Flaming Embers restaurant

[buildingsofdetroit]

Does anyone know anything about this place? I know it was open in the 1960s, but not sure when it started or when it closed in the Broderick Tower.

[Woodward22]

I remember it was still open in the early 80s.

[gazhekwe]

That was a nice place. I am sure it was open in the 50s and probably before. Here is a bit from a nice 2007 Detroit News article about restaurants on Woodward.

Prices climbed higher [[but not by much) in a 1960-era advertisement for Detroit's Flaming Embers Restaurant, an institution on Woodward at Grand Circus Park where passers-by could watch flamboyant grill jockeys flip steaks as if they were conducting the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. They offered a T-bone, baked potato, salad and soft drink for $1.19.

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20070702/...#ixzz0mXHxYdvt

[jcole]

I remember walking by that place one time in the late 70's and as I looked in the window, a woman sitting in one of the booths was licking around the top of the ketchup bottle. She then replaced the cap and set the bottle neatly back with the salt and pepper. I never ate there.

[Gary]

I don't know what it was like in its heyday, but when I lived in Trolley Plaza, my wife and I walked over there for breakfast on Saturdays once or twice, this was in '85-'86. The food was nothing to shout about - any coney island joint in town could probably cook you a better breakfast, but the place was clean and it was right around the corner.

I'm glad I never used any ketchup the couple times I was there.

[Detroitej72]

They were open until the early 90's, as I went their a couple times after a night at City Club or the Shelter.

In the mid 80's, they opened a second location at 8 Mile and Hayes in the former Rustler Steak House, but it didn't last all that long.

[gazhekwe]

There was one at Fenkell and Grand River, too, for a hot minute.

[Trumpeteer]

I worked at the Madison as an usher in the 1960's and the Flaming Embers was a great place for a steak lunch as a kid. When I was younger, my Dad would take me there for a treat and the $1.19 is spot on as far as cost. HOWEVER, that was when my Dad worked on the loading dock at United Trucking on Lonyo and never made close to $10k per year so that $1.19 per person was still a stretch! The really neat thing was the gas grill the Embers had that you could watch your steak being cooked. The grill was at a 45 degree angle from front to back so the well done steak was at the very front/bottom and they went rarer from there up to the top.

That lunch and an afternoon at the Telenews with my Dad is something I'll NEVER forget.

[cmubryan]

I'm pretty sure it lasted until the mid to late 90s. I started driving to downtown in 1998 when I was 16 and I clearly remember seeing their beige background awnings with red and orange flames. I believe it was renamed briefly "The Flame" with new green awnings. Then became whatever it is today.

Also I remember there being a Flaming Embers on 8 mile and Evergreen in a former Sign of the Beefcarver. Anyone else remember this?

[5speedz34]

My grandfather owned New York Custom Shoe Shop on the third floor of the David Whitney building across the street. It was the corner unit and overlooked the People Mover and the intersection of Woodward and Park. He was the last tenant in the building right before it closed in 2003?

During my summers and days off I would go to the shop and he would always take me out to lunch. When I first started going [[before Hudson's was demo'ed) we used to walk to a corn beef place somewhere over by E. Grand River. Later he used to take me to Flaming Embers where I would get a salad from their buffet and a burger. I remember the stairs down to the lower level as the most memorable part of the restaurant. I never remember the grille probably because I was always making my salad while the cook made the burger.

He worked until he was 83 after first dropping down to three days a week and then moving out to Shelby Twp., where we lived until about 2006. He retired shortly there after because my grandmother made him. I remember walking to the corn beef place and always complaining that it was so far, probably a walk that would take 15 minutes as an adult. Mind you he was in his mid-70's and had a bad leg injury stemming from childhood. Sorry for the ramblings but probably he's probably one of the best grandparents I know and this is probably one of the strongest memories I have of Detroit as a child.

Long story short, I want to say the sign was definitely still up in the early 2000's and probably went out of business shortly after Comerica Park opened up.

Edit: Googling 'Flaming Embers Detroit' brings up their phone number and address so I have to imagine that they where still around prior to Super Bowl XL.

[English]

There was one at Fenkell and Grand River, too, for a hot minute.

This must be the one from my childhood memories! We went to a Flaming Embers several times in the early to mid 1980s, but it wasn't the one downtown. I was really little, but my dad loved steaks.

So many faint memories... there was also a restaurant with a horse and buggy logo that was my Dad's favorite [[I think?), and one called Po' Folks that my grandma liked. Can't remember if they were in NW Detroit or the inner ring 'burbs. Good times, good memories...

[buildingsofdetroit]

Found an ol' Freep article. The Flaming Embers closed in September 1993 after 41 years, citing a dispute with city health inspectors over the restaurant's exhaust system. They didn't want to pay for the tens of thousands in work citing the decline in business downtown. Higgins reopened it after buying the name and liquor license the following spring, but it closed shortly thereafter.

[gazhekwe]

English, Family Buggy was on Six Mile and Evergreen. There is still one on Orchard Lake and Thirteen Mile, same menu and decor. The train still chugs around the place just below the ceiling. The original one on Six Mile was one of our favorites, too.

[zitro]

They were open until the early 90's, as I went their a couple times after a night at City Club or the Shelter.

In the mid 80's, they opened a second location at 8 Mile and Hayes in the former Rustler Steak House, but it didn't last all that long.

It burned to the ground!! Oh the irony.

[5speedz34]

English, Family Buggy was on Six Mile and Evergreen. There is still one on Orchard Lake and Thirteen Mile, same menu and decor. The train still chugs around the place just below the ceiling. The original one on Six Mile was one of our favorites, too.

How funny, I thought it was Family Buggy but I have a shirt from when my buddy was on the 'kitchen crew' at the former Rochester Hills location. I was wearing it when I read the post but didn't see any horse so I was like, "nahh, can't be it."

[JStone]

I had a steak dinner in that location in 2001-2002.

[kryptonite]

Is anything open currently in the old Flaming Embers locatino in the Broderick? It seems like a sports bar opened there for a while? Maybe a sports bar was going to open there but didn't? Any downtown workers know what is going on there now?

[9936Sussex]

The first time I went to the Madison Theatre was to see "Gone with the Wind" [[had to be around 1967). It was also the first time I ate at the Flaming Embers. As a teenager, I thought it was quite the place, and a bargain for a steak. The steak wasn't memorable, but the experience was.

[rooms222]

There was also a Family Buggy in Livonia at Plymouth and Middlebelt until about 5-6 years ago. The Farmington Hills one is the only one I went to personally. Eat with the bear if you have a tween or younger...

[English]

English, Family Buggy was on Six Mile and Evergreen. There is still one on Orchard Lake and Thirteen Mile, same menu and decor. The train still chugs around the place just below the ceiling. The original one on Six Mile was one of our favorites, too.

THAT WAS IT! I was really little when we went there... once per pay period or once per month, we'd go out for dinner. That brings back so many memories, especially tonight, when I'm especially missing my [[late) dad.

Thanks SO much for the information. So glad they're still around. I'll have to take the next generation of kids in our family there.

[Switchmanjim]

I worked at the Madison as an usher in the 1960's and the Flaming Embers was a great place for a steak lunch as a kid. When I was younger, my Dad would take me there for a treat and the $1.19 is spot on as far as cost. HOWEVER, that was when my Dad worked on the loading dock at United Trucking on Lonyo and never made close to $10k per year so that $1.19 per person was still a stretch! The really neat thing was the gas grill the Embers had that you could watch your steak being cooked. The grill was at a 45 degree angle from front to back so the well done steak was at the very front/bottom and they went rarer from there up to the top.

That lunch and an afternoon at the Telenews with my Dad is something I'll NEVER forget.

Hey Rich, didn't we take the Baker ''bullit'' Bus downtown to see a movie and then eat at the Embers??? My memory is not what it use to be, but when I saw the thread title that's the first thing that came to mind.

[Trumpeteer]

Absolutely!! That Baker bus was a lifesaver even after I drove as I didn't have to park downtown.

[Detroitej72]

It burned to the ground!! Oh the irony.

Are you sure of that? I could have sworn the building was torn down.

The sign is still used by the current strip mall that occupies the corner.

[Big Dog]

I took a date there downtown in 1959. Got ill, never went back.

[Anitra]

There was one at Fenkell and Grand River, too, for a hot minute.

Yeah, That's the one we always went to.