Earlier this summer, we gushed over the design of Midtown's new Great Lakes Coffee, the first shop location for the Bloomfield Hills-based coffee roaster. Detroit has plenty of coffee (hi Astro, we still love you!) but this is one of the first of a new breed: the coffee shop SLASH wine bar which invites you to work all day and then drink all night to erase the memory that work days exist. If you've ever been a blogger you've likely waited for this day a long time, cursing that awkward moment of the day when one cashes out a coffee tab, jitters down the street, and then fumbles through The Bronx looking for an outlet. If not you'll just have to trust us that the switch from uppers to downers can be awkward and is best handled in a well-designed, well-lit space. A safe place where you can transition slowly, if you will.
As some of you pointed out, the place is also known in some circles as the 'institute for advanced drinking' which is meant to convey a this-is-not-the-dive-bar-Detroit-is-used-to swaggger. Not to call the place pretentious, but surrounded by watering holes like Honest John's, The Old Miami, and Jumbo's, the place does seem, well, more like the place you could go after work in a suit and not feel like the-parent-that-crashed-a-Wayne-State-party. As it also caters to the daytime freelance crowd, don't feel the pressure to impress either.
And so without further ado, we inform you that tonight, Tuesday July 3, is the first night that IFAD/Great Lakes aka 'The Institution' will be staying open 'til 11 PM for late night wine-o fun times. Oh and beer too. While James Cadariu, the roastmaster, is having a water cut steel sign made for the inside of the bar that says Institute for Advanced Drinking he's still considering that title part of a branding exercise. Which is to say if you text all your friends saying 'Imma @ Great Lakez Great Timez' you're still good to go. (Though you might want to include the address so there's no confusion. It is at the corner of Woodward and Alexandrine).
Call-It-What-You-Want was open last week mainly for the daytime coffee crowd, but now late nights are five days a week. They are closed on Sundays but open from 7:00 am to 11:00 pm from Tuesday to Saturday with a short day on Monday (closing at 4:00). It's an institute from which we'd like to have a diploma, but will likely end up with a diploma-sized bar tab instead.
· Great Lakes Coffee Roasting Company [Facebook]
· New Great Lakes Coffee Shop Might Just Be Midtown's Best-Designed Business [Curbed Detroit]
· An institute for advanced drinking set to open in Midtown (video) [Crain's]
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