30 metro Detroit restaurants that are gone but not forgotten

By Metro Times editorial staff on Fri, May 18, 2018 at 7:54 pm

Saying goodbye can be tough. Especially when it comes to some of our favorite restaurants. From Italian staples, hole-in-the-wall diners, and trendy eateries, here are some of metro Detroit's restaurants that left too soon (and for some, not soon enough.) Either way, these dining destinations forever hold a place in our hearts — and stomachs.

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Dangerously Delicious Pies
Headed up by co-owner Don “Doop” Duprie (yes, the guitarist and singer of Doop & the Inside Outlaws fame), the endeavor was originally a spin-off of Baltimore-based Rodney Henry’s pie shops out East. For years, Duprie was slinging his pies out of Comet Bar and Third Street Bar. As of last year, there were two brick-and-mortar shops, in Midtown Detroit and Wyandotte. They closed last year.
Photo via Facebook

Antietam
If you ask Antietam owner, there was nothing to eat in Detroit before he and Slow’s BBQ arrived. Then the city gentrified and got too cool for his tastes, so he closed shop in 2018.
Photo via Yelp, Antietam
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The Soup Kitchen Saloon
The old, well-loved Rivertown blues and creole spot closed sometime in the 1990s and was destroyed by a fire not long after.
Photo via MT file
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Chin Tiki
This tiki-themed supper club opened in 1967 and closed in 1980. But before its demolition in 2009, it played a cameo as a setting in the Eminem film 8 Mile.
Photo via Flickr, Joyce Pederson
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Coach Insignia
The fancy restaurant at the top of the Renaissance Center closed in 2017. But a new restaurant run by a James Beard-award winning chef will open in its place.
Photo via Facebook
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Twingos
This Midtown favorite in what’s now Shangri-Las was a hip dining spot in an area that didn’t have much to speak of in the early 2000s. Closed sometime around 2003.
Photo via Yelp Duke A.
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Carl’s Chop House
A classic restaurant opened in 1951 by Carl Rosenfield, the business closed in 2008 and the building was demolished in 2010.
Photo via Facebook
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St. CeCe’s
Thought known more as a watering hole, many culinary talents passed through its kitchen before it closed in 2016. It reopened as Lady of the House in 2017.
Photo via MT file
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Under the Eagle
Is your favorite Hamtramck Polish restaurant Polonia or Polish Village? Ours was Under The Eagle but sadly it closed in 2011.
Photo via, Hamtramck Review
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Local Kitchen & Bar
Ferndale’s Local got in early on the whole local food movement, but its owners recently decided to get in early on the ax-throwing craze. Closed in 2017.
Photo via Facebook
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Joey's Stables
Classic eatery of the old style, established in 1933, and proudly serving surf ‘n’ turf in a well-appointed room on Jefferson across from Zug Island. Closed in 1989.
Photo via Facebook
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Gracie See Pizzeria
An institution on the west side, Gracie See lasted 40 years. When it opened back in 1969, pizza was a treat. When it closed in 2016, pizza had become one of the five food groups. You can still get a taste of the good old days at the surviving Inkster location.
Photo via Facebook
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Delray Cafe
This longtime holdout remained a stubborn fixture on Jefferson Avenue even until a decade ago. It was destroyed by fire in 2014.
Photo via Yelp, Lorna E.
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Mae’s in Pleasant Ridge
The tiny Pleasant Ridge shop was the quintessential hipster breakfast spot and it was wonderful and we miss it. Closed in 2016.
Photo via Facebook
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Top of the Pontch
Another casualty of the Great Downtown Detroit Rooftop Collapse of 2017.
Photo via TopOfThePontch.com
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Tre Monti Ristorante
A mini-state with fewer than 30,000 inhabitants, San Marino fielded a culinary outpost in Troy in Tre Monti Ristorante for many years, behind the San Marino Club. The restaurant featured a well-known Sammarinese dessert called Monte Titano, resembling the emblematic three-peaked mountain for which the restaurant is named.
Photo via MetroAlive.com
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Watkins Burgers
The classic Downriver burger joint opened in 1937 but met its demise in the early 2000s. But Wyandotte bars still have what they call “Watkins night“ which we’re told is basically burger night.
Photo via, The News Herald
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Cheesesteak Institute of America
How could you not miss a Cheesecake Institute? Sadly, the Wyandotte shop shuttered in 2017, but its food truck rolls on.
Photo via Yelp, Cheesesteak Institute of America
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Oslo
A hip sushi spot in downtown Detroit before it was hip to be hip in Detroit.
Photo via MT file
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Pete’s Place
In the spring of 2008, Peter Mel opened Pete's Place, transforming a dreary coney island into a hip eatery inspired by live theater. The long narrow room was decorated with colorful Broadway show posters and featured art-deco fixtures. Show tunes dominated the restaurant’s playlist. Even the menu used theatrical metaphors.
Photo via Facebook
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30 metro Detroit restaurants that are gone but not forgotten

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