Four years after opening Shelby in the Financial District, Tarun Kajeepeta has unveiled expansion plans for his Piquette Partners, the group that includes the former Coffee Down Under and Eater Award-winning Spanish restaurant Leña.
Southwest Detroit Is Getting a New Cocktail Spot With Filipino Snacks
The group behind Shelby and Leña is opening Calamansi on West Vernor this winter
Ashok Selvam is the James Beard Award-winning regional editor for Eater’s Midwest region, and in charge of coverage in Chicago, Detroit, and the Twin Cities. He’s a native Chicagoan and has been with Eater since 2014.
A new Filipino bar, called Calamansi, is set to replace PizzaPlex at 4458 W. Vernor Highway by the end of the year along West Vernor in Southwest Detroit, with a menu from Shelby beverage director Tyler Olivier and his wife, Marcee Sobredilla, as the primary co-owners. Piquette will hold a minority stake, says Kajeepeta. Sobredilla works for Ann Arbor-based Katherine’s Catering, and the menu will tap into her Filipino roots, according to a release.
The release didn’t reveal details about the cocktails, other than the desire to keep them affordable. But the bar’s name may provide a clue. Calamansi is a popular citrus fruit used in marinades and drinks in Pinoy cuisine. Perhaps there could be a splash of purple as ube flavors are currently very popular in the United States and in Detroit where the Filipino diaspora has powered a small but growing contingent of restaurants and cafes including New Center’s JP Makes and Bakes, Isla in Sterling Heights, and the suburban outpost of beloved chain Jollibee. PizzaPlex, itself briefly offered a handful of Filipino dishes and a monthly Baon subscription service, prior to its closure in 2023 — a program brought to the restaurant by co-founder Alessandra Carreon, who is of Filipina and Italian descent. The addition of a bar employing Filipino flavors feels like a full-circle moment.
Shelby made the 2022 James Beard Award semifinalist list for Outstanding Bar, gaining a national reputation for quality drinks. Olivier will leverage that experience while taking on new responsibilities at Calamansi. Meanwhile, a menu of small bites will deliver “traditional Filipino flavors through a contemporary lens.”
In other news, Coffee Down Under, which closed in March 2025 has been renamed Streetside @ Shelby. The space at 607 Shelby Street will now serve cocktails from Shelby from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
Kajeepeta also announced that Shelby will start hosting pop-ups and hosting local chefs (Shelby shared a call for chefs and pop-ups on its Instagram account on Sunday, June 29). The Calamansi team will preview their spot first, appearing from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Thursdays and 5 p.m. to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays between Wednesday, July 9, and Saturday, August 2.
Calamansi, 4458 W. Vernor Highway, planned to open by the end of 2025
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