Crain’s Detroit Business
January 21, 2016 6:00 a.m. UPDATED 1/21/2016
Birmingham Restaurant Week | Lunch for $10 | Cake tastings | Local favorites close
A weekly roundup of local food, drink and restaurant news
Birmingham Restaurant Week starts Monday
Birmingham Restaurant Week, which kicks off on Monday and runs for two weeks (excluding the weekend) features nearly 30 local restaurants including 220 Merrill, Au Cochon, The Bird & The Bread and Forest.
The event includes three-course lunches for $15 and three-course dinners for $30.
For a full list of restaurants and their menus, visit birminghamrestaurantweek.org.
$10 lunch served in 10 minutes
Andiamo Trattoria Livonia has launched a new $10 Quick Lunch Menu for those with busy work schedules that can be served in approximately 10 minutes.
The menu is available Monday through Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. It includes four different salads, paninis, wraps, pasta and risotto. Orders can be placed in the lounge area or as carry-out.
Andiamo Trattoria Livonia is at 38703 W. Seven Mile Road.
Birmingham restaurant starts lunch service
Arthur Avenue will begin its daily lunch service from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Feb. 1.
The Italian restaurant has been serving dinner since it opened in early December. Dishes are prepared in an open kitchen that is shared with Au Cochon, a Peas & Carrots Hospitality Group concept serving upscale French café cuisine.
“Our lunch menu is the hottest ticket in town with each item costing no more than $10. Where else can you get a deal like this in Birmingham?” said Zack Sklar, who developed the menu with Executive Chef Mark Barbarich.
At lunchtime, for $5, guests can enjoy an array of Italian appetizers such as Tuscan fries; minestrone soup; garlic bread topped with tomatoes and Parmesan; mozzarella sticks with marinara; caponata, a Sicilian eggplant dish served with crostini; or Caesar salad with warm croutons.
Next, featured entrees priced at $10 each include salad, pasta and sandwich options. The four salads featured are the chicken Caesar; chopped Italian with romaine, Italian meats, mozzarella and giardiniera; chopped with pesto chicken; and tomato mozzarella. For pasta, diners can choose from spaghetti and meatballs in marinara, lasagna, penne alla vodka, fettuccine alfredo and broccoli pesto. Finally, the Italian sandwich is served with mortadella, salami, turkey, tomato, mozzarella, lettuce, giardiniera, dijonaisse and red wine vinaigrette and the meatball and Parmesan chicken sandwiches are made with marinara, mozzarella and parmesan.
For dessert, guests can choose from tiramisu or spumoni cake, both $6.
Arthur Avenue is at 260 N. Old Woodward Ave. in Birmingham.
Micro-creamery hosts wedding cake event
Northville’s Browndog Creamery & Dessert Bar will host a wedding cake tasting 1-6 p.m. Sunday. The event is free for engaged couples and will feature a variety of cakes and filling to sample.
The shop will also celebrate its first anniversary Feb. 6 with a special menu. It will partner with a local distillery to create an “old fashioned” ice cream flavor.
Browndog is at 118 E. Main St. in Northville.
Ferndale’s Crave Sushi open only for private events
Crave Sushi in Ferndale announced on its Facebook page that it was closing its restaurant and sushi bar/lounge after being open a little more than one year.
“We are sad to announce that Crave Restaurant + Sushi Lounge in Ferndale is now closed. We appreciate your patronage and support,” the post said. “Stay tuned for the future plans of this beautiful space!”
This was the second Crave concept from Khalil Ramadan, owner of Crave Sushi Bar and Restaurant in Dearborn. That restaurant also closed last fall, according to Eater Detroit. A third restaurant in Detroit Metropolitan Airport appears to be open.
Ramadan described Crave Ferndale as a “sushi Pan-Asian restaurant supported by Mediterranean fusion.”
The establishment, which occupied the the former home of John D Bistro and Bar at 22726 Woodward Ave., will be available for private events, according to the post.
Only 3 Max & Erma’s remain in metro Detroit
Eight of the 11 Max & Erma’s restaurants in metro Detroit shut down Monday after their Denver, Colo.-based parent company American Blue Ribbon Holdings LLC announced it was “streamlining operations and underperforming locations.”
Thirteen Max & Erma’s restaurants in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana were closed in all, the statement said.
A local CBS report said the locations closed are in The Village of Rochester Hills; Auburn Hills at Baldwin Road and I-75; Twelve Oaks Mall in Novi; Laurel Park Place in Livonia; Plymouth Township on Beck Road; Canton Center in Canton Township; and in Ann Arbor on Eisenhower Parkway.
Hogan’s hangs it up after 40 years
After four decades in business, Hogan’srestaurant at 6450 Telegraph Road at Maple Road in Bloomfield Hills will shut down at the end of this month.
“Business is really good; not like the ‘80s … but we’re still doing good … It was either put improvements in the building or sell,” owner Richard Bochenek Jr. said.
Bochenek’s father Richard Bochenek opened the restaurant in 1975. The restaurant employs 43 people.
In a posting on its website, the golf-themed restaurant located near the Oakland Hills Country Club thanked its regular customers and others and urged anyone with outstanding gift certificates to use them before the restaurant closes its doors.
“It was time. We’ve been here a long time. It was a great run,” he said.
