In 2013 David Steinke (who also co- owns the Mercury Burger Bar on Michigan Ave) and Tim Springstead (who co-owns Nemos Bar also on Michigan Ave) had the thought of opening a new and exciting restaurant in Corktown.  The area was bouncing back and the building right across from Nemos, at the corner of 8^th St. and Michigan Ave, was available and turned out to be the perfect location for them to open up an Italian restaurant.  Ottava Via (pronounced O-Tava Via), which translates to Eighth Way or 8th Street was the perfect and most obvious name, and it sound cool.  The building, which was built in 1914, is the former home of Dime Saving Bank way back in the day and most recently a pawn shop before being transformed into what it is today.

This years reopening of the Michigan Central Train Station has drawn a lot of visitors to the area, and the local restaurants are reaping the benefits.  In the vicinity you have at least a dozen places to choose from.  Places like Slows BBQ, Takoi and Ima, Supergiel, Cork and Gable and Grandma Bob’s, just to name a few, all right there within walking distance . . . but this weeks adventure is taking us to Mercury Burger Bar.

If you know us, you know we are suckers for good BBQ.  In the past 15-20 years it seems that a lot of BBQ places have popped up in the metro Detroit communities.  Some good and some . . . not so much.  The problem that most people have with BBQ is that it can be expensive, and nobody likes to pay top dollar for average food.  Well Lockhart’s BBQ in Royal Oak is far from average. 

C.A. Muer Restaurant Group was founded in 1965 by the legendary restaurateur Chuck Muer, which at its peak had 18 restaurants in 4 states. Charles Rachwitz, also known as Chuck or Rocky, worked for the C.A. Muer restaurant group for 18 years. He served as their Corporate Executive Chef and was a mentor to many future chefs in the Detroit area. Rocky was a integral part of the Muer Corporation by creating and establishing many successful restaurants for his mentor and best friend Chuck Muer. A year before the tragic disappearance at sea, of Chuck and his wife in 1993, he helped Rocky turn the former Northville Charlie’s restaurant into Rocky’s of Northville and he is still going strong today.

336 Main was a great martini and piano bar in Plymouth, featuring live music, great cocktails but lacked in the food area.  The owners had been looking to make a change, from a piano bar into a restaurant bar. But they had to wait until they had finished their work on another property, Center Street Grill in Northville, formerly The Starting Gate. In 2017, 336 Main was closed and 7 months later Park Place Gastropub opened its doors. 

Iron Horse opened its doors in 2015 and is one of Royal Oaks hidden gems.  If you are going to Royal Oak this is probably not even on your radar . . . but it should be! It is located right next to the Royal Oak Music Theatre. You might even think it is part of the theatre, since there is a door from the theatre for patrons to enter.  We had been here before, following a show, so we assumed it was part of the venue that was only open during events.  We never realized it was it’s own place. But now that we do, it has become a Royal Oak destination for us when we are in the area.

Alinea, which means “beginning of a new kind of thinking” is located in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood just steps from the Steppenwolf Theatre. Alinea is in a modest gray brick building with no external signage other than it’s street number.  There is no bar, no lobby and only seats around 70 people in its 2 levels. The interior décor and table settings are purposely minimalistic. They don’t play music in the dining room, to keep your attention focused completely on its masterful food preparation.

This week we are enjoying happy hour at another one of Detroit’s fine dining restaurants: BESA.  BESA, in Albanian culture, is a pledge of honor and its literal meaning is ”to keep the promise”.  BESA opened its doors in November of 2018 and has been going strong ever since.

In 2015, Steve Savich and his father opened the first Mr. Miguel’s in Warren.  The name Mr. Miguel’s pays homage to the first restaurant he opened, with his father in 2008. You may have heard of this restaurant - Mr. Mike’s on Wayne Road in Westland. Today there are 4 locations in including  Brownstown which opened in 2021, Livonia which opened in 2022,  and Utica which just opened in April of this year. 

Shelby Detroit is located in the basement of 607 Shelby Street, in Downtown Detroit’s Financial District.  The building itself is historically known as the US Mortgage Bond Building which opened in 1925.   To visit them, head downstairs to Coffee Down Under and let a barista know you're here to see “Shelby”.

In 1994, Dave Anderson opened the First Famous Dave’s restaurant in Hayward Wisconsin, and its popularity quickly grew! Today, they have over 180  locations in 30 states and 3 international locations in Winnipeg, Abu Dhabi and Dubai.  There are 7 locations in Michigan: Saginaw, Flint, Roseville, Novi, Westland, Taylor and Troy.

Bahama Breeze is a Tropical Island inspired restaurant featuring Caribbean and Latin inspired seafood, chicken, steaks and tropical drinks. Their goal is to create an island atmosphere, complete with live music, tropical cocktails, and a laid-back atmosphere. It’s a great place to unwind and enjoy a meal with friends or family . . . or better yet Happy Hour! 

We are here to talk about The Detroit Burger Bar. More specifically, their Happy Hour.  Happy Hour is Monday-Saturday from 1-5 PM featuring discounted beer, wine, cocktails and choice appetizers.  With “Detroit” in their name, they try to use locally sourced brands like Better Made Potato Chips, Faygo soda and craft beers from Michigan breweries. Most of their menu items have names referencing Detroit landmarks, streets or neighborhoods.

We recently attended a special “Detroit - The City of Chefs” dinner at Schoolcraft College, and were seated at a table with some wonderful people, Mark & Sadina Pulgar. They are foodies, just like us, and shared their love of dining out, wines, bourbons etc.  Sadina specifically said she loves to be in the kitchen . . . not just cooking, but specifically baking.  They mentioned their daughter, Ellen Genaw, had just opened a new restaurant in the heart of Downtown Monroe called PRIMAL PLATES. 

In 2013 Bob & Dorothy Ostendorf, and their business partners Jim & Kathy Sulllivan, took over a pub located at 860 Fralick in Downtown Plymouth.  It was an old Irish Pub  and the Ostendorf’s and Sullivan’s were not crazy about what the place was, even though they frequented it regularly.  They changed the name to Stella’s Black Dog Tavern. The name comes from the Ostendorf’s Bernese Mountain Dog Stella. 

In 2016, Michael Ransom decided to return to Detroit to open a casual restaurant featuring Japanese inspired food with Midwestern ingredients. He named this restaurant IMA. Ima in Japanese kanji means ‘now’, as in ‘in the moment’. Chef Ransom said “My philosophy behind the ‘now’ thing is that food is an escape. When you’re sitting down at a table with great food and great people … nothing else matters. It’s kind of an escape from reality a little bit. It’s that break in the middle of your day or night that really does allow time to stand still.”

This week we ventured out to Downtown Northville, to a place that is serving up some great happy hours selections available ALL DAY MONDAY and from 1-6 PM Tuesday through Thursday.   The Northville Sports Den. This is not a new place. It has been open since around 2010. They are a family owned restaurant, located in the Northville Square business complex. There is an entrance in the rear right off the parking lot behind the building so parking is usually not a problem. 

Located at the north end of Walled Lake, just east of Pontiac Trail, is a long standing restaurant that has been many names through the years.  My memories are from when it was Key Largos back in the 90’s. Today, it is the home to The Beach Tiki Bar & Boil

Everyone is painfully aware that dining out has become very expensive.  As you probably know, we eat out often! Usually, when we go out, we end up sitting at the bar and sharing a few appetizers and a beer, bourbon or cool cocktail.  It’s QUICK (because you get your drinks right away) FUN (because you get to talk to the bartenders, and other people at the bar) AND the best part, no leftovers to take home and no irritating styrofoam containers in your fridge. A lot of restaurants do SMALL PLATES / SHAREABLES or TAPAS. People don’t really want to commit to just ONE entree to eat.  They want to sample things and share food!  Although COVID changed a lot of things in the restaurant world . . . HAPPY HOUR HAS MADE A STRONG COMEBACK!

The story of Karl’s Cabin goes back to January of 1936 when Romanian immigrants, Alex and Katie Rusceak, purchased a 220 acre farm in Salem Township, MI for $1 from the Union Stock Land Bank of Detroit.  1 years later they opened Rusceak’s Rustic Tavern, a log framed tavern with a fieldstone fireplace build form boulders found on the property.