When you want to open a great restaurant, what are the ingredients? Good food? Great drinks? A talented team? Well, that was how Petty Cash in Detroit got started, and it is getting a lot of attention for its small plates, craft cocktails, and chic atmosphere.
Ron Bartell, the owner of Kuzzo’s, and Kelly Pickett, a professional chef, are two of the partners behind Petty Cash, and they had a vision for the restaurant. “A strong drink program; we wanted a strong food program,” explains Lee Campbell, the General Manager. “So the vision was to create the best in black.”
They wanted to find young, talented, local, professional culinarians and give them an opportunity to showcase their skills, and it was Campbell’s job to assemble the team. The first person he took on board was Chef Dominic Mccord. “I wanted to give variety, I didn’t want to be put in a box,” says Chef Mccord. " I like to marry, I like to fuse, I like ... ingredients you won’t think about, I like them to make sense on a plate.”
Mccord, who was previously a chef at Maru, likes to blend flavors from all over the world. The eclectic menu includes popular dishes like their spicy peri peri wings served with an herbed buttermilk sauce, and their Mediterranean spiced lamb ribs over a herbed yogurt. For the vegans, you can indulge in a riff on steak and potatoes with their umami-poached and grilled cauliflower steak.
As they mentioned, they didn’t just want a strong food program, they wanted a craft drink program as well. Joshua Garache heads up their bar and has mixed up a cocktail list with as many flavor inspirations as the food menu. “All of us are living the dream to have opened up a restaurant, and have ownership of a restaurant and a business in the place we grew up,” says Campbell. Chef Mccord echoes that sentiment saying, " I think it was unique to put a restaurant of this caliber ... in a regular Detroit neighborhood.”
The Avenue of Fashion has always been known as a spot for thriving black businesses, and both Campbell and Mccord say they are proud to be a part of its resurgence. Petty Cash is located at 20050 Livernois, Detroit, MI 48221.
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