are the greater downtown districts of Detroit sorely lacking in decent coffee shops…" AND IT WAS TRUE! It was so, so true back then. Now you can't swing a hipster without hitting a cafe of high design and varying levels of coffee quality. The whole idea of the local artisan food producer was still so new (so new!), and pop-ups were barely a glimmer in anyone's eye (except for Hugh's). 

A lot of people open restaurants. (And bakeries and cafes and whatnot.) Not a lot of people fight this hard for this long to make it happen. Ben's bagel dreams are finally becoming reality, and Detroit will never be bagel-less again. AS GOD IS HIS WITNESS, WE'LL NEVER BE HUNGRY FOR BAGELS AGAIN! 

[EID Events] Detroit Beer Week

DAILY DBW SPECIALS

$15 Food + Beer Combinations at Traffic Jam + Snug, October 17-27 (check their Facebook page for hours)
All during Detroit Beer Week, Traffic Jam + Snug in Midtown is offering a $15 pick-and-choose pairing menu featuring any of their beers paired with one of the following dishes featuring their very own house-made beer, house-made cheeses, and house-made breads, all day every day through October 27! So local it comes from the same address!

Sammie, Soup + Beer Combo Special at Mudgie's, October 17-27 (check their Facebook page for hours)
For the full run of Detroit Beer Week, Mudgie's is offering a $15 combo deal for a sandwich, soup and beer combo all day every day! Sandwiches will be made with beer-braised meats and soups with beer bases. Plus Mudgie's will have different daily specials made with beer infusions for Beer Week!

Beer Flight + Pulled Pork Slider Special at St. Cece's Pub, October 17-27 (check their Facebook page for hours)
All through Detroit Beer Week, St. Cece's Pub will offer beer shot flights (2-oz. pours of each of their eight draft beers) paired with pulled pork sliders for only $10! This special is good for lunch AND dinner.

Rock City Eatery Food + Beer Specials featuring Dark Horse, October 17-27 (check their Facebook page for hours)
All during Detroit Beer Week from October 17-27, the newly-opened Rock City Eatery in Hamtramck will offer food + beer pairing specials featuring Michigan's most metal brewery, Dark Horse Brewing Co.!

Afternoon Delight Daily at Woodbridge Pub, October 17-27 (check their website for hours)
For the full Detroit Beer Week run October 17-27, Woodbridge Pub will run the "Afternoon Delight" with $2 off drafts from 3-6pm, 7 days a week. They'll also have a draft beer and appetizer special combo for $10, all day every day!

Three-Course Menu at the Jefferson House for $20, October 17-27 (check their Facebook page for hours)
For Detroit Beer Week, Chef Justin Vaiciunas at The Jefferson House has created a three-course menu with Michigan beer pairings for only $20. This special DBW menu is available every day for dinner only.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17

Griffin Claw's Brewmaster Dan Rogers at Woodbridge Pub, 7-9 p.m.
Celebrate the launch of the fifth annual Detroit Beer Week at Woodbridge Pub with Brewermaster Dan Rogers of Griffin Claw Brewing Company (GCBC)! Dan has won dozens of gold and silver medals from the top beer competitions in the country during his time at Big Rock Chophouse and Brewery. From 7-9 p.m. on Thursday, October 17, we'll sample different Griffin Claw beers as Dan tells us more about the new Griffin Claw brewery, his signature beers, and a little bit about his brewing process. This is a very rare opportunity to speak one-on-one with the man himself!


FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18

Short's Tap Takeover at Foran's Grand Trunk Pub, 4-9 p.m.
On Friday, October 18, Foran's Grand Trunk Pub will host a tap takeover with Short's Brewing Company from 4-9 p.m. featuring Funkin Punkin, Noble Chaos, Bourbon Barrel Aged Pig Pen, The Curl, Spruce Pils, Soft Parade, and Huma-Lupa-Licious.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 20

Orange + Black Party at Woodbridge Pub, 11 a.m. - 2 a.m.
On Sunday, October 20, join us at Woodbridge Pub for a fall seasonal orange + black party! New Holland Brewing Co. will take over the taps with pumpkin beers, stouts and porters (get it????) plus there will be special themed culinary and cocktail concoctions all day. Get in the "spooky" spirit starting with brunch and going all the way through dinner with Pie-Sci! There is no charge for admission and you don't HAVE to wear orange & black to come...but you know you want to!

MONDAY, OCTOBER 21

New Holland Double-Header at Woodbridge Pub, all day
For two nights straight Woodbridge Pub will feature special New Holland Brewing Co. events. On Monday, October 21, the second night of the New Holland double-header will be its own double header, with a New Holland beer and shot special - get any New Holland beer on draft (except for Dragon's Milk) and a shot of New Holland Artisan Spirits Beer Barrel-Aged Bourbon for $7. Monday night is also their weekly Slow Jams!

Kill All the ZomBEES at Foran's Grand Trunk, 4-8 p.m.
On Monday, October 21 from 4-9 p.m., join us at Foran's Grand Trunk Pub as we break out the bottles of B. Nektar for a night of zombie killing featuring Vanilla Cinnamon, Cherry Chipotle, Necromangocon, Orange Blossom, and Wildberry Pyment all in bottles and Zombie Killer on tap.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22

Wheelhouse Detroit Progressive Bike Dinner, 5:30-8:30 p.m.
Join Detroit Beer Week and Wheelhouse Detroit Bike Shop on Tuesday, October 22 from 5:30-8:30 p.m. as we go on a progressive bike dinner through the city of Detroit! We'll start with a first course at Mudgie's Deli (with beer). We'll then move on to St. Cece's Pub for pulled pork sliders (and beer). And from there it's on to The Jefferson House for dessert (and beer). All in all you're getting a full three-course dinner with full beers at each venue, plus a guided bike ride through the city and along the beautiful Detroit Riverwalk with Wheelhouse Detroit!

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23

Jolly Pumpkin Night at the Sugar House, 5 p.m.
Celebrate Detroit Beer Week with The Sugar House by drinking some beers from Jolly Pumpkin Brewery! Great deals on bottles all night, plus beer flights, special vintage beers and a brand new flavor never before on draft, and even some hard-to-get Leelanau Brewing Whaleback White!!!

Arbor Brewing Company Tap Takeover at Foran's Grand Trunk Pub, 4-9 p.m.
On Wednesday, October 23, Foran's Grand Trunk Pub will host a tap takeover with Arbor Brewing Company from 4-9 p.m. featuring Violin Monster, Bollywood Blonde, Sacred Cow IPA, Yipsi Gypsy, Buzzsaw, Phat Abbot.

Wednesday Night Trivia with Beer Fest Ticket Giveaways at Woodbridge Pub, 8-10 p.m.
On Wednesday, October 23, head to Woodbridge Pub for their Wednesday Night Trivia starting at 8 p.m. The grand prize is two pairs of tickets to the Michigan Brewers Guild Fall Beer Festival on Friday, October 25!

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24

Bell's Tap Takeover at Foran's Grand Trunk, 4-9 p.m.

On Thursday, October 24 from 4-9 p.m., Foran's Grand Trunk Pub will host a tap takeover with Bell's Brewery, Inc. (Official) featuring: Hopsoulution, Wheat Love, Raspberry Ale, Spiced Stout, Java Stout, Q - Falls, Pianiste, Two Hearted, and Best Brown. There will also be surprise daily bottles in very limited quantities.

Cans for Cans at Green Dot Stables, 5 p.m. to midnight
Hit up Green Dot Stables on Thursday, October 24 for "Cans for Cans," when $1 of every can of craft beer sold will go to benefit breast cancer support.

Arbor Brewing India Beer Dinner at Woodbridge Pub, 6:30 p.m.
On Thursday, October 24, join Arbor Brewing Company owners Matt and Rene Greff at a very special beer dinner at Woodbridge Pub! The Greffs recently opened Arbor Brewing Company India in Bangalore, India, a sister brewpub to their Ann Arbor original, open since 1995. We're honoring this expansion onto another continent with an Indian-themed vegetarian-friendly beer dinner at Woodbridge Pub featuring recipes from the India brewpub and from their own personal recipe collection. This four-course dinner will be paired with some of Arbor's signature beers, including Bollywood Blonde.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25-SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26

Michigan Brewers Guild Fall Beer Festival

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 27

Beer Fest Hangover Brunch at Woodbridge Pub, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Nurse your Beer Fest hangover the right way: with bacon, Bloody Marys and beer! Woodbridge Pub is hosting a Beer Fest Hangover Brunch on Sunday, October 27 from 11am-3pm, following the two-day Michigan Brewers Guild Fall Beer Festival fiasco in Eastern Market Corporation. Bring in your ticket stub from Fall Beer Fest to receive 15% off your total bill (including booze). Each person MUST have ticket stub to receive discount!

[Model D] Dine Drink Detroit celebrates Detroit's culinary culture while benefiting the Riverfront

Starting this Thursday, Oct. 10, a brand-new Detroit dining event launches and you don't need to make any reservations, any kind of special time commitment, or even adhere to any kind of special dress code. Detroit, it's time to start dining and drinking.

Dine Drink Detroit runs Oct. 10-16 and highlights some of Detroit's most unique casual dining restaurants. All of the 13 participating restaurants will offer some sort of food and drink combination for $15.

Read more.

[Metromode] Distilling the Greatness of Michigan-Made Spirits

Photo by Nicole Rupersburg.

Thanks to the growth in the craft beer industry and craft cocktail culture, the craft distilling industry has been growing exponentially in recent years, from barely two dozen microdistillers across the country in 2000 to over 250 in 2012, with dozens more currently seeking federal licensing. Michigan alone has over 30 licensed craft distillers with more in the works, including several in metro Detroit. There is also a Michigan Distillers Guild in the early planning stages, mirroring itself after the Michigan Brewers Guild to be an advocacy group for Michigan's microdistillers.

Read more.

[Model D] Two James Spirits, Detroit's first licensed distillery in nearly 100 years, now distributing

Photo by Nicole Rupersburg.

After months of excited buzz, Two James Spirits in Corktown is now open for business.

Mostly.

The production facility and tasting room, at 2445 Michigan Avenue, has been under renovation since last July. Earlier this month, Two James started distributing its 28 Island Vodka, named for the 28 islands on the Detroit River that were used as hideouts by bootleggers during Prohibition, to bars, restaurants, and liquor stores in metro Detroit and Ann Arbor. Soon their Old Cockney Gin and Grass Widow bourbon will also be available, and they have more bourbons and whiskeys currently aging in barrels for future release.

Read more.

[EID Preview] Two James Distillery

All photos by Nicole Rupersburg.

The newly-opened Two James Spirits in Corktown is the first licensed distillery in the city of Detroit since before Prohibition (it won't be alone in that sandbox for long though; Detroit City Distillery will open in Eastern Market sometime in 2014).

The distillery was founded by Peter Bailey and David Landrum; third partner Andy Mohr came on board later. They purchased a large industrial building on Michigan Avenue on the other side of Roosevelt Park from Slows et.al. last July. Renovations on the 7,000-square-foot building, which was previously a taxi cab storage and dispatch center and originally a doughnut manufacturing plant when it was built at the turn of the century, took a full year to complete.

But the work is done, and Two James is already welcoming their first customers in a super soft opening, allowing them to get their feet wet as you wet your whistle, as it were.

Bailey and Mohr. 

The space is a production facility for their Two James label spirits, which includes 28 Island Vodka, named for the 28 islands (some now underwater) in the Detroit River which were used as hideouts during Prohibition; Old Cockney Gin, a London-style dry gin created to honor Bailey's father, a Brit; and Grass Widow Bourbon, named after an old whiskey brand once manufactured in Detroit, which was once a leader in premium whiskey manufacturing. There is also a 100% rye whiskey, another bourbon, and a reserve single malt whiskey (these all need to age in barrels and won't be released for at least a year). Future plans also include Two James Calvados and Two James Absinthe. They try to use as many local products as possible; the rye for the 100% rye whiskey all came from a farm in Jasper, Michigan, and they also plan on making some eaux di vies with local fruits in the future (like an apple brandy).

Bailey and Landrum took a distilling class together in Chicago. After long considering opening his own restaurant, it became more and more clear to Landrum - who was already really into craft cocktails and was already making his own bitters and cocktail recipes at Cafe Felix in Ann Arbor - that it was possible to make a really high-quality product locally and have a sustainable business. The two forged a business partnership and after considering different parts of the country for the distillery, eventually decided that Detroit city is the place to be. Mohr says local businesses like Slows and Sugar House have been exceedingly supportive.

Two James is named after the founding partners' fathers, both deceased (and both named James). The name is their tribute to the values of hard work and the importance of family instilled in them by their fathers.

Two James products are available for purchase in their tasting room and are also now hitting the shelves of stores and local bars through their distributor Great Lakes Wine and Spirits. Distribution will start in Michigan and eventually expand out to the Midwest and East Coast with hopes of breaking into international markets. Their 500-gallon copper still can produce a lot of booze; for their first year of production they are looking at 2,500-5,000 cases and can grow from there.

The quality of their products doesn't just stop at what's inside the bottle: the bottles themselves are works of art. The packaging for their vodka and gin was designed by New York-based Stranger + Stranger, which specializes in packaging design for wine, spirits, and beer. The bottles feature the words "Corktown" molded into the base of the bottle and "Two James Spirits" on top, a coin with the Two James branding fused into the bottle, and exquisitely detailed labels modeled after pre-Prohibition marketing pieces. This packaging without a doubt has a few design awards in its future.

That attention to detail and quality of design work has also been carried into the tasting room. Architect Piotr Kolacz designed the space. Bricks are either original to the building or reclaimed from other historic buildings. The original steel beam overhead was simply repainted, and the garage door in front was replaced with a glass one. Wood for the floors and benches came from Reclaim Detroit. A massive circular concrete bar designed by Kolacz was framed and poured on-site: this thing, all one piece, will NEVER leave this building. It will be one of the only things left standing after humanity blows itself up and all that's left is rubble, cockroaches, and this bar.

Overhead is a circular steel ring with metal globes hanging from it. The globes came from a bazaar in Egypt that Kolacz came across while traveling; the welding of the steel ring and the decidedly steampunk Two James sign out front was done by metalworker Taru Lahti. Inside they will also hang works from local artists for sale (100% of sales go to the artist) and they also have a projection which can only mean one thing: movie nights!

Two James is now open for limited hours with a limited cocktail menu featuring their spirits. Landrum is currently out of the business (his wife just had a baby), so look for the grand opening in the next month with regular hours and a more extensive cocktail menu with fresh ingredients from Eastern Market and and house-made items like vodka infusions with yellow raisins and Afghan figs. Hours will be Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings to start as they gauge demand.

An unofficial opening last month with the Oily Souls Motorcycle Club showed them that demand could in fact be quite high - about 1,000 people came out, many in no way affiliated with the bike club but came only because they saw something was happening over at the new distillery. Next spring the back lot, now covered in gravel, will be transformed into a patio and event space with the dramatic Michigan Central Station as its backdrop.

Want to see more? View the Flickr set here. 

[HOT LIST] Best new patios

Red Crown.

Another summer, another slew of "best patio" lists. I'll let you in on a little secret: these lists don't change much year to year. The Rattlesnake keeps being located on the Detroit River and the Whitney keeps having a garden and the Old Miami keeps having a big-ass lawn with a koi pond.

But this year, things have changed. New places have opened. A LOT of new places. And these places have built patios. Really nice patios. So instead of the same old reminder that the Rattlesnake's patio has a nice view of the Detroit River (and it does! so very nice!), here's a look at the best new patios to pop up just this year (and some as recently as last week).

SIDEBAR: It seems that Corktown is becoming PATIOTOWN.

El Barzon.

#1 El Barzon Southwest Detroit
For years you've loved the food and merely accepted the ambiance, but their new enclosed patio is a thing of real beauty. If you haven't been over there recently, it's time you went back.

#2 Red Crown Grosse Pointe Park
The Grosse Pointes are becoming quite the hotbed of new restaurant activity, with a second location of Luxe recently opened, a new Atwater brewpub in the works, Dave Gilbert's new restaurant Marais getting ready to open, and all of restaurateur Mindy Lopus's new ventures opening this year. The first was Red Crown, a Southern BBQ and comfort food restaurant with an excellent craft cocktail program and an even better patio. Whether its for Sunday brunch or an evening of cocktails, this is a pretty happy place to be.

St. Cece's Pub.

#3 St. Cece's Pub Corktown
There are a few spots in Corktown that could be considered one of the locals' favorite hangouts (Green Dot, Astro, Sugar House), and St. Cece's is among them. Is it the farm-to-table food? The fireplace? The dog-friendliness? The quintessential local neighborhood pub feeling? Whatever the case, get ready to love it even harder with their fab bum-proof patio. You know what I mean.

Griffin Claw beer garden. Photo by Nicole Rupersburg.

#4 Griffin Claw Brewing Company Birmingham
I have a total beer boner for this place despite it being in Birmingham and all of the inherent Birminghamness that implies. (The latest news: Dan Rogers got to rights the Screamin' Pumpkin recipe back - originally his when he was brewing for Michigan Brewing Company - and is now brewing it under the same name at Griffin Claw. AND IT IS THE BEST.) Another thing to love about it is the three-season beer garden.

The Jefferson House. From my iPhone.

#5 The Jefferson House Downtown
The subtlely bum-proof patio at the Jefferson House - featuring a plexiglass partition just high enough to keep Detroit's vagrant population from intruding on your meal, which isn't so much an insensitive comment as something WE ALL FUCKING KNOW HAPPENS - may effectively be located on Jefferson as it becomes the Lodge Freeway service drive, but the design is comfortable and contemporary and the view of the GM Renaissance Center doesn't suck.

Pizzeria Biga Royal Oak.

Honorable mention:
Last year I ran a list of the worst patios in metro Detroit. Because I get really bored with this shit, honestly. So I ripped into Pizzeria Biga Royal Oak and it was kind of a big deal but now we've all moved past it and are friends, but they also made some serious improvements to the patio (including a covered floor and enclosed roof, blocking out a lot of the undesirable sound and preventing the tables and chairs from wobbling, my two biggest bones of contention). While the patio is not NEW new, in that it existed in a form last year, it's new in the sense of being totally redone, and certainly worth a redeeming mention. So, I take that one back. Go check out their patio.

Bubbling under Ottava Via (Corktown), Ashley's Westland (Westland), MotorCity Wine (Corktown), Green Dot Stables (Corktown), Brooklyn Street Local (Corktown) - new concrete poured this year

What did I miss? Leave it in the Facebook comments.

[Model D] Corktown will soon have another spot for breakfast, lunch and brunch at La Villa

Corktown will have another new breakfast, brunch, and lunch spot opening, and this one is right next to Mudgie's Deli.

La Villa is a new concept by sisters Sarrah Willoughby and Rai Jackson. Opening later this fall, La Villa will offer an alternative twist on breakfast and lunch fare.

Read more.

[Model D] Rubbed European-style sandwich shop to open in Corktown later this year

Corktown will soon have a new sandwich shop, but don't expect it to be anything like Mudgie's Deli. 

Partners Jason Frenkel and Abbey Markell have worked in the restaurant industry together for the past 10 years and have been planning their own concept for the past four. Frenkel spent a few years traveling for work, then decided to move back from San Francisco this past February to work on Rubbed restaurant and deli with Markell.

Read more.

[Model D] Anthology Coffee finds a permanent home at Ponyride

Anthology Coffee's new space (still under construction.)

2011 Hatch Detroit semi-finalist Anthology Coffee is continuing to build its brand and work on a permanent café in Corktown – happy news, as just a couple of months ago it seemed like they were going to cease all operations.

In 2012 Anthology signed a lease at 2051 Rosa Parks (an office building in Corktown). After some initial efforts were made towards build-out, progress stalled for months and Anthology owner Josh Longsdorf made the decision to leave. At the same time, Anthology also fell short on an Indiegogo campaign that was meant to purchase new equipment; Longsdorf had to use that money to pay off coffee contracts he had purchased in anticipation of being fully open at 2051 months early.

Read more.