A Former Detroit Lions Player Is Opening a Sports Bar Downtown This Week

A sprawling sports bar, restaurant, and cigar lounge co-owned by former Detroit Lions player Joique Bell is opening this week in the space that formerly housed Detroit Beer Exchange. Parlay Detroit, located at 1260 Washington Boulevard, will launch to the public on Friday, November 15. Situated in a 11,000-plus square-foot space on Washington and Grand River, the ownership also includes attorney Ameena Sheikh and her husband Timothy Allen, along with investor Jared Chipman, managing partner Joel Dewberry, and attorney Alex Simpson, according to a media release. Chef Nikki Steward, also the founder of cannabis culinary entertainment brand the High End Affair, has designed the menu, while Ohio chef Russell Oliver relocated to the Motor City to helm the kitchen. Details about the menu weren’t available as of Tuesday, November 13, however according to the new release, Parlay Detroit will also offer a cigar lounge with a humidor and VIP areas equipped with custom-created lockers for storing cigars and in 2025, a speakeasy and lounge is expected to open in the lower level. The space was vacated in January 2024 when Detroit Beer Exchange closed permanently after two-and-a-half years in operation, according to the Freep. Mike’s Famous Ham Place Sold A former Detroit police officer and her husband are the new owners of Mike’s Famous Ham Place, the decades-old lunch counter on Michigan Avenue that earlier this year went on the market. Outgoing owners Mike Muftari, and his wife, Yvet, will wrap up their final shifts on November 27, according to BridgeDetroit, while the new ownership, Kimberly Lambert, a former Detroit police officer and her husband, John, have been gearing up for the change of hands since October by working at the diner. Lambert told the news site that she heard the shop was for sale after reading a BridgeDetroit story. “When I saw the article I went to bed thinking about it, woke up thinking about it, this constant thing, something was telling me, make sure that this iconic staple stays,” say Lambert, according to BridgeDetroit. The Lamberts will keep things as they are at Mike’s, aside from eventually accepting credit card payments. Mike’s was formerly the original location for Lile’s Ham Sandwich Shop, which flung open its doors in 1965. Lile’s moved to its Dearborn location, where it remained a staple until it shuttered in June 2023, after nearly 60 years in operation, according the Freep. Mike Muftari went on to take over the spot and renamed it after himself. Detroit was once a ham sandwich haven, with modest lunch counters, often Albanian immigrant-owned that specialized in little more than stacked ham sandwiches, split pea soup with chunks of pork, and affordable breakfasts for generations of working class Detroiters. Mike’s is now among the region’s few remaining such establishments.