1917 American Bistro

I ate at the recently opened 1917 American Bistro for the first time Saturday.
The restaurant is located at 19416 Livernois, between 7 and 8 Mile Road.

The food was good.
The place was packed; I waited about ten minutes before being seated for lunch.
The crowd was somewhat racially and socially mixed, mostly Detroiters with suburbanites as well.

Too often restaurants in Detroit with a Metropolitan Detroit are not also supported by the immediate community.
I was happy to find an inviting neighborhood restaurant that fit well into the immediate community that drew a diverse crowd.
Have any of you been there?
Any thoughts on the impact of a solid entry level restaurant on the surrounding 2 miles? I could imagine a steady stream of Ferndale residents [[thus not only Detroiters) dining in there.

Apart from the diversity, 1917 is a great addition to the otherwise spotty restaurant offerings in that part of the city.
1917 doesn't feel like a chain restaurant, Red Robin for instance, and that is a good thing.
I grew up in that area and I don't remember dining in any surrounding restaurant besides Stanley's Chinese at 8 Mile and Woodward.
For instance, I live in Royal Oak [[for the time being) and there is a Pei Wei less than a mile from me. Pei Wei is inexpensive, has great food, and has a relaxed inviting [[although busy) atmosphere. It has been a great resource to the immediate community and passerbys.
McDonalds on the other hand provides a less nutritious meal for a similar price and a mind numbing atmosphere.
How are your communities being served by local restaurants?

I've had lunch a couple of times at 1917 Bistro. Both times I ordered the salmon. It was delicious! The first time there, one of my friends realized, at the last minute, that her meter was about to expire so I got up to dash out to put in more money. However, our waiter intercepted me and said he'd take care of it. Which he did, using his own quarter! On both occasions, the owner/chef came to our table to ask if everything was to our liking. It's definitely not like a chain restaurant.

Thanks for the lead on that place. As an eastsider, I completely ignore the westside. :)

I think the problem is two-fold: For many suburbanites who do venture to eat in the city, they likely do it downtown, midtown, or southwest, or at long-established neighborhood places like the Cadieux Cafe or Scotty Simpson's that they are familiar with. Everything in between is likely regarded as no-man's land.

Secondly, if you want to attract the neighboring population in the city, you have to cater to them. It makes sense that this restaurant is in the middle class areas of Detroit - I doubt it would fare well in Brightmoor. The people of low-income areas don't have the money or the interest of spending the money at a restaurant they can't really afford. Thus the less tony neighborhoods of the city are populated with you-buy-we-fry and Coney Islands with bullet-proof glass along with fast food establishments. Middle class residents of the city are likely to pass places like that up for more friendly environments, and suburbanites could probably only be found there flying through red lights at 90 miles an hour trying to get the hell out of Dodge.

The city already has a nice assortment of restaurants in my opinion, so there are plenty of options and locations to choose from.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by majohnson

I ate at the recently opened 1917 American Bistro for the first time Saturday.
The restaurant is located at 19416 Livernois, between 7 and 8 Mile Road.

The food was good.
The place was packed; I waited about ten minutes before being seated for lunch.
The crowd was somewhat racially and socially mixed, mostly Detroiters with suburbanites as well.

Too often restaurants in Detroit with a Metropolitan Detroit are not also supported by the immediate community.
I was happy to find an inviting neighborhood restaurant that fit well into the immediate community that drew a diverse crowd.
Have any of you been there?
Any thoughts on the impact of a solid entry level restaurant on the surrounding 2 miles? I could imagine a steady stream of Ferndale residents [[thus not only Detroiters) dining in there.

Apart from the diversity, 1917 is a great addition to the otherwise spotty restaurant offerings in that part of the city.
1917 doesn't feel like a chain restaurant, Red Robin for instance, and that is a good thing.
I grew up in that area and I don't remember dining in any surrounding restaurant besides Stanley's Chinese at 8 Mile and Woodward.
For instance, I live in Royal Oak [[for the time being) and there is a Pei Wei less than a mile from me. Pei Wei is inexpensive, has great food, and has a relaxed inviting [[although busy) atmosphere. It has been a great resource to the immediate community and passerbys.
McDonalds on the other hand provides a less nutritious meal for a similar price and a mind numbing atmosphere.
How are your communities being served by local restaurants?

---

I'm glad to hear they are apparently doing well. I drive by the place everyday on my way home from work. I find the place interesting [[from the outside anyway), but I only spend my dining dollars in Ferndale.

I'm curious as to how you determined the mix of "Detroiter" to "suburbanite"? Assuming you did not take a survey of the diners, how did you come to the conclusion of who was a Detroiter and who was not?

Ferntruth,

How did I determine who was a Detroiter and who was not?
Appearance based stereotypes.
Stereotypes applied through listening and watching other people in the restaurant.

Can I say with certainty whether each person was from Detroit, the suburbs, or other? No.
Can I say with a high level of certainty among the several people I perceived as suburban a large percentage were suburban? Yes.
Why, common sense from living in Metro Detroit.
Are we honestly going to act like we can not tell the non-racial differences between a predominantly suburban and predominantly Detroit crowd?

How can we as DetroitYESers communicate serious ideas about helping Detroit if we are intentionally oblivious to the obvious social stratification within and between Metro-Detroit cities?
Let me bring it closer to Ferndale for you.
Take two clienteles, one from the Natural Food Pacth and the otther from Western Fruit Market. Put them into a parking lot.
Can you tell where each individual came from? Probably not.
Can you tell where groups of ten or more came from? Probably.
Why, Birkenstocks vs. high heels analysis works at the group level.
[[by the way, i shop at both, and the point holds even though the clienteles are not perfectly exclusive)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by majohnson

Ferntruth,

How did I determine who was a Detroiter and who was not?
Appearance based stereotypes.
Stereotypes applied through listening and watching other people in the restaurant.

Can I say with certainty whether each person was from Detroit, the suburbs, or other? No.
Can I say with a high level of certainty among the several people I perceived as suburban a large percentage were suburban? Yes.
Why, common sense from living in Metro Detroit.
Are we honestly going to act like we can not tell the non-racial differences between a predominantly suburban and predominantly Detroit crowd?

How can we as DetroitYESers communicate serious ideas about helping Detroit if we are intentionally oblivious to the obvious social stratification within and between Metro-Detroit cities?
Let me bring it closer to Ferndale for you.
Take two clienteles, one from the Natural Food Pacth and the otther from Western Fruit Market. Put them into a parking lot.
Can you tell where each individual came from? Probably not.
Can you tell where groups of ten or more came from? Probably.
Why, Birkenstocks vs. high heels analysis works at the group level.
[[by the way, i shop at both, and the point holds even though the clienteles are not perfectly exclusive)

---

Thanks [[I think) for the reply. I was merely curious. So, all your pontificating aside, you assumed all the black diners were from Detroit and all the white were from the Suburbs?

Again, I was curious and you satisfied that curiosity - no need to get bitchy about it.

My wife and I live in Bay City. We planned to meet her sister and her husband in Detroit for a nice dinner. I went on-line and found the 1917 American Bistro. It sounded interesting, so I made reservations. [[Her sister lives on the east side of Detroit.) Driving to the restaurant from Plymouth, MI, where we were at a conference, we were a little concerned as we were driving on Livernois because parts of it are pretty run-down these days. The closer we got to the restaurant, the better Livernois began to look. The only problem we found was parking. There's not enough. We had to park on the other side of the boulevard and cross the street.

Once in the restaurant we were immediately seated. The service was excellent. A young man with a great sense of humor [[ my brother-in-law is gregarious and a tease) was training a new waitress. They had only had their liquor license for a few weeks and either they need more bartenders or better trained ones because the drinks took almost as long to get as the dinners. They were good drinks when we got them. I couldn't believe the prices! My wife had lamb chops [[4) for $15.00. They were excellent. That was the most expensive item on the menue! I can't say enough for their food and its presentation. This place is a real bargain.

After dinner the chef and part-owner came out to ask us how we enjoyed the dinner and we were all gushing about how good everything was. He seemed genuinely interested in us.

My only suggestions to them would be to turn the background music down. It was too loud and conversations all over the restaurant rose in volume accordingly. The other thing is parking, but I don't think they can do much about that.

I give this wonderful place a 5 out of 5 stars because the value is exceptional. We will definitely come back.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ferntruth

I only spend my dining dollars in Ferndale.

---

Is this a conscious decision you've made, or does it just work out that way?

After I read my post and the preceding ones, I realized I should probably add that the race thing that was brought up is out of line. We're white. Our sister and her husband are white and live in Detroit. We felt perfectly at home at 1917 American Bistro. Everyone, including folks at the tables next to us, were very friendly and happy.

Ferntruth,

Sorry for the long answer.
In short:
I did not assume all blacks were from Detroit and all whites from the suburbs.
Additionally, I am black and live in the suburbs.

Sorry for the long answer before.