Restaurant week is in full swing! And we asked one of the newest participants, Cliff Bell’s, to give us an inside view of the events.

Here is a typical call that we field in the office at Cliff Bell’s:

CB: “Cliff Bell’s, May I help you?”

Caller: “Is this Cliff Bell’s?”

CB: “Yes.”

Caller: “Um….What is this place?”

Indeed.  We reopened the long shuttered club in 2006 and operated for the next three years as a jazz club and bar.  When we finally opened our kitchen in January 2009, we began asking ourselves the same question.  What is this place?  Is it a nightclub with food?  Is it a restaurant with music?  Is it a bar with both?  Is it a museum with all three?  Lucky that we found such a patient Chef in Matt Baldridge, an unlikely characteristic in a profession that produces notoriously prickly personalities.  But patient he was, and he stuck with us as we began our long transition to full service restaurant, serving lunch, dinner and Sunday brunch.

Our efforts, and Chef Matt’s menus, were validated this year when we were asked to participate in Detroit Restaurant Week.  Finally our name is appearing along side some of Detroit’s finest Restaurants, and Chef Matt isn’t pulling any punches.  Check him out on Fox 2 here:  http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/mornings/recipes/cliff-bell%27s-grilled-salmon-with-spaghetti-squash-20110914-mr

Read more and see the Restaurant Week menu here:

http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&q=http://michiganblogger.com/tag/supper-clubs/&ct=ga&cad=CAcQAhgAIAEoBDAAOABApujn8wRIAVgAYgVlbi1VUw&cd=yDpqxWVepJU&usg=AFQjCNF0HXAV7u-1-bOmzWaepyuUCmn-4w