By R.J. King / The Detroit News
DETROIT — A new Southern cuisine restaurant coming to Detroit’s east riverfront is a hopeful sign for a district that has lost numerous bars and restaurants in recent years.
Called Magnolia, it’s the first new restaurant for the area since the city failed in 1998 to complete a deal to locate permanent casinos on the riverfront.
The 150-seat bar and restaurant will be operated by Frank Taylor, co-owner of Sweet Georgia Brown in Detroit’s Greektown section. Taylor, along with Detroit Lions standout Robert Porcher and musician Alexander Zonjic, also are opening Seldom Blues, a 300-seat restaurant and jazz club at the Renaissance Center.
Magnolia and Seldom Blues are scheduled to open June 2. Two other eateries also are slated to open this summer in the RenCen: Coach Insignia and Andiamo.
Anne Scott, president of Riverfront East Alliance, said she is seeing a new attitude toward the east riverfront area, which stretches three miles from the RenCen to Belle Isle.
“Before, the city seemed intent on building a casino district and we felt they weren’t interested in talking with the community,” Scott said. “Now the city has viable development plans and they include us in all their planning efforts.”
While the city was attempting to create room for three casinos east of the RenCen, several bars and restaurants closed due to the uncertainty, including Woodbridge Tavern, Soup Kitchen Saloon, Franklin Street Beer Co. and Rhinoceros Club. The casinos are now slated to build permanent sites downtown, each with 400-room hotels.
For Taylor, the east riverfront offers opportunity. “We don’t mind being the first restaurant back to the east riverfront,” Taylor said.
Magnolia will be open daily for lunch and dinner with a menu that includes fried chicken, meat loaf, chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes, he said. Entrees are expected to range in price from $8-$20.
In other area development, the Detroit contracting firm Colasanti Corp. is renovating an office building at Woodbridge, near St. Antoine, into company offices. The group also plans to reopen the River Rock Cafe on Franklin as the River Rock Bistro with live entertainment. Both projects are scheduled for completion this summer.
