Downtown’s New Biodynamic Wine Cave and Ice Cream Shop Debuts Next Week #DetroitFood

Some of the wine offerings on display at Bar Chenin | Joe Portelli/Bar Chenin

Explore Bar Chenin, an intimate 10-seat alleyway bar, before its debut.

Next week, downtown will welcome a jewel box-sized biodynamic wine cave that specializes in biodynamic and natural wines, cocktails, snacks, and house-made ice cream. Bar Chenin’s opening date is Thursday, March 6 in the petit space formerly occupied by the critically lauded, now shuttered Albena in the Siren Hotel.

Behind the project is Nick Arone, a beverage industry veteran who’s returned to the Siren after a previous stint as the hotel’s food and beverage director, who most recently ran the bar program at the Eater Award-winning modern Mexican restaurant Vecino, where he leaned in on an agave spirits-forward bar program.

Arone tells Crain’s Detroit that a buzzy natural wine bar and artisan ice cream shop in Paris inspired the intimate 10-seat Bar Chenin. Folderol invites visitors to rub elbows with folks of all walks to spill out into the surrounding area over ice cream cones. That seems to jibe with Bar Chenin’s space, situated in the brick-lined alleyway to the rear of the Siren Hotel.

Joe Portelli/Bar Chenin

Joe Portelli/Bar Chenin

Joe Portelli/Bar Chenin

The focus of the wine program at Bar Chenin hones specifically in on biodynamic wines, wherein Arone can help visitors make the connections between the small scale producers highlighted on the bar’s brief menu and the land from which the grapes were grown. A variety of wines, reds, and skin contact wines are available by the glass and represent regions in France, Italy, and Switzerland.

“I love ‘natural wine,’ a term kind of shrouded in mystery [and] contempt to a lot of people but put plainly: organic [or] biodynamic practicing small producers who are true stewards of the land they work and consciously in the cellar,” Arone told Eater in an email earlier this winter. A cocktail menu features a handful of classics with a twist, such as a banana daiquiri called Love and Mercy made with Oaxacan rum and smoked banana cordial.

As for food, visitors can munch on snacks like anchovies and olives, a mortadella plate (also available as a sandwich with pistachio pesto), and other light offerings. For dessert, house-made gelato comes in flavors like chocolate sesame and peanut, and a refreshing pear sorbet is also available.

According to Crain’s, Ari Heckman, CEO of the Ash hospitality group that operates the Siren, approached Arone shortly after he left his previous assignment at the hotel that an opportunity to open his own bar had come up following the closure of the spurgy tasting menu Albena helmed by Garrett and Tiffany Lipar closed in March 2024. Garrett Lipar went on to lead the kitchen at Ann Arbor’s the Dixboro Project.

The Siren Hotel flung open its doors in 2018 following a years-long renovation of the historic Wurlitzer Building. At the time, the hotel boasted several highly anticipated food and drink options, including Candy Bar, Sid Gold’s Request Room, Albena, and Karl’s — a casual diner opened by chef Kate Williams.

Since the hotel’s launch, Karl’s closed its doors permanently in December 2022 and was quietly replaced in summer 2023 by Ash—Bar Detroit, an offshoot of the hospitality group’s Baltimore-based of the same name. Albena joined the shutter list just over a year later. Most recently, Ash—Bar Detroit also joined the chorus when it shuttered without fanfare in recent weeks. A company rep confirms with Eater that the bar is being renovated into a private event space later this year.

Bar Chenin, 1509 Broadway Street; planned for a Thursday, March 6 opening; hours 5 p.m. to midnight Thursday, Sunday, and Monday, 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday. No reservations required.

from Eater Detroit - All