Referred to as a “classroom in motion,” the Fifty-One O One student-run restaurant at Henry Ford College in Dearborn is now open to the public for the fall semester.
Students in the college’s culinary arts program prepare a broad range of seasonal dishes for lunch and dinner. While the menu is new, the restaurant’s mission is the same: It gives the college's culinary arts and hospitality management students an opportunity to learn by doing.
Diners can choose from a frequently changing menu reflecting the season. Offerings include appetizers, salads, sandwiches, soups and desserts. Beer and wine are also available.
Fifty-One O One also features special events and buffets during
the semester.
Located in the John McDonald Student & Culinary Arts Center (Building M on the main campus), the restaurant, for the fall semester, serves lunch from 11:30 a.m.-1:15 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday. Dinner is served from 5:30-7:45 p.m. on Wednesdays.
The restaurant’s fall menu features farm-to-table dishes with locally sourced ingredients.
Dishes include tomato & smoked eggplant tart; market leaf salad featuring Michigan blueberries or mixed baby beets and watermelon. The restaurant’s warm seasonal offerings include roasted celeriac, "everything artichoke," potato and duck-confit pavé and ember-glazed carrots. Featured main course choices include wood-grilled ribeye with buckwheat spaetzle, roasted stuffed chicken, hand-cut pappardelle with rabbit ragù, dashi poached striped bass, cider-braised mussels and mushroom tortellini.
Here are the upcoming Wednesday evening specials:
- Sept. 16: Fall opening day
- Oct. 28: Oktoberfest buffet
- Nov. 7: Scholarship dinner
- Nov. 18: Holiday buffet
- Nov. 24-25: Holiday bake sale
- Dec. 2: Last day of fall service
Prices vary but are generally reasonable. Entrees start at $15.95, pizzas start at $7.95 and sandwiches are $11.95, according to the menu at hfcc.edu.
You can make reservations or order for carryout by calling 313-206-5101. The restaurant is at 5101 Evergreen Road in Dearborn; parking is free.
Royal Oak Restaurant Week starts
Royal Oak Restaurant Week runs through Sept. 27. There are 20 downtown Royal Oak restaurants participating with specially curated, three-course menus. Participating restaurants range from Italian fare to seafood grills, craft breweries and bistros.
Some menus start at as low as $20. At Great Dane, a $45 dinner features a choice of an appetizer, three entrees and dessert.
Other restaurants include HopCat, Mesa Tacos and Tequila and Ale Mary's Beer Hall.
For a list of restaurants and menus, go to dineroyaloak.org.
Happy Hour launches at Big Rock
Big Rock Italian Chophouse launched a weekday happy hour. Available from 4-6 p.m. Monday through Friday, there is special pricing on cocktails, appetizers, wine and beer, including $5 off cocktails and appetizers, $10 select wines by the glass and half-off all beer.
On its cocktail menu, there are Big Rock signatures and classic favorites, including the hugo spritz, chophouse cosmo, margarita, white negroni, Manhattan, martini service, the Winston, espresso martini, old fashioned, barrel-aged negroni and smoked old fashioned.
Its appetizer selection also includes Big Rock’s signature dishes such as whipped ricotta with prosciutto di Parma, apricot marmalade and hazelnuts, its toro crudo, arancini with black truffle aioli and jumbo shrimp cocktail. Also offered are select Rock Cigar Club items including lamb lollipops, baked Pecorino and its Rock burger with Wagyu and Cambozola.
Grocery store's Lobsterfest returns Sept. 24
Holiday Market’s annual Lobsterfest is back for a 22nd year. Although the market came under new ownership at the end of 2024, the tradition is carrying on.
This year’s event is set for Sept. 24-26 at the market on S. Main Street in Royal Oak.
As in years past, Holiday Market will offer special pricing and advance ordering on cooked and uncooked lobster and other seafood items, including Bluepoint oysters, littleneck clams, large raw or cooked shrimp (peeled and deveined) and mussels.
New this year – and created specifically for the market's Lobsterfest – is the Holiday Market Shrimp Roll. The special sushi roll is available only on Saturday, Sept. 26 for $9.99 and while supplies last.
Pricing examples include large, raw, peeled and deveined shrimp for $8.99 per pound. For $9.99 per pound, you can order boiled shrimp or shrimp sauteed in the market's Motown seasoning.
Live lobsters, at 1¼ pounds, are $14.99 per pound; cooked 1 ¼-pound lobsters are $20.99.
Last year, over the three-day event, Holiday Market says they sold about 2,000 lobsters and 400 pounds of shrimp.
This year’s event runs from 3-7 p.m. Sept. 24-25, and from 1-7 p.m. Sept. 26.
You can have the market cook the lobsters for you in their custom seafood boil of fresh lemons, sea salt and Holiday’s own spice pack.
You can order in advance at holiday-market.com and select a pickup day. Payment is due at the time of pickup.
Brown Iron Brewhouse to host annual Oktoberfest event
Grab your lederhosen and dirndls, Oktoberfest is back at both locations of Brown Iron Brewhouse.
Through Sept. 27, Brown Iron’s Royal Oak and Washington locations will have special authentic German Oktoberfest events and menus.
This is the 11th Oktoberfest celebration for the Washington location. Both locations will have separate Oktoberfest servings after 3 p.m. that include items like schnitzel, cheese spread and plenty of German beer on tap. There will also be music and Oktoberfest events.
Brown Iron Brewhouse, 57695 Van Dyke in Washington Township and 30955 Woodward Ave. in Royal Oak. For more information, go to browniron.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Henry Ford College rolls out fine-dining 'classroom in motion'
