Fried Green Tomatoes Coming Downtown
Wes Wyatt, owner of 24 Grille inside the Westin Book Cadillac Detroit, plans to open Fried Green Tomatoes on Brush Street, just west of the Greektown Casino, by late summer. The 88-seat restaurant, along with an outdoor deck, will offer American and Southern cuisine in the former space operated by Sweet Georgia Brown, and more recently, Cheesecake Bistro.
“We see added opportunity for restaurants in downtown Detroit with more office workers and residents coming in,” Wyatt says. “Our business [[at 24 Grille) has been very good. We draw people living and working downtown, people coming down for games or entertainment, and business and leisure travelers.”
Fried Green Tomatoes will offer open dining space complemented by private rooms. The décor will be “simplistic and classic,” Wyatt says. He adds the menu is under development. “We’re excited about what’s happening at the Book Cadillac,” he says. “We have the only Champagne Bar [[in Detroit), which has been a big hit for us. We see Fried Green Tomatoes as offering something new to the marketplace.”
Ron and Roman, an architectural and interior design firm in Birmingham, is overseeing the design of Fried Green Tomatoes. “We’re in the early stages, but it will distinctive and memorable,” says Ron Rea, principal with Roman Bonislawski of Ron and Roman. “When we did 24 Grille, the largest expense was the [[glass) chandeliers. It’s warm and open, but those chandeliers really make the space.”
Since the Book Cadillac reopened in 2008, following a nearly $190-million renovation, it has drawn thousands of guests and hundreds of private events. Since that time, downtown Detroit has seen an influx of more than 15,000 office workers, dozens of loft apartments, and numerous investors.
