The roasted beans loved by Portlanders, Seattleites and New Yorkers are coming to Detroit via the Red Hook, a new coffee bar in Ferndale.
Sandi and Andrew Heaselgrave (she a native of Michigan, he a Brit) lived in Brooklyn until last year. While there they fell in love with Stumptown Coffee Roasters, a specialty coffee brewer founded in Portland. The Heaselgraves were introduced to Stumptown during a visit to Portland about 10 years ago and became devotees when the company later opened an East Coast store in their Brooklyn neighborhood.
Once the couple decided to have a baby they knew it was time to be near family, either in Michigan or England. Last year they chose to renovate a home in Detroit and then to open Red Hook, off 9 Mile in downtown Ferndale, by renovating and partnering with the popular Pinwheel Bakery in Ferndale, which is owned by Ann St. Peters.
Pinwheel will bake in the kitchen while Red Hook will serve coffee from the bar out front, where vintage and custom furniture is mixed with worn wood and farmhouse lights. Pinwheel will supply a new cake each day, lunch, and other local products, which were much missed while the store was closed for renovations, Sandi Heaselgrave says.
Red Hook opened last week and will have a grand opening on November 5. The theme will be wedding party, with Stumptown coffee varieties and cakes made by Pinwheel. She expects Red Hook to be the site of pop-up restaurants as well, a concept that lets starter chefs serve their food in a temporary space. Last week Komodo Kitchen served at Red Hook.
While Red Hook and its unusual varieties has coffee connoisseurs as fans, it's also for the coffee drinker who just wants a solid cup of Joe. The beans that go into Red Hooks' brews are roasted at the Brooklyn store that saturated the sidewalks the Easelgraves used to tread.
"It's for people who like really good coffee, but we're not going to be pretentious about it at all," she says. "It's great coffee without the New York attitude. We'll try to be open and helpful and pass on information only if you want it. WE don't push it on people…We just want people to have a nice cup of coffee. The more you want to know, the more we'll tell you."
The couple's decision to bring their lives back to Michigan is like many other local entrepreneurs who decided Michigan was a great place for family and business.
"I think it's a really cool place to start a business," Sandi Heaselgrave says. "Having been away for 10 years…and getting back and realizing how nice it is, it gives you a fresh view and excitement."
Source: Sandi Heaselgrave, co-owner, Red Hook
Writer: Kim North Shine
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