28-01-2025
Public House in Ferndale closing in 2 weeks, to be replaced by Sidecar Slider Bar
Citing tough economic times in the industry, the owners of Public House restaurant in Ferndale announced it will close in February, with a Michigan restaurant chain expected to move into the space.
Located on Nine Mile road for a dozen years, Public House offers a menu of classic bar food including sliders and craft cocktails. According to its website, the Public House menu offers wings, sandwiches, soups, fish and chips and smoked mac and cheese, and features a weekend brunch menu.
Formerly owned by the Working Class Outlaws restaurant group, Public House closed during the pandemic. Brian Kramer, owner of Ferndale-based Hometown Restaurant Group, acquired the restaurant in 2020 and reopened in 2021 with new features, including adding a second kitchen, a four-season garden room, flower wall and offering more vegan fare.
Kramer, CEO of Hometown Restaurant, called the decision to close "difficult" and "heartbreaking."
'The restaurant business is very difficult right now. In my 30-plus years in the restaurant business, I've never experienced a tougher economy than what we are experiencing today. Add to this the high food costs, high labor costs, intense competition, the need for constant quality control, tight profit margins and endless hours of work — we just agreed the time was right to close the restaurant, take a step back, focus on our other restaurant operations and give someone else a chance to re-concept the location.'
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Hometown Restaurant Group restaurants include One-Eyed Betty's, Pop's for Italian and Tigerlily.
As Public House winds down its operation, the restaurant will be open Friday-Sunday only with limited hours.
Public House's final day is Feb. 9 with brunch service from 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
Sidecar Slider Bar will take over the Public House space and is expected to open quickly, Hometown Restaurant Group said.
This will be Sidecar Slider Bar's eighth location. Others are in Birmingham, Brighton, Farmington, Grosse Pointe, Lansing, Plymouth and Sterling Heights.
Sidecar Slider Bar is known for gourmet sliders, as well as shareables, salads, gourmet dogs and more. Kramer said the new concept will fit well with the current mix of offerings in the city's core.
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Kramer, who owns the building that houses Public House, said the plans are to hand over the keys to Sidecar on Feb. 15.
'Sidecar is locally owned and operated, and will be a great addition to our Ferndale community," Kramer said.
Contact Detroit Free Press food and restaurant writer Susan Selasky and send food and restaurant news and tips to: sselasky@ Follow @SusanMariecooks on Twitter. Subscribe to the Free Press.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Public House in Ferndale set to close in 2 weeks; Sidecar to move in
