from “le détroit” · the strait
Pine Hall, a rooftop bar from Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group, opens June 11 on the 12th floor of Hudson's Detroit, named for the old J.L. Hudson Pine Room.
A version of the old Pine Room is coming back to Woodward.
Pine Hall, a rooftop cocktail bar and tavern, opens at 4 p.m. Thursday, June 11, on the 12th floor of the mid-rise building at Hudson's Detroit, the Bedrock development at 3000 Nick Gilbert Way. The name points back to the Pine Room, the wood-paneled dining room on the 13th floor of the original J.L. Hudson department store. That store closed on January 17, 1983, and the building was imploded on October 24, 1998.
The bar is run by Union Square Hospitality Group, the company Danny Meyer founded in 1985 with the opening of Union Square Cafe in New York. Pine Hall is the group's first foray into the Midwest. The room seats 300 and opens onto a 3,300-square-foot wraparound terrace, with views of Comerica Park to the north, downtown to the west, and the Detroit River and Belle Isle to the east.
The menu leans tavern: deviled eggs, crab fritters, peel-and-eat shrimp, and a Pine Hall Burger built on a dry-aged patty with aged New York cheddar. The most direct callback is the Maurice Salad, the chopped salad of roast turkey, smoked ham, and Gruyere that the old Hudson's dining room was known for. The cocktail program highlights Michigan spirits and regional ingredients.
Meyer framed the place as a local room first. "Pine Hall is the kind of place we hope people return to again and again," he said. "It's meant to feel familiar from the moment you walk in, a welcoming spot for drinks and dinner that belongs to Detroit and reflects the pride of the city."
The choice is pointed. USHG put its first Midwest room on the same stretch of Woodward where the original Pine Room sat, in warm wood that echoes the old space, with the Maurice Salad on the menu and the old name above the door. None of that is accidental.
Rooftop bars open in Detroit often enough. What separates this one is how much history it is trying to hold. Whether the city takes to it is a question time answers, but the doors open Thursday at 4.
Pine Hall keeps hours of 4 p.m. to midnight Monday through Thursday, 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday, and 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday. Walk-ins are encouraged; reservations are taken mainly for parties of eight or more, at 313-612-8150 or [email protected].
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