The Sun Is Setting on Albena, But Chef Garrett Lipar Is Preparing for the ‘Long Game’ #DetroitFood
With the celebrated chef’s Detroit tasting menu spot closing, Lipar is looking towards a future in bucolic Ann Arbor
Chef Garrett Lipar has made a name for himself as one of the most innovative chefs in metro Detroit. In 2018, he and partner Tiffany Lipar opened the highly-anticipated Albena, where they produced an artfully executed multi-course experience, bringing a minimalist approach to Michigan-centered ingredients.
But like any restaurant, Albena had an expiration date. Lipar’s team announced in February that the restaurant will close permanently, with its last day of service on Saturday, March 16. Fortunately, there’s already an opportunity on the horizon for the critically acclaimed chef who is taking his talents to the Dixboro Project in Ann Arbor.
Starting Monday, April 1, Lipar will assume the role of executive chef-partner at the bucolic dining complex where he will oversee food operations for the site’s high-end farm-to-table dining spot, Dixboro House and casual pizzeria, bakery, and cafe, the Boro. Lipar will also help manage the property’s six-and-a-half acres of farmland.
“One of the biggest reasons I’m at the Dixboro is the ability to connect to the land the restaurant is on, as well as the storyline throughout the entire property,” Lipar says.
Lipar brings his distinctive Scandinavian-influenced cooking and deliberate plating style, influenced by his time at legendary Stockholm restaurant, Frantzén, along with a childhood of cooking and gardening with his late grandmother, for whom Albena was named.
The Dixboro Project is the brainchild of restaurateur Sava Farah, who fell in love with the property when she and her husband moved nearby in 2007. The establishment opened in 2021 in the location of the former neighborhood spot, Roger Monk’s. Prior to that, fine-dining staple Lord Fox occupied the space for more than 50 years. Chef Louis Maldonado along with his wife, Annmarie, worked as Farah’s partners during the initial opening but left soon afterward. Since then, the site has brought in others to helm the kitchen in the interim, including Joseph VanWagner as well as Max Sussman.
The Lipars had free range to push the boundaries of food and wine at Albena, but it came with some unique challenges. The location, tucked away in the corner of the Siren Hotel in downtown Detroit, provided little visibility to draw in new customers. Lipar wanted guests to have an unadulterated culinary experience, stripped of preconceived notions about the space or food. This was part of what made Albena so special, but it also made it difficult to promote the restaurant.
“One of the challenges we faced from an ownership standpoint was the location, which added to the mystery and the journey to dine here. Having to go through this boutique hotel to the back door to find this tasting menu restaurant was super cool for a lot of people. But it also kept us hidden so that people didn’t ever find us,” Lipar says.
Lipar opened Albena following a short stint heading Marais in Grosse Pointe. Prior to that, he helmed the (tiny) kitchen at the celebrated Ferndale restaurant, Torino. During that time, the restaurant fetched local awards and national attention. Lipar was named a 2014 Eater Young Gun and was twice recognized as a semifinalist for James Beard Foundation Awards in what was then called the Rising Star of the Year category. He focused heavily on plant-based cooking before it was hip. In July 2020, he eliminated processed grains and sugars in his own diet, moving primarily towards animal-based foods — elements he incorporated at Albena.
“We started looking at food as medicine and began viewing the restaurant through that same lens. Removing refined grains, refined sugars, and seed oils were big changes that no one else in the market seemed to really be prioritizing,” Lipar says.
This approach allows the subtle flavor notes and true essence from each ingredient to shine through, such as with his Carolina Gold rice pudding and tomato gelee dessert, which relied solely on the natural sweetness of the tomatoes and a hint of cinnamon. He hoped that diners would leave Albena feeling nourished and inspired to look at their own diets more deeply. But, he says, diners did not seem receptive to such changes.
“I don’t think the bulk of our guests were ready for this to be kind of forced upon them. I think the majority of guests were sort of indifferent about our desire to treat this as a more holistic dining experience,” he says.
Additionally, with added food costs and the lingering effects of COVID-19 lockdowns, Lipar says he was forced to raise prices — going from $130 per person to $160 and eventually $250 in 2021.
Albena’s closing is not a cause for sadness in his mind, but the inevitable sunset on this period of his life.
“We feel like we really have nothing left to prove. We have a different view of what success is than when we opened the restaurant. When we decided to close, it wasn’t because we couldn’t make it, we were just done with that phase of our lives,” he says.
In his new position, Lipar is looking forward to sourcing ingredients from the Dixboro Project’s onsite garden and hopes to cultivate relationships with local livestock farmers, giving the restaurant a say in how the animals are raised. “Whether it be cattle, chickens, eggs, or dairy, we’d like to work towards having these resources cultivated for us and to our specificities,” he says.
Lipar also hopes this move will provide a sense of stability in a career that has undergone many changes.
“I’m just excited to think long-term for the first time in my life. To be at a place where I can start to prepare and plan for the future and think about the long game, and not just menu to menu, year to year,” Lipar says.
from Eater Detroit - All
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