I've got a two-punch motherlode of restaurant info coming out this week and next in Metromode. I'll drop the relevant names now: Curt Catallo and Ann Stevenson (Union Joints, aka Union Woodshop, Vinsetta Garage et.al.), Luciano del Signore (Pizzeria Biga, Bacco), Jon Carlson and Greg Lobdell (2Mission Development, aka Jolly Pumpkin, Bastone et.al.), and Mindy Lopus (Silver Pig Restaurant Group, aka Tallulah, Red Crown et.al.).
LOTS of new news coming from these cats, but you're just going to have to wait. In the meantime, I'll hand-tip a few of the tastier morsels:
Jolly Pumpkin's new production brewery in Dexter and Avalon Breads' new production facility in Detroit should both be open and operating within two weeks.
2Mission is still going forward with the Jolly Pumpkin Cafe in Royal Oak and have already completed construction plans and design work. The guys are very eager and excited to move forward; an unforeseen issue with the title on the seller's end is the cause of the delay. Jon and Greg also have some other plans for new spots in both Royal Oak and Ann Arbor in the works, but sorry my lovelies: spoilers!
Mindy's Red Crown will be open by mid-January and perhaps earlier depending on liquor license approval. Bona Fide Baking Co. will follow shortly thereafter. She's also got other concepts in the works at various stages of planning in Birmingham, Grosse Pointe Park and ... wait for it ... Detroit! But again: spoilers.
The Cafe con Leche del Este pop-up in Lafayette Park has closed (the final weekend was very funereal), but owners Jordi Carbonell and Mellissa Fernandez have plans to do a second pop-up on the east riverfront and are also looking towards Eastern Market for a potential permanent location that would be more than "just" a cafe. You'll know more when there is more to know.
Incidentally, the space that housed the pop-up will now be a laundromat, despite Fernandez doing everything she could to keep the space for a permanent location. (PS, this laundromat lease was confirmed before the pop-up's run even ended, in a direct affront to the rhetoric that this pop-up was intended as a "test run" for the coffeehouse to open in the space permanently.) For those of you not familiar with Lafayette Park, all of the high rises, condos and town homes in the immediate vicinity of this strip mall have their own laundry facilities, but perhaps it's just, you know, easier for the owner. As one friend observed on the Facebook, "Ownership politics seems to be as big an impediment to renewal as much as anything." To which I added, "At this point I'd argue it's quite possibly the BIGGEST problem, all throughout Detroit." So here's a great feature idea: the nightmarish experiences of would-be entrepreneurs with viable business plans trying to deal with property owners in this city. (I've heard dozens such stories myself.)
And finally, Rodin, a French-ish restaurant/lounge owned by Torya Blanchard that builds off of the French theme of her Good Girls Go to Paris Crepes also located in Midtown's Park Shelton building, will open 12/12/12.
Showing posts with label Cafe con Leche del Este. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cafe con Leche del Este. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Monday, November 12, 2012
The Week We Ate (The EID Week in Review)
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| UK vs US |
Some major kind of filming is happening this week at Vinsetta Garage and Union Woodshop, but they have since scrubbed their Facebook accounts of all mention of it. Good thing I have a good memory (even if I do only ever skim things): Vinsetta and the Woodshop (or is it the Clarkston Union? again, I only ever skim things and for porkssake they both have the word "Union" in the name) will be featured in a new series on the Discovery Channel called "United States of Bacon." Filming is scheduled for this week. [hazy Facebook recollections]Wolfgang Puck's new Pizzeria + Cucina inside the MGM Grand Detroit is very much open and very much awesome. The space, however, still looks exactly like Saltwater, though perhaps a bit less blingy. [EID FB]Sometimes a pop-up is more than the sum of its parts. Cafe con Leche del Este is a coffeehouse, yes, but it is equally a community effort and a bit of a social experiment. With help from the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation's Revolve Detroit program and many others, this pop-up is both testing the waters and the theory that a community CAN build a business if there is enough demand and support. [Deadline]And while you're there, try La Lumbre del Diablo. [Thrillist]1917 American Bistro celebrated three years in business this weekend. [1917 FB]Old people are the original hipsters. [Deadline]A rising tide floats all boats in this retail desert that is Detroit. (Though it's a bit of a stretch to position Astro Coffee as a competitor of Sugar House and Slows.) [Det News]Calder Dairy's egg nog is now available in stores. Oh yes, this is happening people. [EWOW FB]And I did, too. [Pie-Sci FB]This too. [EID FB]Eat It GR
~It's Founders Brewing Co's quinceañera and there is much celebration to be had. [MLive]
~Mitten Brewing is now open and is very sports bar-meets-microbrewery. It's less douchey than it sounds: think more vintage sports memorabilia and less 42 flashing flat screen TVs visible from any point in the room. [Rapid Growth]
~Grand Rapids Brewing Co. is still on track for their Dec. 5 opening. [GRBC FB]
~Someone is living my dream life on Michigan's west coast. Her name is the Cheese Lady, and she recently opened her third location in Grand Rapids in addition to her Muskegon and Kalamazoo shops. [some blog]
~Want to buy a brewery? You can buy this one via Craigslist and have your very own Beer City USA-adjacent microbrewery. Provided you have half a mil. [MLive]
Friday, November 9, 2012
[Deadline Detroit] The Community is Creating a Coffee Shop on the East Side of Detroit
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| Photo by Nicole Rupersburg. |
About five years ago there was a coffee house in the Lafayette Park shopping plaza on the corner of E. Lafayette and Orleans. It was called Paris Café and it featured stale coffee and puck-like bagels that could break car windows, but at least it was THERE. And then it closed.
Since then that same shopping plaza has seen a lot of turnaround. The space that was once the café became a short-lived barbecue joint; it is now a Metro PCS retail outlet. Restaurants and nightclubs have come and gone. A first attempt at a grocery store failed, but a second attempt, Lafayette Foods, seems to be doing well. But still no coffee shop.
Enter Jordi Carbonell.
Read more.
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
[NEWS BITES] Dave Gilbert leaving Forest Grill; Great Lakes getting retail sales license; Griffin Claw announcements; more
The Cafe con Leche del Este pop-up is now open in the Mies van der Rohe shopping plaza in Lafayette Park at the corner of Lafayette and Orleans. This pop-up was the collaborative effort of several organizations including the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation and rogueHAA, a volunteer design and architecture group (co-founder Melissa Dittmer lives in Lafayette Park, as does anybody who's anybody. Yeah, I said it.). If all goes well, this could become a permanent second location for Jordi Carbonell and wife Melisa Fernandez, owners of Cafe con Leche in Southwest Detroit.
Ye Olde Butcher Shoppe is open and has a selection of craft beers and wines, but if it's variety you crave and increased options you desire, you'll be as thrilled to know as I was that the Great Lakes Coffee bar in Midtown is getting a retail sales license and you will soon be able to buy all your beer and wine at the same place you drink it. There is increasingly less reason to ever go anywhere else in Midtown.
This was on the hush-hush but apparently Downtown Publications already blurbed it so I guess the cat's out of the bag: Forest Grill's Executive Chef David Gilbert, a semifinalist for the James Beard Foundation's "Best Chef: Great Lakes" earlier this year, is leaving the Birmingham restaurant and opening his own restaurant with his wife in Grosse Pointe Park. There is no name for the restaurant yet but Gilbert says it will be French-inspired food at moderate prices. Couple this with Mindy Lopus's recent announcement of the four ventures she plans in GPP and it looks like the Park is going to be the place to be come 2013. Birmingham is going all eastside!
At a beer tasting and construction update held at Big Rock Chophouse last night, it was announced that the new Griffin Claw Brewing Company in Birmingham is slated to open in April 2013. All production brewing will be moved over to GC with all-new brewing equipment (built here in Michigan in Lake Orion) and increased capacity for distribution. They will produce four year-round plus rotating seasonal beers in 16-oz cans for retail sales in addition to supplying other restaurants and their own brewpub and the Chophouse. Brewmaster Dan Rogers, Michigan's most award-winning brewer, will continue overseeing all production using some of Big Rock's most popular recipes as well as some new ones he has developed. Griffin Claw will feature indoor seating for 150, an outdoor beer garden that seats 75, and a very beer-friendly menu (think sausage, and lots of it).
Santorini Estiatorio in Greektown is getting ready to open soon, though I have not yet been able to confirm an official date.
And in news that will surely break a lot of hearts, the Fuddruckers on East Jefferson in Detroit has closed.
Up-and-coming chef Justin Vaiciunas done up and went. He has left Zin Wine Bar in Plymouth and is spending the winter out west in ski resort country. We can only hope he proves prodigal and returns.
Cork Wine Pub in Pleasant Ridge should be added to the list of brunch n00bs: they now serve brunch 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Sunday.
St. Cece's Pub in Corktown now serves a regular dinner menu, which features items like homemade soups; their course-ground Black Angus chuck, brisket and short rib signature burger; pulled pork sliders; salads; as well as whatever specials they might be running. They are now open Monday through Wednesday 5 p.m. to midnight (kitchen closes at 9 p.m.), Thursday through Saturday 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. (kitchen closes at 10 p.m.), and closed Sundays. Tuesdays are pop-up takeover days.
This actually happened late September, but Chou Anime Cafe in Midtown has closed after barely four months in business. The concept may not have appealed to everyone -- and there was a lot of eyebrow-raising and media gawking that amounted to little more than "ISN'T THIS BIZARRE AND CRAZY???" -- but it was also a very singular Detroit thing. As the only Japanese-style maid cafe in the country (and no, it was not akin to a Hooters for basement dwellers; think of it more like a daily tween Halloween, or cosplay for the initiated), it had the potential to really be something cool and unique -- sure, not for everyone, but then again what is? Metro Detroit has a pretty strong anime and gamer underground (not to mention two very prominent annual events, Motor City Comi Con and Youmacon, which was just held this weekend), but apparently not enough to keep the business open. Which leaves me pondering: what exactly is our criteria for deciding which new businesses to support and which to shun? Is the concept of 16-year-olds in frilly girlie costumes drawing Pokemon characters in chocolate syrup on your saucer really so alienating? Did it suffer from being too niche? Did the food suck? Hell, I never even had the chance to get over there myself, despite my own fascination with it and having enough understanding of anime culture to not find it off-putting. And I loved the ethnic diversity of all the maids and butlers, showing at the very least that nerd culture is color-blind. I suppose there isn't too much more to say on it, so allow this to be a eulogy for owner Oneka Samet's effort at making Detroit just that much more unique.
Ye Olde Butcher Shoppe is open and has a selection of craft beers and wines, but if it's variety you crave and increased options you desire, you'll be as thrilled to know as I was that the Great Lakes Coffee bar in Midtown is getting a retail sales license and you will soon be able to buy all your beer and wine at the same place you drink it. There is increasingly less reason to ever go anywhere else in Midtown.
This was on the hush-hush but apparently Downtown Publications already blurbed it so I guess the cat's out of the bag: Forest Grill's Executive Chef David Gilbert, a semifinalist for the James Beard Foundation's "Best Chef: Great Lakes" earlier this year, is leaving the Birmingham restaurant and opening his own restaurant with his wife in Grosse Pointe Park. There is no name for the restaurant yet but Gilbert says it will be French-inspired food at moderate prices. Couple this with Mindy Lopus's recent announcement of the four ventures she plans in GPP and it looks like the Park is going to be the place to be come 2013. Birmingham is going all eastside!
At a beer tasting and construction update held at Big Rock Chophouse last night, it was announced that the new Griffin Claw Brewing Company in Birmingham is slated to open in April 2013. All production brewing will be moved over to GC with all-new brewing equipment (built here in Michigan in Lake Orion) and increased capacity for distribution. They will produce four year-round plus rotating seasonal beers in 16-oz cans for retail sales in addition to supplying other restaurants and their own brewpub and the Chophouse. Brewmaster Dan Rogers, Michigan's most award-winning brewer, will continue overseeing all production using some of Big Rock's most popular recipes as well as some new ones he has developed. Griffin Claw will feature indoor seating for 150, an outdoor beer garden that seats 75, and a very beer-friendly menu (think sausage, and lots of it).
Santorini Estiatorio in Greektown is getting ready to open soon, though I have not yet been able to confirm an official date.
And in news that will surely break a lot of hearts, the Fuddruckers on East Jefferson in Detroit has closed.
Up-and-coming chef Justin Vaiciunas done up and went. He has left Zin Wine Bar in Plymouth and is spending the winter out west in ski resort country. We can only hope he proves prodigal and returns.
Cork Wine Pub in Pleasant Ridge should be added to the list of brunch n00bs: they now serve brunch 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Sunday.
St. Cece's Pub in Corktown now serves a regular dinner menu, which features items like homemade soups; their course-ground Black Angus chuck, brisket and short rib signature burger; pulled pork sliders; salads; as well as whatever specials they might be running. They are now open Monday through Wednesday 5 p.m. to midnight (kitchen closes at 9 p.m.), Thursday through Saturday 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. (kitchen closes at 10 p.m.), and closed Sundays. Tuesdays are pop-up takeover days.
This actually happened late September, but Chou Anime Cafe in Midtown has closed after barely four months in business. The concept may not have appealed to everyone -- and there was a lot of eyebrow-raising and media gawking that amounted to little more than "ISN'T THIS BIZARRE AND CRAZY???" -- but it was also a very singular Detroit thing. As the only Japanese-style maid cafe in the country (and no, it was not akin to a Hooters for basement dwellers; think of it more like a daily tween Halloween, or cosplay for the initiated), it had the potential to really be something cool and unique -- sure, not for everyone, but then again what is? Metro Detroit has a pretty strong anime and gamer underground (not to mention two very prominent annual events, Motor City Comi Con and Youmacon, which was just held this weekend), but apparently not enough to keep the business open. Which leaves me pondering: what exactly is our criteria for deciding which new businesses to support and which to shun? Is the concept of 16-year-olds in frilly girlie costumes drawing Pokemon characters in chocolate syrup on your saucer really so alienating? Did it suffer from being too niche? Did the food suck? Hell, I never even had the chance to get over there myself, despite my own fascination with it and having enough understanding of anime culture to not find it off-putting. And I loved the ethnic diversity of all the maids and butlers, showing at the very least that nerd culture is color-blind. I suppose there isn't too much more to say on it, so allow this to be a eulogy for owner Oneka Samet's effort at making Detroit just that much more unique.
Monday, November 5, 2012
The Week We Ate (The EID Week in Review)
This week was all about wind storms and wind bags. Not much else happened. I blame Facebook's new post-burying policies. If only there were another way to get news.
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