A new “neighborhood watering-hole” is under construction in the heart of Grosse Point’s central business district.
Sidecar Slider Bar will be launching its sixth location this summer at 17051 Kercheval Ave. in the village’s downtown corridor.
The restaurant combines gourmet bar food with crafts beers and cocktails. It’s known for its signature sliders like the Dirty Bird, The Impossible, PB Jammin and the Little Havana. The menu also includes shareable appetizers like smoked wings, Philly cheesesteak egg rolls and pierogis, a cheese-filled caramelized onion dish topped with bacon and spicy sour cream.
“Just kind of a little bit of everything,” Sidecar Slider Bar founder Steve Simon told What Now Detroit. “Great place to watch a game, great place to bring your family. We have a lot of options, so it’s a venue where everybody can enjoy something.”
Sidecar Slider Bar started about seven years ago with a small kitchen attached to a larger restaurant. Simon described it as a tiny 900 square-foot alley bar with a few dozen seats that was “kind of like the motorcycle with the little sidecar attached to it.”
That analogy birthed the name of his brand.
“It had a good ring,” Simon said. “We wanted to do sliders and have people be able to enjoy different things when they come out to eat instead of getting just one huge burger. They can get two or three different sandwiches and have a different protein or a different flavor.”
Sidecar Slider Bar already has locations in Brighton, Farmington and Lansing as well as a dual-restaurant in Birmingham, where it shares a kitchen with Simon’s other restaurant, Shift Kitchen & Cocktails.
He’s working with developer Scot Pelc to open another dual restaurant next month. Sidecar Slider Bar and Shift Kitchen & Cocktails will operate under the same roof at 340 N. Main St. on the outskirts of Plymouth’s downtown district.
That’s also the plan in Grosse Pointe. Sidecar Slider Bar will operate on one side of the 6,000 square-foot site at the intersection of Kercheval and St. Clair avenues. Shift Kitchen & Cocktails will serve its craft spirits and wine on the other side of the property.
The goal is to open the doors in Grosse Pointe by early July. Simon is teaming with business partner Mark Adamo to bring the eateries to the village. They will become the newest additions to the Kercheval Place mixed-use development.
“We’ve been taking over bigger buildings because it’s hard to do 200- and 300-seat restaurants,” Simon said. “We’ve been splitting them up into smaller concepts so that we have a different appeal. We can attract a customer potentially multiple times a month by offering different atmospheres, different menus and stuff like that.”
Grosse Pointe city council members approved the liquor license for the multi-concept restaurant in March. There will be 120 seats within the confines of Sidecar Slider Bar and and 46 more on its outdoor patio along Kercheval Avenue. Simon rejoiced in the growth of his restaurants in Plymouth and Grosse Pointe.
“We’re super excited,” Simon said. “Both locations are very cool buildings and the downtowns where we’re going are, I think, great spots for our concept.”
