Joe Muer Seafood & Diamond Jim Brady’s Bistro

MOLLY’S PICKS: Restaurant veteran Molly Abraham noshes around town, tracking down some top spots
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Dive into the Raw Bar Plateau Platter (for four) at Detroit’s Joe Muer Seafood // Photograph by Joe Vaughn

Detroit’s classic fish house is back — updated and in a spectacular new setting, preserving the old values while adding contemporary flair. It offers many of the familiar dishes, from white-bean relish and clam chowder to Dover sole meunière, along with Executive Chef Jim Oppat’s “modern classics,” such as coriander seared tuna and miso-glazed salmon. The interior design, which is divided into a series of seating arrangements around a central sushi/cocktail bar, manages to give the large space a human dimension. Chef’s tables offer the action in the kitchen as an alternative to sweeping river views visible through a wall of windows.

Tower 400, Renaissance Center, Detroit; 313-567-6837, joemuerseafood.com. L & D Mon.-Sat., D nightly. Average entree price: $30 (Handicap accessible)

DIAMOND JIM BRADY’S BISTRO:

Chef/proprietor Mary Brady is back in a new location in Novi Town Center after having lost the original space, and the shift has turned out to be a case of blessing in disguise. The new quarters are snappy and modern and bring kitchen and dining room together in a convivial way. In the hands of chef/partner Sharon Juergens, the updated menu is just the right length and offers the classic Brady burger, as well as such updated dishes as black-lentil salad, pork loin with bean and corn ragout, and Scottish salmon with toasted barley. Good beer and wine lists, too.

43271 Crescent Blvd., Novi Town Center, Novi; 248-380-8460, djbistro.com. D daily, Br Sat.-Sun. Average entree price: $18 (Handicap accessible)

 


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