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Brooklyn Street Local in Corktown.
Popular Detroit brunch haunt Brooklyn Street Local has been
(sort of) closed since October 2021.
The restaurant has been operating as a pop-up ever since, but owner Deveri Gifford penned an essay in
Hour Detroit this week that gives us hope they’ll be back in business soon. In the essay, Gifford writes she and her former husband plan on reopening but it’s going to “look a little different.”
“It will still be a community gathering place, but it will be simplified so that it’s easier to manage the day-to-day,” she writes. “We are going to have a smaller menu with counter service instead of table service and be open five days a week instead of six.”
In the essay, Gifford said she realized that Brooklyn Street Local is “where her heart is” and wants to move forward while prioritizing a “healthy work-life balance by not taking on more than feels comfortable.”
She pleads with customers to be patient and understand how COVID-19 has impacted the food industry.
“We are trying our best to keep up a high level of service, but that is impossible when we’re short-staffed and we have not had a break and the cumulative stress of the past years is taking its toll,” Gifford writes. “These are the things that customers don’t see, but then they wonder why their food is taking a long time or why their water glass hasn’t been filled and then they leave a bad review.”
When the restaurant initially announced its closing on social media in 2021, Gifford cited stress from the pandemic and that she “didn’t have the capacity to keep going.” In addition to the pop-ups, their items have been made available at Metro Detroit Crunchy Club and Eastern Market since then.
So far there has been no word on exactly when Brooklyn Street Local will open for regular business hours. Our calls and requests for comment were not immediately answered.
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