Ann Arbor – If you are from the Ann Arbor area you may remember the restaurants Lord Fox or Roger Monk’s. Well, a new restaurant is now going to operate in this historic spot: The Dixboro Project.
It earned its name shortly after it was bought, and owner Sava Farah was deciding what to do with the large property. She and her husband frequented the old bar that used to be there and dreamed of what they could turn it into. When Roger Monk’s eventually closed down in 2016, the restauranteur in Farah couldn’t let the historic structure become an office building, so she bought it and made it her project.
The property is large, about 7 acres, with a barn from the late 1800s serving as a restaurant for the past 100 years. After looking into it, Farah, the owner of Sava’s and Aventura restaurants in Ann Arbor, decided to make it a three-in-one concept. From pastries to pizza, to fine dining dishes, the Dixboro Project offers it all.
The old barn is called The Boro, and has been renovated and turned into a casual, come-as-you-are eatery specializing in Neopolitan -style pizzas. They added on to the building creating a second barn with an entire wall made of glass, allowing you to look out into the surrounding forest. That space will act as Dixboro House, their fine dining component. With the property so vast, and with their plans to develop it into a park complete with a playscape for kids to play on, Farah also wanted to create a carry-out space in the restaurant as well. The carryout portion is dedicated to just that and also features coffees and pastries from the in-house pastry chef.
Currently, just the carry-out portion is open, but The Boro plans to open this spring, and Dixboro House is slated to open sometime this summer.
It was a big undertaking, from a food standpoint as well, since the dishes for all three concepts will come from the same kitchen, under the guidance of Michelin Star Chef, Louis Maldonado. Chef Maldonado says that it’s is like “Disney World” for him and his staff since they get to work on such a variety of different styles of food. To keep everything cohesive, all the dishes whether they be a pizza or a filet mignon, will be done with the same care, attention to detail, and techniques.
To learn more, watch the video above.
Dixboro Project is located at 5400 Plymouth Road in Ann Arbor.