The restaurant scene in downtown Ypsilanti is heating up times four with the upcoming openings of four new eateries, one of them a reopening of a beloved institution that feels to some as old as Ypsi itself.
Wolverine Grill on Michigan Avenue, a diner-style restaurant with kitsch galore and a reputation of being like one of the family to locals, will be reborn under the same name and operated by a new chef and manager.
"It's going to keep parts of the menu and the things people loved. But it's going to be rebooted. It's going to be great," says Teresa Gillotti, city planner for Ypsilanti.
Some freshening-up improvements are being made to the restaurant with the possibility of completing a more extensive renovation down the road, Gillotti says.
Across the street from Wolverine is a major overhaul of the former T.C.'s Speakeasy, which is making way for Red Rock, a barbecue restaurant that is being reconfigured to put an impressively crafted bar in the center. Parts of the building are being repurposed and the overall history is being preserved and enhanced, Gillotti says.
Wolverine is expected to re-open for business in early February and Red Rock should open in February or March.
Going through a soft opening in prep for an official launch in coming days is
Wurst Bar on Cross Street in downtown. It replaces Theo's Bar & Grille, a popular Eastern Michigan University bar. Wurst Bar will offer a menu of gourmet brats and burgers for meat eaters and vegetarians and also specialty beer and freshly prepared foods. It may team up to smoke a sausage for the new Red Rock.
The fourth of the new bunch of restaurants and the last to open, as the owner is just now beginning official planning on the foreclosed property, will be an Italian restaurant on Washington Street.
The Italian owner will complete a major renovation of the two-story building. The first floor will house the restaurant and the second floor will be a continuation of the restaurant or separate retail.
"It's funny how all this is happening at once," Gillotti says. "It's exciting that we're going to have such a mix of restaurants, new styles of restaurants to add to downtown."
Source: Teresa Gillotti, city planner, Ypsilanti
Writer: Kim North Shine
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