Alexander Alusheff

Lansing State Journal

LANSING TWP. – A Detroit restaurateur plans to turn the former Whiskey Barrel Saloon into a craft slider bar.

Jacques Driscoll, owner of Green Dot Stables in Detroit's Corktown neighborhood, bought the bar, located at 410 S. Clippert St., on Thursday for $647,000.

When Green Dot Stables opens in Lansing in summer 2017, it will serve $3 handmade sliders and $3 craft beer.

“A lot of people do cheap food, but it’s not really good,” said Driscoll, a 2004 graduate of Michigan State University. “And a lot of people do good food, but it’s not really cheap. We come in the middle.”

Green Dot Stables has 20 sliders on its à la carte menu. They include pork belly schnitzel, catfish, quinoa, tofu bahn mi, PB&J and corned beef. There's also a rotating mystery meat, which could be alligator, rabbit or even kangaroo.

Driscoll, 35, opened his first restaurant in 2012. He bought a former dive bar at 2200 W. Lafayette Blvd. and fell in love with the place, so he decided to keep the name, Green Dot Stables.

“It had nothing to do with what we do, but it was fun,” said Driscoll.

He and his wife, Christine, also own the ramen-themed Johnny Noodle King and the fish-and-chips restaurant Huron Room in Detroit.

Just like the dive bar it replaced, Green Dot Stables still shows horse races. It will do the same at the Whiskey Barrel, Driscoll said.

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The Whiskey Barrel opened in 2005 and closed in September, said Todd Kosta, senior associate at CBRE Martin, who represented former owner Dave Allen in the sale. The country-themed night club was known for line dancing, live music and its mechanical bull.

Allen bought the building in 1982. Over the years, it has been home to The Brass Monkey, Wayside and Sparty’s Night Club.

"We married and divorced a lot of people over the years," said Allen, 64, who is retiring. "It's hard to run a night club in Lansing. It's time to turn it over to someone else. I think (Green Dot Stables) will do well there."

As a student, Driscoll knew the bar as Sparty’s.

“There was a 0% chance that owning (Sparty’s) ever crossed my mind,” he said. He also considered opening in the former Rum Runners location in downtown Lansing.

Driscoll said he liked the idea of opening in the Whiskey Barrel because of its proximity to campus and downtown Lansing. The nearly 12,000 square-foot building is about three times as big as the Green Dot Stables in Detroit. Driscoll plans on using the extra space for catering and a banquet center.

As for the mechanical bull? Its fate is still being decided.

“I want it, but my attorney says no and my insurance company says no,” he said. “I’m trying to work it out.”

Alexander Alusheff is a reporter at the Lansing State Journal. Contact him at (517) 388-5973 or aalusheff@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexalusheff.