from “le détroit” · the strait
A halal rice-bowl shop on the east side, a west-side bookstore cafe, a Ferndale coffee-and-wine bookshop, an Indian kitchen in Southfield, and Rosati's first Michigan location all opened in April.
April was a busy month for new restaurants and cafes around Metro Detroit. The Detroit News counted 17 openings across the region during the month, against two closings. Here are five of them, each with details confirmed through the operators and public records.
Holy Bowly opened April 27 on Detroit's east side, at 2801 E. McNichols, serving halal rice bowls built around marinated and grilled meats. Owner Yousef Alagi has said his family has long roots in Detroit's food trade, including his father's years at Lafayette Coney Island. The build-out drew support from Motor City Match, the City of Detroit grant program run through the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation that helps new businesses fill vacant storefronts; the program's awards are listed in the city's public Cash Awardees dataset.
On the west side, the Howard Family Bookstore opened April 25 at 13803 Puritan Ave, at the corner of Puritan and Lesure. Owner Jerjuan Howard, an Army veteran, bought the vacant building in 2024 and spent about 18 months renovating it into a bookstore and cafe meant to double as a neighborhood gathering space, in an area that sits near several schools but had no bookstore. "I want the message to be you can do this too," Howard told ClickOnDetroit. "You can solve a problem for your community."
Ferndale got a hybrid of its own. The Corner Shop, from the team behind the Rail & Anchor gift store in Royal Oak, opened in April at 23337 Woodward as part coffee shop, part wine bar and part bookstore at a single address, Crain's Detroit Business reported. The cafe side runs from morning to night daily; the bar and book side opens at 11 a.m., with a small kitchen serving snacks after 3 p.m. The bookshelves lean toward food and drink titles, memoirs, and current fiction.
In Southfield, Curryfy Indian Cuisine opened April 24 at 22542 Telegraph Road. The family-run kitchen offers South Asian dishes for dine-in, carryout and delivery, and lists its hours and menu on its own site at mycurryfy.com.
Also in Southfield, Rosati's Pizza opened its first Michigan location at 29854 Northwestern Highway, near Inkster Road. The Chicago-rooted chain serves tavern-style thin crust, double dough and Chicago-style deep dish along with pasta, sandwiches and salads, per the company's Southfield location page and reporting in dbusiness. Hours run 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
That is five of the month's openings. The full April tally, including the two closings, ran in the Detroit News.
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