People love to debate the good and bad points of Detroit's reputation, but one things is obvious: the Motor City's brand is strong. Strong enough that it attracted slow food entrepreneur Steven Ruscitti from Virginia to set up a business in Detroit, a city he considers the wild west for entrepreneurs.
"Detroit just looks like a fun place to create something," says Ruscitti, culinary professional and owner of the soon-to-open Detroit Eating Club. "That's what I am looking forward to doing."
Ruscitti has been a traveling chef, he prefers the term cook, for most of his life. He likes to focus on making high-quality dishes with organic, local ingredients. He recently rehabbed an old building in Richmond, Virginia called the Belmont Food Shop. Some speed bumps there prompted him to look elsewhere to pursue his passion for good food. Detroit's high media profile and stories of entrepreneurial opportunity attracted him to reach out to
Midtown Detroit Inc and a local real-estate professionals to see about opening up a restaurant.
That led to the pending creation of the Detroit Eating Club, an establishment that will focus on creating fine foods from scratch. Ruscitti wants to take advantage of local urban farms for ingredients and harness the Motor City's momentum to build a community place that will serve as a gathering place for local residents.
"What I do is real simple food," Ruscitti says. "I strive for perfection."
He is aiming at opening up a 500- to 800-square-foot space in Midtown. He is eyeing the space that Alley Wine plans to turn into a wine bar by Second and West Alexandrive streets. Ruscitti plans to open the Detroit Eating Club by this summer.
Source: Steven Ruscitti, culinary professional and owner of the Detroit Eating Club
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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