Sylvia Rector

Detroit Free Press Restaurant Critic

The new Punch Bowl Social opens its doors Wednesday in downtown Detroit, offering guests 1,000 seats, four bars, an extensive scratch-made "gastro-diner" menu, craft beverages and old-school entertainment including eight bowling lanes, ping-pong tables, darts, karaoke rooms, shuffleboard and arcade games.

Occupying two floors in the Z Garage on Broadway, between Gratiot and East Grand River, the 24,000-square-foot dining and entertainment destination is the creation of Denver restaurateur Robert Thompson, whose other Punch Bowls are in Denver; Portland, Ore., and Austin, Texas.

He chose to open in Detroit, he said today, because the city "has a lot of really special stuff. It's a little like an egg: The people inside the egg know what's going on here. Only a very thin shell is keeping the rest of the world from knowing what's going on here, too. We saw it, and we want to help break that shell for everyone else," Thompson said.

With its kitchen open 7 a.m.-2 a.m. weekdays and 9 a.m.-2 a.m. Saturday and Sunday, Punch Bowl Social will serve breakfast, lunch, dinner and weekend brunch. Breakfast is a key part of the concept, Thompson said, noting that by 9 a.m. weekdays, 1,300 cars have filled the garage above the restaurant.

The menu is casual but elevated, offering dishes that range from specialty burgers and salads to entrées such as panko-breaded chicken breast ($15) on malted waffle with chipotle-maple syrup and candied walnuts, and buffalo jalapeño meatloaf ($17) with haricot verts, garlic confit, local ketchup and mac-n-cheese.

At breakfast, expect dishes such as huevos rancheros ($12) with braised pork, chimayo red chiles, pintos, cotija cheese and eggs; and chocolate chip malted waffle ($11) with peanut butter mousee, candied walnuts and bacon. Bar bites and small plates range from $4-$8.

The menu features several metro Detroit-based food brands, including McClure's Pickles, Zingerman's Bakery and Scotty O'Hotty hot sauce, and the kitchen will obtain as many ingredients as possible from local sources, the company says.

The bar also features locally made spirits including Valentine and Two James brands, as well as several Michigan craft brews and one of the McCleary Brothers' shrubs. Flavorful punches and both classic and original craft cocktails are the core of the bar program.

The decor combines industrial, Victorian, mid-century modern and Colorado mountain lodge elements that blend handsomely, despite the description — or as Thompson says, "It sounds awful on paper but … translates well visually."

He describes the overall look as "dirty modern." Both floors of the complex feature polished concrete floors, bricks, exposed pipes, open ceilings, and extensive use of steel and other metals — but softened with buttery leather upholstery, barn wood, Edison lanterns, quaint Victorian table bases, reclaimed wood tabletops, wooden logs, and mid-century modern bar chairs and sofas.

A large, circular bar is the centerpiece of the main floor, beside a nostalgia-inducing six-lane bowling alley, complete with old-school red-and-tan bowling shoes, multicolored bowling balls, and pins attached by cords to resetting equipment. A large, vintage-looking photo booth stands near the bowling alley.

Two more bowling lanes, shuffleboard and ping-pong tables are upstairs, along with another lengthy bar, a grouping of Victorian wing chairs in front of a fireplace, and more high-top tables. Guests can reserve areas of the complex for private parties of 10 to 1,000 people, said company marketing director Leah Hanson.

Thompson said the project, counting the developer's costs as well as his own, cost more than $5 million to complete — a measure of his company's commitment to Detroit, he said. The property is owned by developer Dan Gilbert's Bedrock Real Estate.

(1331 Broadway; 313-749-9742 and www.punchbowlsocial.com)

Contact Sylvia Rector: 313-222-5026 and srector@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @SylviaRector.

A grand opening

Punch Bowl Social's 7 p.m. opening on Wednesday is a benefit for the Salvation Army of Metro Detroit. Tickets are $10 each and are available via Facebook, online at or at the door and include food samples, punch tastings and music by Detroit's own Kaliedo. Doors open to non-ticket-holders at 9 p.m.