Inventive Menus At The Bird & The Bread and Republica; Brunch At The Grille Midtown

The new brunch at The Grille Midtown was the subject of Sylvia Rector's review this week, and she was overall pleased, noting they featured "an inviting menu, affordable prices and bottomless Mimosas." She liked the wheat pancakes and spicy hash, but found the shrimp and cheese grits bland. The family-run operation also has lunch options available during brunch, and plenty of desserts.

Republica in Berkley received a glowing write up from Hell Yeah Detroit writer Patrick McNamara, who liked everything he ate and enjoyed the drinks and atmosphere to boot. It's emblematic of a huge change in the industry, where pub food is once again fresh and local, "We're told nothing comes into the kitchen frozen, and there is no Sysco truck that pulls up and unloads all the commercially-produced ingredients. Republica provides organic, local and seasonal options to keep the food you are eating tasting the best that it can. Farm-to-table produce is used whenever possible." This means that simple dishes like pasta and burgers have great results according to McNamara, who found the menu inventive and delicious.

Birmingham's new restaurant The Bird & The Bread impressed Molly Abraham this week, in their first major review. She liked the open portion of the kitchen, featuring rotisserie chicken and wood fired pizza, noting that "Pizza toppings reveal the kitchen's creativity with such surprising ingredients as chicken liver pate, red onion jam and arugula, or smoked duck sausage and duck egg." She also appreciated the decor, and the fact that they have a well-planned children's menu. She gave the new restaurant an overall score of three and a half stars out of four.

· Republica in Berkley Does Gastropub Right [Hell Yeah Detroit]
· Brunching in Detroit? Grille Midtown debuts appealing Sunday midday menu [Freep]
· The Bird & the Bread offers a menu brimming with creativity [-ED-]