Bites: June 2015

News and notes about the metro Detroit food scene from Molly Abraham and the Hour editorial staff.
2050

Four Diamonds Times Six

Six Michigan restaurants received the Four Diamond award from AAA, and all are repeat winners: Café Cortina, Iridescence, The Lark, Marais, and the Rugby Grille, all in metro Detroit, and Cygnus in Grand Rapids. The Lark has won every year since 1990 …

 

And The Silver Goes To …

Mike Gibbons, president and CEO of Mainstreet Ventures, the parent company of Real Seafood Co., Gratzi, Palio, and other restaurants in Michigan, Ohio, and West Virginia, has received the Silver Plate award from the International Food Service Association (IMFA), often called the Academy Awards of the food service industry. The latest Real Seafood recently opened in Bay City …

 

The Great Indoors (and Outdoors)

Luciano Del Signore’s Bacco Ristorante has undergone a “stealth” renovation. Just about everything has been freshened or replaced, even the arts. The architect was Nudell Architects, while Box Design Inc. led the creative and furniture design. And there’s news, too, from Del Signore’s  Bigalora Wood-Fired Cucina in Ann Arbor, where a renovated and expanded 2,400-square-foot covered patio has been unveiled. People were clamoring to make reservations there long before it opened. Could that be part of the new Wolverine Coach Jim Harbaugh effect? …

 

New Pumpkin in the Patch

Jolly Pumpkin’s long-anticipated Midtown Detroit location is open. It joins Shinola, Willys Detroit, Run Detroit, and Fellow Barber on West Canfield Street. It seats about 100 at picnic-style tables in a setting of — what else? — reclaimed wood. It’s the fourth Jolly Pumpkin, joining the others in Traverse City, Dexter, and Ann Arbor. In addition to 30 beer taps, it has a pizza/burger/sandwich menu.