Two years following the opening of Eastern Palace Club, a second bar-and-restaurant has opened in Hazel Park’s nascent South End. The district is loosely defined as the John R corridor running from 8 Mile to 9 Mile Road, a somewhat sleepy stretch of town when comparing that same corridor to the next mile north. But that has started to change in recent years with the openings of unique destination businesses, a list that includes the likes of the Key West-themed Eastern Palace Club; Shredderz, which started as a food truck but recently renovated an ice cream stand as a new walk-up location; and Hazel Perk Cafe, a neighborhood coffee shop that emphasizes community and the arts.

But that’s just the beginning, say Rick Fandakly and Marvin Putrus, friends and now business partners who recently celebrated the opening of Boozy’s Bar & Grill in Hazel Park. The bar and restaurant has been operating under a soft opening since late January, with Fandakly and Putrus taking feedback directly from its customers as they make a tweak to this, a twist of that. The co-owners are loose with their concept for Boozy’s and nothing seems too precious to change for the sake of doing things better.

“We’re learning and have different ideas on a daily basis,” says Fandakly. “We’re operating under the definition of a soft opening, which is getting feedback from the customers that are local. They’re supporting you and you want to see what they want, so we’re getting feedback and we’re open to ideas. We don’t have tunnel vision.”

What they want to succeed at most is providing the community a place where they always feel welcome and wanted, the co-owners say. Only open for a few weeks now, it seems that Fandakly and Putrus have already mastered the art of restaurant owners getting to know their customers, greeting them and picking up on past conversations as soon as someone walks through the door.

Boozy’s works to balance more upscale elements with the accessibility of a neighborhood bar and grill, its wraparound marble bar lit with LED lights pulsing beneath and through the stone. The space is clad in black with silver accents, adding to the more upscale elements found in a still relatively affordable menu that includes tenderloin steak bites, calamari sliders, flatbreads, and more.

There’s a lounge atmosphere here, but it also gives way to that of a neighborhood sports bar, with 27 televisions primed for multiple sports broadcasts; garage-style doors are ready to open up onto John R Road once warmer weather arrives. Dartboards and a shuffleboard are planned for delivery soon, too.

“You can watch any sport you want here. I play all the games,” says Putrus. “That’s why I added so many TVs. I don’t think we missed a wall.”

A DIY spirit

Fandakly and Putrus have roots in the community here, and Fandakly especially so. Hailing from nearby Madison Heights, Fandakly started renovating houses in Hazel Park several years ago and eventually began to purchase commercial properties here in the South End, too. Boozy’s shares a building with another of his businesses: the recently refreshed My Town Market that was managed several years by his now business partner Putrus.

Friends as much as they are colleagues, Fandakly and Putrus still laugh and shake their heads when they recount that first weekend after they decided to open Boozy’s. Following their agreement to go into business together, Putrus excitedly bolted from his conversation with Fandakly at My Town and ran into the Boozy’s space, rolling up his sleeves and immediately taking a jackhammer to some of the floor in need of preparation. Putrus was so excited that he’d work himself to the point of having to go to the hospital for chest pains.

He was, thankfully, okay. But it’s a testament to the hard work put in here, the co-owners say, and their belief in its success.

“We’re not just investors with a bunch of money trying to capture revenue. We are a real family-owned business that’s working hard at supporting ours and other families,” Fandakly says. He estimates that roughly 70 percent of the Boozy’s staff lives in Hazel Park, and it’s a figure that makes both he and Putrus especially proud.

'We are Hazel Park'

So what of the South End?

To hear Fandakly and Putrus tell it, momentum is starting to build toward a more robust commercial corridor. Now that a second bar has opened in the immediate area, it opens the door should the city want to establish a social district here, where customers would be free to drink outside in designated common areas. And the duo have already decided to open a second business together at another of Fandakly’s properties across the street, where they plan to launch a cafe with gelato, ice cream, pastries, and more. Additional business ideas are being floated between the two, as well.

But it starts with Boozy’s Bar & Grill, they say. Already tight with the business community here, Fandakly and Putrus have a “rising tide lifts all boats” attitude about creating a more lively South End where everyone benefits from its success.

“It does feel great because I feel like the community needed this. And I wish that three, four years ago, we would have started these projects. But I think in the next year or two now, the South End is gonna boom,” Fandakly says. “We’re not Ferndale, we’re not Royal Oak. We are Hazel Park.”

Boozy's Bar & Grill is located at 21504 John R Rd. in Hazel Park.