Parisian coffee house culture has long been considered a social institution: a place to meet and engage in conversation, to conspire or inspire new ideas and movements, or simply to relax with a book or glass of wine for a couple of hours midday. The newly opened coffee/wine bar Great Lakes Cafe seems to have been doing a bit of conspiring themselves, offering patrons an experience similar to those early European cafes.
Everything about Great Lakes Cafe seems to be perfectly curated to engage all five senses -- and this attention to detail is ever-apparent. You’ll hear it in the grinding of beans, the clinking of glassware, and the murmur of conversation with occasional laughter cutting through. You’ll taste and smell it in their roasted coffee, as well as in their selection of vegan and carnivore-friendly small plates of food. Their offerings of beers and natural wines will open your palate to a new world of libations. You’ll see and feel it in the sparse modern rustic interior design, which combines the warmth and texture of repurposed wood and brick throughout. Large windows facing Woodward Avenue flood the interior with light, enhancing the sense of being in an open-air space.
These carefully chosen details, from the menu to the architecture, have now come together with the final component: the patrons. One cup of coffee and one conversation at a time, the Great Lakes Cafe is bringing a "Paris-of-the-Midwest" charm back to Detroit.
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