Dirty Shake opens at Forest and Second with a wraparound patio and boozy shakes

Dirty Shake opened on March 13, 2025, in the red brick building at Forest and Second in the Cass Corridor, a few steps from Wayne State University. The date was not an accident. Detroit bars that want the local cameras tend to open on 313 Day.

The bar is the casual room from the team behind Freya and Chartreuse Kitchen and Cocktails, a portfolio better known for tasting menus than for boozy shakes. Dirty Shake is the opposite of that. Its own site sums up the idea in four words: no frills, just fun. It also makes a point of saying it is not a milkshake bar.

The space sits at 4642 Second Ave., on the southeast corner of Second and Forest, with a wraparound patio and a roll-up garage door that opens onto the sidewalk in warm weather. Midtown Detroit Inc., which welcomed the bar to the neighborhood, framed the pitch plainly: boozy shakes, affordable beers, burgers, wings, and all kinds of fun.

The food leans into bar staples. Reporting on the opening described an $11 double-patty burger with sharp cheddar, pickles, grilled onions, and mayo-mustard on a potato bun, alongside smoked wings and a house sausage, plus a cauliflower dish for vegan and gluten-free diners. The drink list runs to beer, classic cocktails reworked for the room, and the boozy shakes the place is built around, including a Detroit Hummer and a Dole pineapple whip.

The bar program comes from Kamalani Overall, who previously ran drinks at the Oakland in Ferndale and now also heads the beverage program at the Pine Hall rooftop bar downtown. The drink menu is nostalgic by design, with riffs on familiar Detroit cocktails rather than anything that asks to be taken too seriously.

Dirty Shake is open daily from 11:30 a.m., closing at midnight Sunday through Thursday and at 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday, with the kitchen running until 11:45 p.m. The room seats about 40 inside, with another 50 on the patio.

4642 Second Ave., Cass Corridor.