Metro Times Rates Dearborn’s Bistro 222 ‘Winner’
How Good Reviews Can Help Other Nearby Dearborn Businesses
We’ve written before on these pages about what a gem of a restaurant Michael Chamas has in his Bistro 222 here in Dearborn. With Ciao still not reopened, Mr. Chamas has quietly filled that void offering a great selection of food with a wine list to now match.
We only mention Bistro 222 here again because of a review the restaurant received in the latest issue of the Metro Times. The headline of the story says it all: “A west side winner”.
The restaurant reviewer closes his story about Bistro 222 with this paragraph:
“Dearborn is off the radar for many local gourmands who, when dining in the burbs, tend to concentrate on the culinarily rich and diverse northwest or to some degree in recent years, Grosse Pointe and environs. The stylish Bistro 222 provides a reason, as a Michelin guide might recommend, to make a special journey to Dearborn. It is difficult to find such a satisfying — and affordable — dining experience in our area these days.”
That paragraph got us thinking about how a favorable review about one business can help other businesses in the area, as well. Steven Bernard Jewelers is one such place as he is located in the same building as Bistro 222. New visitors to the restaurant might then poke their head into Bernard’s jewelry store, which is also very stylish and filled with many one-of-a-kind gifts.
But where else could a couple new to Dearborn walk to after eating at Bistro 222? Village Picture Frame and Art Gallery is now just across the street and a good place to shop for something unique. Other businesses in the West Village Commons one might include in their night out: The Well bar, La Cigar and Cold Stone Creamery. Joining these businesses is a new martini bar coming into the location that once housed Caribou Coffee (we will have more about the new owners of the martini bar later).
We’ll be the first to admit there is a lot more that needs to be done in downtown West Dearborn so it isn’t just a one-stop destination. But if restaurants like Bistro 222 can at least put Dearborn on the consideration list of new visitors, it is a building-block step in the right direction.
December 14th, 2009 at 2:51 am
best of luck Bistro 222! Mark my words, Dearborn will be back. The thunder was taken, but a new era begins in 2010. “Positive anything is better than negative nothing.” Mr. Deep, as a member of our community and local media, I believe that you (along with others in the local media) play the most integral part in turning this community around. In the business forum, could you begin to please more often touch on the positive things (such as this article) and help us make the positive bloom? Yes, I know it sounds a bit effeminate but I really think this town need a new positive train of thought. It could be contagious.
December 14th, 2009 at 7:13 am
Deep, I’ll give you credit: you certainly toot the horn for West Dearborn, which is honorable. But I have to tell you, as a West Dearborner, there just isn’t a lot to attract me to parking the new Ford Taurus (another Dearborn shout-out!) and walking along Michigan Avenue for an afternoon. At most, after a bite to eat at one of the local spots, I might swing by Merchant’s for a bottle of wine or a specialty six-pack for my beer-drinking friends. Truth is, I have to stop at another Hallmark to buy my wife a card now that Dee’s has faded away. We don’t need another bar in West Dearborn, that’s for sure. We need a handful of shops to sprout up – an eclectic secondhand clothes shop, a kitchen specialty store, a small arts gallery, an old-fashioned candy store, a used book and comic book store, a Hallmark store – something to entice people to have that bite to eat and then stroll down the sidewalk for some Cold Stone or a cigar or a piece of chocolate. I don’t know what it’s ultimately going to take and I don’t know who is going to be the one to make the entrepreneurial step, but if West Dearborn is going to make it, it’s going to be a handful of small, mom-and-pop shops that start the renaissance, not some corporation filling office space left empty by the huge automotive shutdown. Somebody please make a Dearborn that has a bit of life to it, not some corporate office space town that can roll its sidewalks up at 5:00 PM Monday through Friday!
December 14th, 2009 at 7:56 am
Kevin: You are right, but you have to start somewhere. Dee’s Hallmark is still open and going strong, just the building they live in is for sale. And the owner says Dee’s will stay in Dearborn even if and when the building is sold. That also is good news and a step in the right direction.
December 14th, 2009 at 8:53 am
Said,
Thanks for letting me wake up to some good news for a change!!! Michael, congratulations on the great review.
mary
December 14th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
Great news. Congrats to Michael and Bistro 222! You can count on the fact that I’ll be doing anything I can to help out Dearborn in 2010.
December 14th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
This is, indeed, good news. We will be going to try it out very soon. Kevin – I agree with you. The problem is the cost of the rents, etc. in the district. A small business must take into consideration what the cost of doing business is in any area. If certain landlords have a monopoly in an area, it will never change. Many businesses in the area have closed for that very reason. Something needs to be done or it will never change. There other many areas of Dearborn that are a great deal more landlord/tenant friendly and even have free parking. If only all of Dearborn could be that way.
December 14th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
Dave – your site is doing a lot for Dearborn – keep up the good work.
December 14th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
Saddle up the unicorn we’re on our way now! Yes, such a cool city!
December 16th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
Took my inlaws to dinner tonight and it was wonderful way to go !