Black tie or a Lions jersey, new Midtown Detroit cocktail bar caters to all

With social, political and financial tensions at a boiling point, two Detroit restaurant owners are carving a space in the heart of Midtown for guests to unwind and commune over affordable drinks and simple eats in a relaxed setting.

Dirty Shake, a new cocktail bar concept by Doug Hewitt and Sandy Levine, comes as the duo’s fourth establishment behind award-winning Detroit restaurants Chartreuse and Freya and cocktail bar Dragonfly. It’s the fifth entity for Levine, who owns The Oakland, a craft cocktail bar in Ferndale.

The partners, who were nominated for a James Beard Award in the category for Outstanding Restaurateur in 2023, are known for their higher-end concepts. Freya, a tasting menu restaurant in the Milwaukee Junction neighborhood, landed on both the Detroit Free Press/Metro Detroit Chevy Dealers Best New Restaurants list in 2022 and the New York Times list of 50 Favorite Restaurants of 2022.

In 2023, Dragonfly was named Best Cocktail Bar by the Free Press for its exceptional bar program with a specialty in innovative nonalcoholic beverages. And back in 2016, Chartreuse took the top spot as the Detroit Free Press/Metro Detroit Chevy Dealers Restaurant of the Year.

Dirty Shake, however, will be a fun departure.

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“This is definitely going to be very different from our current places,” Levine said of the latest project. Though currently under construction, there’s an industrial simplicity to the space. The bar, which sits at 4642 Second Ave., is lined with brick walls and features hardwood flooring and steel details. “No frills, just a fun place to be that has affordable drinks and food.”

The goal at Dirty Shake is to recreate the look and feel of classic old Detroit bars. The “Cheers” bar, where everybody knows your name. Where there are regulars of all demographics.

Positioned near Detroit’s Wayne State University campus, Hewitt and Levine envision a place where young college students can stop in to watch the Lions play a milestone game — say, the Super Bowl, perhaps.

They see it as a place where those who work in Detroit but live elsewhere might visit for a bite and a drink after their shift ends to kill time during rush hour.

“It’s that place you can go to between work and home three to four times a week,” he said.

Here, you might even find Detroiters dressed to the nines after taking in a performance at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra or a musical at the Fox Theatre.

“We wanted to have a place that’s for everyone,” Levine said.

When it opens, Hewitt and Levine said Dirty Shake will offer service seven days a week with a drink menu of affordable and approachable slushies, a variation on a hummer cocktail, creative non-alcoholic options and other drinks that pay homage to offerings at classic, old-time Detroit bars.

There will also be a small food menu curated by Hewitt, the chef behind Chartreuse, Freya and Dragonfly. To start, Hewitt said the bar will offer just six to eight items — not much more beyond wings, a vegetable and a burger — with an open mind for expanding to specials and features down the line.

“We have the ability and ambition to amp it up … but we want just a base menu that we know is sturdy, that’s DoorDash-able, that’s affordable, delicious and can be put in a box,” Hewitt said.

At Dirty Shake, there will be an option to order food to-go, a patio to enjoy a cocktail and a bite when the weather permits and a few televisions throughout to watch Detroit’s biggest games.

“Detroit is on the cusp of having four solid sports teams, so this will be a great place to congregate in the living area and watch a game,” Hewitt said. “Detroit loves sports and they’re fun to watch right now.”

The name Dirty Shake references the quick-and-dirty method of shaking the ingredients for a cocktail in a shaker tin, and dumping all of the contents into a standard glass rather than neatly straining the beverage into its respective vessel.

“At the end of our marathon shifts at The Oakland, after making intricate, fancy cocktail after cocktail, we would make ourselves these super simple drinks that we would just dump into the glass and just crush,” Levine said.

The technique, he said, embodies the new spot — “again, no frills, just drinks that taste really, really good.”

Dirty Shake, anticipated opening November 2024, 4642 Second Ave., Detroit.