Breakfast Restaurant and Market Slated for Metropolitan Building Hotel

OPENING ALERT — There’s a new beer hub in downtown Pontiac. Exferimentation Brewery recently opened its doors to the public. Expect creative, small-batch brews including a toasted coconut beer called Clownpocalypse. [Oakland Press]

CONTROVERSIES — Restaurant operators and other developers in Detroit share conflicting views of the city’s comeback in a recent New York Times report. “Downtown is 90 percent better than it was 10 years ago, but you go a few blocks in any direction, and it’s terrible,” says Lulzim Shaqiri of Maison Fine Foods on the East Side. “You can talk about helping the neighborhoods, but there’s really no neighborhood at all here. It’s just as dead as dead can be.” [NYT]

DEVELOPMENTS — The Metropolitan Building is slated for a major rehab with plans for an extended-stay hotel. The 100,000-square-foot building will also feature an in-house grocer and a breakfast restaurant. Developers project the $32 million project will be completed by summer 2018. [Detroit News/Curbed]

BEER HERE — A craftier bottled Stroh’s brew is slated to hit store shelves and Michigan taps on August 22. The pilsner will offer “hoppier, more floral” notes according to Ian Thibodeau. [Detroit News]

• All EaterWire Coverage [ED]

Yucca Puffs Are Like "Cheetos," But Healthy