The Apparatus Room Unveils a New Look and Menu After Eight Years

The Apparatus Room this week emerged from a brief hibernation as the restaurant inside the Detroit Foundation Hotel debuted a refreshed menu and an updated design. The restaurant had remained closed to the public since Monday, January 27. The restaurant situated within the former Detroit Fire Department Headquarters reopened with a seafood raw bar with a daily crudo offering, red swimming crab, and oysters representing both the East and West Coasts, and now places more of an emphasis on locally sourcing seasonal ingredients to inform the menu. The Apparatus Room opened in 2017, first under the helm of chef Thomas Lents, who left his job heading the kitchen at the two-Michelin-starred Chicago restaurant Sixteen inside the Trump Tower, to return to his home state of Michigan. He since moved on to lead the kitchen at Violetto in St. Helena, California. Chef Reece Hogerheide, who previously worked at the Daxton Hotel in Birmingham, took over at the Apparatus Room in 2023. Under the initial direction of Lents, the restaurant made a splash for its artful presentation of dishes like pine-roasted carrots with lemon ricotta and for a time featured a ticketed multi-course Chef’s Table experience — quite a rarity at the time in Detroit. Now, diners will notice a more rustic approach, allowing locally sourced ingredients to shine, with items like cauliflower dredged in rice flour and fried and flavored with gochujang; broccolini served with bagna cauda; and other dishes featuring ingredients from Detroit area farms like Fisheye and Moraine Park Farms. These items were sampled by members of the media during a series of preview dinners. [Image: The space has been spruced up. https://platform.detroit.eater.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25891980/Foundation_Hotel0117.jpg?quality=90&strip=all] The essence of the space is largely unchanged, the U-shaped bar remains a centerpiece as visitors enter the roughly 4,600-square-foot interior, white subway tile still lines the walls, and warm, natural tones continue to set the vibe. Foundation’s Chicago-based parent company Aparium Hotel Group brought on local design firm Parini to expand the lounge, open up the kitchen, update aging equipment, and spruce up the furnishings in the dining room, sourcing tabletops and other items from Woodward Throwbacks — the Hamtramck shop where reclaimed materials are transformed into furniture. The changes to the restaurant are part of a $4 million investment in the property with Aparium working to update the 100 rooms in the hotel in phases. As a hotel restaurant, visitors can continue to expect food and drink options just about any time of the day or night, including breakfast items like shakshuka or sausage strudel — making for a low, yet elegant spot for an early morning breakfast meeting. The Apparatus Room, 250 W. Larned Street, hours 7 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Monday through Friday for breakfast; 11 a.m. to noon Monday through Friday for lunch; 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday for dinner; 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. for weekend brunch service.