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. 

After nearly 2 years of anticipation, earlier this week was the official opening of Portillo’s Livonia location. Portillo’s original Michigan location was opened 3 years ago in Sterling Heights. The Livonia location is quite spacious (7900 square feet) but is actually a bit smaller than their Sterling Heights location. But, it still offers seating for 175 plus 50 on their outdoor patio. And of course their food is just as delicious! You may also have seen the Portillo’s Beef Bus around which rolled into the area earlier this year.

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.

Eat Detroit 2024 is now just a memory, but we wanted to take a minute to highlight some of our favorite restaurants, and the food that we enjoyed, as we ate our way through the city.

If you are not familiar with Eat Detroit it is THE foodie event of the year.  It features numerous restaurants throughout the city, all offering a selection of small plates and signature cocktail. Some were created specifically for the event.  It is a great opportunity to get in and feel the vibe of the new places that have recently opened, or maybe reacquaint yourself with a place that has been open for a while.

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 2012 the Yaquinto family opened The Sardine Room.   They were not new to the restaurant industry. They started in Dearborn, with Paisano’s Pizza over 40 years ago. In the early 2000’s they opened Campari’s On The Park, a very popular downtown Plymouth dining location.  Around 2009 they opened Fiamma Grill (which is currently being renovated) right next to Compari’s. Finally, in 2012, The Sardine Room was born. If you live in the surrounding communities, you are likely familiar with at least one of these 3 locations

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 are visiting Coach’s Corner in Livonia, checking out some of their great Happy Hour specials.  We went back through our posts and realized we have never featured Coach’s Corner before . . . so it’s about time we do so!  Coach’s Corner is located in Livonia on 7 Mile at the Fox Creek Golf Course. However, you don’t have to be a golfer to go there.  They are an extremely family oriented sports bar and are known to be a gathering place for sports teams of all ages to gather after a game or event.

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!

Located a ¼ mile apart, on M-59 (aka Highland Rd) in White Lake Township, are two places that are worthy of making a trip for some legitimate carry out food.  We are taking you from Nashville to Graceland in 30 seconds, visiting Nashville Detroit for their great Nashville Hot Chicken sandwich and Graceland King Gyro, a liquor store selling some great gyro sandwiches.