Midtown Is Only Going to Get Tastier

Here in post-bankrupt Detroit, there's plenty of national media coverage of how while much of the city's residential neighborhoods continue to suffer from closed schools, abandoned houses and lack of business development, the downtown and Midtown areas are positively booming with growth and activity. True, sometimes these external articles get confused and suggest that downtown's growth king Dan Gilbert is also invested in Midtown, and that those places are the same thing (they aren't), but there's a lot of well-deserved attention being paid to Midtown and downtown development.

So this weekend, when Crain's Detroit Business noted that nearly 24 business have already opened in the Wayne State / Detroit Institute of Arts area this year and many more are on the way, we couldn't help but get excited.

There are many, many fantastic food-related items on this listicle, including a few bits we already knew about. La Feria is opening this fall sometime (hopefully soon), Fatburger is finally making progress (although when exactly they are going to open is anyone's guess) and Just Baked is opening a Midtown outpost when Woodward Gardens opens in fits and starts later this fall.

What we didn't know about was the planned gelato dispensary, Melt, which plans to open this fall; the Selden Standard, an apparently "local and fresh" dining concept with a targeted opening sometime next year; and a second location of the Southwest coffeeshop, Cafe Con Leche, also opening in 2014.

Check out the Crain's piece in full for a helpful map of the Midtown Magic in action, and savor this quote from Midtown Development, Inc.'s president Sue Mosey:

Any of those food and beverage operations are by far the biggest economic generator for districts like Midtown