Preview of Pops and Daily
Dinette in Ferndale
(Crystal A. Proxmire, Jan. 30, 2016)
Ferndale, MI – Downtown Ferndale will soon have two new restaurants as construction wraps up on The Daily Dinette and Pop’s, located on W. 9 Mile Road where Buffalo Wild Wings and Twisted Shamrock used to be.
Vice President of Operations Beth Hussey said the Daily Dinette could open as early as next week, with Pop’s opening up in early March. The restaurants uniquely share the space, which also has a cut-through from 9 Mile to the Withington parking lot. There is a shared kitchen and shared basement storage, though beyond that the difference is like night and day.
The Daily Dinette faces the Withington lot and even has a walk-up ordering window and a long bar-like seating area. Inside guests will pink leather booths with accents of gray faux fur, and decorative lanterns shining down from above. One section of the space has been set aside for workspace, with plugs for laptops and phones and what Hussey said should be “the best possible internet access ever.”
Folks will order at the counter from a simple, but quality, menu. “Its food you might want to grab any time of the day,” Hussey said. Which is appropriate since the Daily Dinette will be a 24 hour operation. But though the burgers, fries, donuts and breakfast sandwiches may like pretty basic diner stuff, a lot of thought has gone in to making it a menu people would come out of their way for.
Hussey explained that everything possible will be housemade or locally sourced. No frozen patties or bulk-bought English muffins, she said. The meat will be ground fresh on site daily and Chef Emelee spent weeks perfecting an English muffin recipe that is expected to put the fast food version to shame.
The donuts will be special too. In addition to made-fresh-daily cake and yeast donuts, The Daily Dinette has a cider-mill style machine so customers can order a donut and watch it being made fresh to order. In the machine a funnel drops a ring of dough into hot oil, and it comes out the other end warm and ready to eat with an option for cinnamon sugar.
They also take pride in having the first multi-flavored Pepsi dispenser in Michigan. The one-nozzle machine makes dozens of flavors to order, following in the footsteps of a machine Coca Cola has already had on the market.
The Daily Dinette was originally going to be called Alley Dogs, but the name was already taken, Hussey said.
Once The Daily Dinette has been running for a couple weeks it will be time to cut the ribbon for Pop’s, which is the Italian-style restaurant with the W. 9 Mile frontage. The restaurant pays homage to owner Brian Kramer’s Nona and Pop’s, who helped keep his tummy full of delicious Italian food while he was growing up. Their passion along with his mom and dad, Stuart & Diane Kramer, led to his successful career in food business. He is proud that Pop’s will have pictures of his beloved family on display.
Much about Pop’s seems larger than life. The 26 foot ceilings have been stripped of paint, making the space feel vast and drawing the eyes upward to various little surprises. In the middle is a bar area centered around a towering wine storage system that includes a unique preservation system that allows them to serve wine by the glass without sacrificing freshness. The bar itself has a facade of wine delivery boxes, and a row of taps for wine by the keg.
The dining area features large community style tables and benches and giant garage doors that open in nice weather for a piazza feel. Keeping with the big beautiful theme are the whimsically large murals on the walls. Among the images are a couple dancing, a happy doggie, and a cartoon-like interpretation of the Mona Lisa. The artist Andrezej Sikora is inspired by the work of Fernando Botero. In the walkway there are two dogs painted to scale however, that some may recognize as Kramer’s dogs Caesar and Thor.
Beyond the bar is another massive feature – the pizza kitchen. With plenty of room to watch, certified Napolitano pizza-makers will prepare Pop’s specialty in a 3 ton custom-made oven that was shipped over from Italy. With a temperature of about 1,000 degrees, a pizza cooks in about 90 seconds.
Hussey and Chef Emmele Herrold traveled to Naples Italy to become certified, and their pledge is to follow the specific rules of Napolitano pizza. Everything from the need for fresh Roma tomato sauce to a perfectly aged dough and mozzarella made from cheese curds make the pizza a genuine Italian experience.
Apart from the pizza, Pop’s will feature family-style foods including breads, salads, on-the-bone fish, ribeye, and pasta that is also made fresh onsite. A bright red slicer will make the perfect portions of prosciutto.
Both restaurants are hiring, and the project is expected to bring about 150 jobs to Ferndale. Kramer is also the proprietor of Rosie O’Grady’s in Ferndale and in Chesterfield, One-Eyed Betty’s in Ferndale, and Cantina Diablo’s/Red Fox in Royal Oak.
Read more about The Daily Dinette at http://www.thedailydinette.com/home. Read more about Pop’s at http://www.popsforitalian.com/.
For more food news and reviews go to https://oaklandcounty115.com/category/blogs/food-blogs/.