Caucus Club, A Downtown Detroit Institution, To Reopen

DETROIT, MI — The Caucus Club — a Detroit institution where singer Barbra Streisand got her start as a lounge singer in 1961 — is reopening after being shuttered for four years. The legendary restaurant, located in the Penobscot Building at 645 Griswold St., is expected to reopen by Christmas.

New owner George Sboukis, whose family owns Loui’s Chophouse in Chesterfield, plans to blend the historic past of the 6,000-square-foot Caucus Club space with his own special touches.

Les Gruber opened the original Caucus Club opened in 1952, and much of the memorabilia was lost to Sboukis when he was approached by the building management about reopening the restaurant. The previous owner, Mary Belloni, had sold almost everything with value, except a famous phone booth and and a glass display case to showcase Caucus Club-branded wares, and the space had been gutted.

“The only thing they left was the back bar,” Sboukis told the Detroit Free Press. “I said, ‘If you tear that out, it’s a dealbreaker.”

Historic Carrara marble salvaged from elsewhere in the building will be used to restore the bar.
A vintage Baldwin piano will replace the original sold at auction, and Sboukis is rebuilding the stage where Streisand and others performed. Modern touches and an Art Deco-inspired theme are incorporated in the renovation.

Most of the staff — including executive chef Rick Hussey, currently head chef at Filippa’s Wine Barrel in Shelby Township, and bar manager Michael Kreger, currently at Vertical Detroit — is in place.

The bar and restaurant will share a seasonal steakhouse menu, prepared from a white-tiled subway kitchen with glass walls and doors that is visible to the Penobscot concourse. “It’ll be the first of its kind because I think we’ll beat everyone else to opening,” Sboukis said, describing what he called “a widescreen view of the inner workings of a restaurant,” including a dry-aging room where steaks hang.

» For more, go to the Detroit Free Press.

Photo via Google Earth