Chartreuse Kitchen & Cocktails Puts Vegetables at the Center and Dares You to Miss the Steak
In Midtown's Park Shelton building, a small-plates restaurant with a cocktail program that changes fast enough to keep regulars guessing.
The first time someone told me to drive to Detroit for a beet dish, I thought they were being difficult on purpose. Beets. Forty-five minutes on I-94 for a vegetable that too many kitchens handle with roasting and goat cheese and call it finished. But the person who recommended Chartreuse had earned enough credibility that I went, and the beet dish was better than the pitch, and I have been going back since.
Chartreuse Kitchen & Cocktails sits at 15 East Kirby Street in Midtown, on the ground floor of the Park Shelton building, one block from the Detroit Institute of Arts.1Chartreuse occupies a ground-floor space in the Park Shelton building at 15 E Kirby St, as confirmed by the restaurant's website and local media. The restaurant operates around a small-plates format with a menu that rotates often enough that my last three visits have had meaningful overlap on only a few dishes. The kitchen takes creative swings. Most of them land. The ones that miss are interesting failures rather than lazy ones, and interesting failures at a restaurant are a sign that somebody in the kitchen is thinking.
The Food
Roasted beets with goat cheese and pistachio ($14) is the dish that brought me in, and I understand why people keep ordering it. The beets are roasted until they concentrate and turn slightly sweet, served with a whipped goat cheese that is lighter and sharper than the standard crumble. Crushed pistachios add crunch and a green, nutty bitterness. What separates this version from the dozens of beet-and-goat-cheese plates I have eaten elsewhere is the balance. The sweetness of the beet, the tang of the cheese, the crunch and oil of the nut. Each component does one job and does it well. Nothing crowds the plate.
Seasonal vegetable plate rotates based on what the kitchen can source, and this is where Chartreuse's vegetable-forward identity shows its range. On one visit, a plate of charred carrots arrived with a miso glaze and toasted sesame that gave the dish an umami depth you would not expect from a carrot. On another, roasted cauliflower came with a romesco sauce thick enough to eat with a spoon. The prices on vegetable plates tend to run $12 to $16, and ordering three or four of them for the table is how Chartreuse is meant to be eaten.
Duck confit ($22) is the menu's richest protein. Crispy-skinned leg and thigh, slow-cooked until the meat separates cleanly from the bone, served over lentils with a vinaigrette that has enough mustard bite to cut through the duck fat. The skin shatters. The lentils, enriched by the rendered fat, become the best part of the plate if you let them. This dish also appears at Wright & Company across town, and both versions are good. Chartreuse's feels more composed. Wright & Company's feels more generous. Choose your priority.
Burrata ($16) arrives on a seasonal base that has included grilled peaches, heirloom tomatoes, and, on my most recent visit, roasted squash with a chili oil. The cheese itself is creamy and cool against whatever warm or acidic element the kitchen puts underneath it. It is a simple dish that tests the quality of its ingredients and the restraint of the cook. Chartreuse passes both tests.
The Cocktails
The cocktail program at Chartreuse is long, inventive, and changes seasonally. House-made bitters, infused syrups, and seasonal fruit show up in drinks that manage to be creative without being fussy. A well-built Old Fashioned sits on the same menu as something involving mezcal, grapefruit shrub, and an herb I could not identify but liked. Cocktails run $13 to $17. The bartenders know the menu well enough to recommend based on what you are eating, which is the mark of a program that talks to the kitchen.
If you are not a cocktail person, the wine list is short and well-chosen, with enough variety to match the range of the food.
The Room
The space occupies a corner of the Park Shelton, a historic building that also houses residential units and a lobby that feels like a different era. Chartreuse's dining room is smaller than you might expect. Tables are close, the bar draws its own crowd, and on a weekend night the room fills and hums. Lighting is low and warm. The ceiling is high enough to absorb some noise, but not all of it. It is a good room for conversation, as long as you do not need silence.
Dinner for two with cocktails and four or five small plates runs $80 to $110 before tip. For Midtown Detroit, that is competitive with Selden Standard a few blocks south, though the format here skews lighter and more shareable.
The Neighborhood
Midtown's density is the thing. Selden Standard is a short walk south on Second Avenue. Jolly Pumpkin is on Canfield. Republic is on West Grand Boulevard. The DIA is a block away, and a day that starts with the museum and ends at Chartreuse is one of the better ways to spend a Saturday in Detroit.2See our Midtown dining guide and Detroit dining guide for more on the neighborhood.
I mentioned in our Midtown guide that Chartreuse is the restaurant I would take someone to if they had never eaten in Midtown and I wanted them to understand what the neighborhood does. The small plates, the cocktails, the room that fills with the kind of noise that means people are enjoying themselves. That combination, at these prices, a block from one of the best art museums in the country. The beet dish is what got me here. The cocktail program is what keeps me coming back.
Chartreuse Kitchen & Cocktails is at 15 E Kirby St, Midtown, Detroit. Lunch and dinner. Reservations recommended.