DETROIT - Rock City Eatery Chef and co-owner Nikita Sanches walked from the half-finished kitchen in his new Midtown restaurant Tuesday night wearing a crisp, black, short-sleeve chef jacket and black pants.

He carried with him a new dish called Ants on a Log, and his new threads suggested the five-course dinner preview he invited local media to sample wouldn't just be new plays on old Rock City dishes.

If the guy who usually cooks in athletic shorts and a T-shirt got himself a chef jacket, there's a deliberate message: Rock City Eatery is growing up.

Sanches and wife and co-owner Jessica Imbronone Sanches plan to open their 70-seat, 3,600-square-foot Midtown location by mid-summer at 4216 Woodward Ave. Both are sad to leave Hamtramck, where their business grew for three years.

Sanches said in September the 1,600-square-foot space where they made a name for themselves in Hamtramck was just too small. The kitchen didn't let Sanches do the type of things he wanted, and the crowds he sees on the weekend were hard to adequately serve.

They have to leave, he said. It wouldn't work to keep the old location open, the husband and wife duo said, because it would be impossible to give their all in both Hamtramck and Midtown.

Though he's been tentative, even apologetic about the move, on Tuesday, Sanches showed with confidence his vision for the new location.

The restaurant feels the same. Plywood covers one wall. The others are painted with dark blacks or grays. Imbronone Sanches said she plans to decorate the restaurant like the Hamtramck location.

"It was very, very important to pick up and move," she said, stressing that they want to keep the same comfortable feeling that made the Hamtramck spot so well-liked.

For the Tuesday preview, Sanches flexed some new muscles.

Nikita Sanches, co-owner of Rock City Eatery, said flavors that typically work well in cocktails lend themselves to pies like his cherry whiskey pictured here. (Ian Thibodeau)

The first course, Ants on a Log, was a play on the popular childhood snack. Sanches' dish had real ants and reindeer moss sprinkled atop peanut butter and roasted grapes on pickled celery.

It's about as unique a dish Sanches has made. His current menu, though supplemented by a constantly-changing list of specials, is built on well-done comfort food: Mac and cheese, poutines topped with almost anything, spicy brussels sprouts, steak and fries and two burgers are always on the menu.

Sanches's Spanish octopus dish is a consistent favorite.

He packed the preview menu. Each course had two dishes. The second appetizer, bone marrow, spread perfectly on house-made bread and was paired with a tangy chimichurri sauce. It was again a surprisingly refined addition to Sanches's arsenal, and one that showed clearly the mind of this Michigan chef was busting at the seams in a kitchen and space that wasn't suited to serve certain dishes.

His second course rolled out two tasty, refreshing and light vegetable-based dishes. On the third course, Sanches bridged the gap between the old Rock City Eatery and the new.

First, he served his take on a lobster roll, then he served pancakes and sausage, both of which were paired with a scotch drink from his new Beverage Director Liz Cosby.

The lobster roll was the lighter of the two. It strayed away from the rolls seen on the country's east coast where lumps of lobster are piled into a hot buttered roll.

Sanches' lobster roll came in rice paper, like a spring roll, quartered in hunks and swimming in a yeast broth with a lotus root crisp, a delicate and flavorful dish that strayed from the themes of the current menu.

His sausage and pancakes dish brought back the flavor of the Hamtramck location.

It was sweet and salty, warm and meaty and a massive portion of food.

Sanches's portions aren't typically small. His massive third-course dish wedged a hearty portion of duck sausage between two dense scallion pancakes and topped the breakfast sandwich monstrosity with bone marrow butter and five-spice maple syrup.

He finished with a heart-shaped raviolo stuffed with blood sausage and bread pudding and a rice pudding dish for dessert.

Throughout the menu, Sanches played with words. A cauliflower dish was called "Grilled Steaks." The rice pudding was called "Beans and Rice" because it's topped with fermented red beans and pistachios.

He plans to have a large dinner menu and a tasting menu, which will have drink pairings when the Midtown location opens. Popular items from the original menu will make the trip over. Imbronone Sanches fought to keep the old favorites, she said.

Pizza is also planned for the new location.

Sanches will, of course, still serve his beloved pies. But his bread pudding on Tuesday was a sweet change up.

The co-owners don't have an official opening date set. They have to finish building the bar, kitchen and dining room.

It's safe to assume a mid-summer move, Sanches said.

The Midtown location will be open daily from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. for lunch service, and then from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. for dinner.

Sunday brunch will be served year-round.

Ian Thibodeau is the business and development reporter for MLive Media Group in Detroit. He can be reached at ithibode@mlive.com, or follow him on Twitter.