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The Dirty Dog Jazz Café Restaurant

My guest and I decided to try The Dirty Dog Jazz Café last Friday. The Dirty Dog is a brand new café located on The Hill at 97 Kercheval in Grosse Pointe Farms Michigan, 48236. We are natives of Grosse Pointe Farms and have been anxious for this café to open its doors right down the street.

Native Detroiter and entrepreneur, Gretchen Valade, who is known and respected for her dedication to Detroit culture, owns the café. It opened for the first time on February 13 with an array of jazz entertainment, drink and food specials.

The café’s decor is a vintage jazz flair with a red neon light that illuminates the ceiling and accented by the lavish white tablecloths. The café is more like a five star restaurant than a café that’s accompanied by a piano and jazz band while you eat.

The café calls itself a tapas jazz bar, which means the food is served as small plates. The menu is very selective with minimum to order, but there is quite a selection of desserts to choose from.

I had the small filet of swordfish braise tapenade with an olive dressing that was $14, and the pepper streak penzenella salad that was $10, served cold, on a bed of lettuce. My guest only chose to have the pepper steak salad. Although I have to say I was still hungry afterwards and I thought the prices were a little expensive.

I thought the menu was a little difficult to understand because most of the items were gourmet seafood tapas and other unique foods that I constantly had to ask our waitress about. In my opinion, the cafe should a larger variety of food choices that people are familiar with. The whole menu consisted of strange seafood, which I’m not a big fan of. Other tapas include: Shellfish roast, streak and eggs, and beef brisket sliders just to name a few.

As far as the café goes, it’s not like any other restaurant where you can come and go as you please, or sit at the bar while waiting for a table. In order to get a table you have to make reservations a couple days before hand because the café is treated like a dinner show. In the early evening, there is a piano player and later in the night there is a band. If you arrive for the earlier show, you have to leave after you're done eating so the later reservations have tables to sit at. Basically the whole café is reservation only.

After my guest and I ordered, we wanted to take our time, relax and enjoy the band, but before we knew it our tapas were already in our laps as though the waitress was rushing us out. The amount of time we were there was an hour and I didn’t feel very comfortable, or felt my needs were being taken care of.

Overall Rating: C

The Dirty Dog Jazz Café

97 Kercheval Ave.

Grosse Pointe Farms MI, 48236

For show times and reservations, call (313) 882-5299

Showtimes: Tuesday - Friday

Piano set - 5 to 7 p.m., first show 8 p.m., second show 10:30 p.m.

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