Lunchtime Mainstay The Green Room Finds New Home in Downtown Detroit

Cut loose from its longtime lease in the Ford Building earlier this year, a lunchtime favorite for downtown workers the Green Room is making a comeback in a new location. Owner Steve Zuccaro tells Eater that after hunting for a solid year for a new address, the soup and salad carryout spot is poised to reopen inside the Guardian Building. The Green Room officially finalized its lease with Wayne County, which owns the stunning “Cathedral of Finance,” on Wednesday.

The popular salad bar had roosted at the base of the Ford Building since 1996. Zuccaro, who also owns Lunch Box Deli and Burrito Mundo, purchased the business in 2004. In 2017, shortly after burgeoning downtown real estate tycoons Zaid Elia and Matthew Shiffman purchased the Ford Building, the Green Room was informed that its lease would not be renewed. It shuttered in April, despite efforts to find a new location.

The Green Room will be taking over three spaces in the promenade area that also houses retailer Pure Detroit. The new restaurant will be a similarly tight squeeze to its previous 385-square-foot home (plus a basement prep kitchen) in the Ford Building, with a footprint of about 1,000-square-feet. The format will be nearly identical to the original restaurant with quick, fresh meals. The new location, however, has one thing the old one did not: a common seating area, so customers can stick around and eat inside the Guardian. Zuccaro says that if all goes well, he aims to open by March 1.

• Detroit Salad Bar Mainstay The Green Room Hunts For a New Home [ED]
• Salad Slinger the Green Room Departs From the Ford Building This Week [ED]