Matt Prentice resigned

**Detroitkid** · March-30-12, 01:14 PM

I wonder if the restaurants will stay the same. Will you still go?

Prentice's abrupt departure from the restaurant group he started 30 years ago came as a bit of a shock to owner Stanley Dickson Jr., the man who bought the company out of bankruptcy in 2009 with the intention of bringing an accountant's acumen to the restaurant group.
Dickson says he never wanted to be a restaurateur — yet here he sits, at the helm of a restaurant group with 15 businesses under his thumb, including some of metro Detroit's most recognizable names.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...on-without-key

**Detroitnerd** · March-30-12, 01:37 PM

Matt Prentice is a good guy, but his portfolio has been getting a little old-fashioned. His restaurants' fortunes have risen and fallen respectively, as he insists on appealing to a fine-dining crowd. But the market is choosing casual over formal, comfort over haute cuisine, and community over exclusivity. It seemed that with Gastronomy, he was going to freshen things up a bit, but the 1960s-style choice of location, not visible from the road, part of an office tower, would seem to doom it from the start. [[I don't believe that many aspiring locavores think 1 Town Square a hip address.) Predictions? In an era of shifting tastes, declining corporate accounts and rising costs, I would expect some closures, some brand extensions into catering, restaurant makeovers and new blood or this empire's days are numbered.

**JBMcB** · March-30-12, 01:49 PM

It seems like his fine dining restaurants are pretty good - the few meals I've had at the Coach were fantastic. We visited Duet once before it closed, and it was pretty good, too. The Tavern on 13 was pretty mediocre, however.

Matt Prentice Restaurant Group just changed it's name to Epicurean Group, which I think is a pretty classy move to not be trading in on his name, although I think they probably own it now.

**Detroitej72** · March-30-12, 09:53 PM

Originally Posted by Detroitnerd

Matt Prentice is a good guy, but his portfolio has been getting a little old-fashioned. His restaurants' fortunes have risen and fallen respectively, as he insists on appealing to a fine-dining crowd.

D-Nerd, I'm shocked that you think someone who once boosted that he'd never open a restaurant in Detroit is "a good guy"!

**Kevgoblue** · March-31-12, 05:12 PM

[QUOTE=JBMcB;312113]It seems like his fine dining restaurants are pretty good - the few meals I've had at the Coach were fantastic. We visited Duet once before it closed, and it was pretty good, too. The Tavern on 13 was pretty mediocre, however.QUOTE]

Interesting. I enjoyed Coach and Duet as well.
I also liked The Tavern on 13. Specifically because it was not so upscale. The food was good, but the place didn't have the atmosphere where you felt underdressed if you weren't on your way to the Opera House.