Former Big Boy becomes farm-to-table success - Crain's Detroit Business

The Public House Food + Drink, a restaurant in downtown Monroe, has come as far from its roots as possible.

For many years it was a Big Boy restaurant, but in 2014 the franchise owners decided that a resurgent Monroe was ready for a farm-to-table, organic-food dining concept, with a focus on Michigan craft beers and wines, and the restaurant was rechristened.

"Our franchise agreement came up and we wanted a fresher product, something more unique with a twist," said Fred Corser, who co-owned the Monroe Big Boy with George Darany and who had a 35-year-history with Big Boy, for many years as a regional manager overseeing operations in the Upper Peninsula.

Darany also had a long history with Big Boy. "I grew up in the business. My family has had a Big Boy franchise in Taylor going back to 1968," he said. His father and uncle opened the Monroe Big Boy in 1972. It was in a building that had been built in 1938 and over the years had been a grocery store, lumber yard and furniture company.

His family sold the Monroe Big Boy in 1978. "It got run into the ground and I bought it out of foreclosure in 1992 and brought Fred in as a co-owner," said Darany, a retired lawyer. "We said, 'Let's get this going as a Big Boy, again.'"

Darany said when the franchise agreement was expiring, he and Fred talked it over with their families. They also co-own a Big Boy in Adrian, but they wanted something different, and better, in Monroe. "But we were terrified. How would it go over here? We wanted fresh food, locally sourced, nutritious, organic and natural," said Darany.

Nothing against milk shakes, Big Boy combinations and Slim Jims, but the Public House prides itself on its craft cocktails, craft beers from Michigan brewers such as Short's in Bellaire, Frankenmuth Brewery in Frankenmuth, Midland Brewing Co., Big Lake Brewing in Holland and Arbor Brewing Co. in Ann Arbor; wines from Fenn Valley Vineyards in Fennville and Chateau Grand Traverse in the Leelanau Peninsula; and liquor from Ann Arbor Distilling Co. and Valentine Distilling Co. in Ferndale.

"You don't see Tito's or Smirnoff on our shelves," said Darany.

Among the craft beers the restaurant sells is its own branded Public House Interurban Ale, made by Arbor Brewing and named for the interurban train line that ran from Toledo to Detroit and had a terminal right behind where the Public House sits.

The menu changes each month. November's menu, reflecting the month's big holiday, offers such fare as:

• Turkey fritters for $8, which include turkey roasted on the premises, stuffing, sweet potato, swiss cheese and cranberry-orange dipping sauce
• A roasted pear salad for $12, which includes glazed roasted pear, candied walnuts, dried cranberries, feta cheese, field greens and a cranberry vinaigrette drizzle
• A turkey grilled cheese for $12, which includes sourdough bread, sliced roasted turkey breast and swiss cheese with cornbread dressing, cranberry-orange sauce and house-made chips
• A turkey burger for $14, which includes ground turkey, garlic goat cheese spread, red onions, roasted red pepper and house-made chips
• Orange glazed duck breast for $20, which includes a six-ounce duck breast, cornbread dressing, cranberry-orange sauce and a salad
• Butternut squash pasta for $14, which includes fettuccine, roasted butternut squash, alfredo sauce, garlic bread and salad, with a choice of protein, including chicken, steak, salmon, shrimp and duck for an additional feeThe cocktail of the month is a cranberry liqueur cosmopolitan for $12, which is made with vodka, Water Hill cranberry liqueur, orange liqueur, lime juice and cranberry juice

The restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Nonseasonal breakfast fare includes pulled pork hash with eggs over easy for $9, steel-cut oatmeal for $6, and the Public House breakfast of two eggs, home fries, thick cut bacon and toast for $7.

Lunch and dinner fare includes a chicken pot pie with carrots, peas, corn and onion with a side order for $15; pan-seared wild Pacific salmon with yogurt dill sauce or black jack pineapple salsa, a house vegetable and one side for $18; and a half-pound grilled hangar steak with thick cut seasoned fries and one side for $18.

The restaurant grows its own peppers, eggplant, herbs and, on trellises in five large aluminum tubs that line the side and front of the building, its own heirloom tomatoes. It sources fresh mushrooms sourced from the Michigan Mushroom Hunters Club, including the vaunted morel mushroom in the spring.

The Public House has its own pastry chef, Darany's daughter, Madelaine Darany, who had been the pastry chef at the Riverside Hotel in Ft. Lauderdale, and it buys gluten-free bread from Rumi's Passion Bakery in Plymouth.

It all resulted in the Public House being honored in 2017 with the Michigan Grown, Michigan Great Restaurant Award in 2017 at the Michigan Restaurant Association's annual show in Troy. The award, sponsored by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Michigan Ag Council, goes to three businesses each year, one in the Upper Peninsula, one on the western side of the state and one on the east.

Darany said the restaurant has grown revenue each of its five years. He said 50 percent of their business comes from customers outside the Monroe area, who came across the restaurant on various social media sites and have become repeat visitors. The restaurant now employs almost 50. Employees get paid vacations and health insurance.

Stephanie Lara has worked for Darany and Corser since 2003, at a Big Boy on Dixie Highway in Monroe they used to own before transferring to the Public House when it opened. She wasn't sure an upscale, farm-to-table restaurant was going to work there.

"I've been really surprised. Honestly, I didn't think Monroe would take to it. But it has," she said. "The first year was a little rough and then it took off."

She said the clientele is enthusiastic and the tips are better than before. "Honestly, this is the best serving job I have ever had. I'd never worked directly for George before the Public House opened. Working with him has been amazing. He's just a really good guy."

When Darany's family first opened the Monroe Big Boy, two old heavy doors that were part of the original building were put into storage. To reflect the Public House's emphasis on quality, Darany and Corser spent $4,000 to strip and restore the doors and reinstall them.

They also had the Workshop in the Fisher Building in Detroit build them a big table that seats 12, from two by fours reclaimed from Detroit houses. The other table tops in the restaurant were made from reclaimed barnwood by Reclaimed Wood Inc. of Clare.

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