311 E. Grand River Ave., Detroit; 313-496-1212;
Newly opened in 2011, COLORS is a restaurant whose motto — "Just. Good. Food." — belies its ultimate purpose. There is good food, to be sure, such as the grilled cheese with Zingerman's cheeses on Avalon bread, the tasty sweet potato fried wontons, and the achiote-rubbed roast chicken. But there's also a larger agenda than serving up great locally sourced lunch fare: The restaurant is a nonprofit whose ultimate goal is to empower its staff by paying a living wage and equipping them with the tools and training to run businesses of their own, should they desire to do so. The restaurant is already serving as an incubator for an employee-run catering division, Colors Event Services, and a spinoff called Café Colors, which will be a retail outlet for Colors-branded products and other local food items.
