Bud
Liebler, the new owner of the legendary Whitney restaurant, has
temporarily closed its doors—for just two to three weeks—to thoroughly
clean the entire property and evaluate and retrain staff.
He
points out that the staff is very well trained already, but just wants
to “freshen them up a bit.” He has brought J. Gundy, formerly of
Tribute in Southfield and Fiddleheads in Royal Oak, on board as the
restaurant’s new executive chef.
His longer-term plans include
utilizing an as-yet determined space in the restaurant for a more
casual, quicker dining experience than the traditional Whitney
experience. “It will be a place to have a steak sandwich and a beer
before a hockey game, the symphony or the orchestra.”
He
stresses that this dining option would be kept completely separate from
fine dining. Liebler will “maintain the Whitney experience. To go to
dinner at the
Whitney is an experience in an elegant, formal dining setting.” He
believes that “The restaurant is big enough to handle it, and the
market is big enough to handle it.”
Liebler
also intends to clean up the exterior of the restaurant for “a more
welcoming appearance from the outside.” This includes shrubbery and
tree maintenance as well as improving the restaurant’s parking lot,
which is located across the street. “We’ll make it look like it belongs
on the new Woodward.”
He is also evaluating the possibility of
putting a bar in on the first floor and adding afternoon teas as
another Whitney experience.
Eventually, Liebler will renovate
the carriage house on the property into offices and other potential
mixed uses. He plans to keep the Garden Parties on the calendar and in
fact, hopes there will be up to three a week in the summer. “We’re
going to look at the kinds of entertainment we bring in there to try
attract different audiences,” he says.
Liebler is excited for
his investment in the Whitney to play a role in Detroit’s revival.
“I’ve never seen downtown look better. I’m just excited about the whole
thing, and I’m looking forward to playing a more specific role, to
bring some more people down to the city.”
Source: Bud Liebler, The Whitney