Inside Metropolitan Variety Store and Restaurant, Finally Set to Open in Detroit’s West Village

Metropolitan Variety, a restaurant-slash-cocktail bar-slash-market, is finally preparing to open in Detroit’s West Village. The three-in-one project, at the former home of small plates and cocktail bar Craft Work, has been in the works for a while.

The restaurant side of the space will feature a veggie-centric Cal-Mex menu, a fusion of California cuisine and traditional Mexican cooking. For meat-eaters, burgers are on the menu, too. Reservations will be required at the restaurant, with the bar available for walk-ins. As for the market, that side of the space will be heavily focused on beer, wine, and liquor, but will also sell snacks and grab-and-go items.

The reimagined spot, at 8047 Agnes St., is the brainchild of Rick Stanza and Jonathan Hartzell of Detroit Rising Development; Ashley Price, former alcohol buyer at Royal Oak’s Holiday Market, and Brendon Edwards, former executive chef of the former Corktown hotspot Gold Cash Gold. They’ve hosted pop-ups in the vacant spot since Gold Cash Gold closed in February 2020.

Dave Krieger

Dave Krieger

Dave Krieger

Dave Krieger

The space will not only draw on the design of the previous restaurant but also fixtures from businesses that lived in the space before it: a 100-year-old chandelier and cabinetry from a prior apothecary have been retrieved from storage.

Metropolitan Variety is scheduled to open in November 2021.

• Metropolitan Variety website
• Meet Metropolitan Variety Store, the Bar and Market Moving Into West Village
• All Eater Tracking Coverage