Parlay Detroit Is a New Sports Bar Opening Downtown This Week | Eater Detroit

"A decades-old lunch counter on Michigan Avenue has been purchased by a former Detroit police officer, Kimberly Lambert, and her husband, John, after earlier this year going 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 has been gearing up for the change of hands since October by working at the diner. “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,” Lambert said, according to BridgeDetroit. The Lamberts will keep things as they are at the counter aside from eventually accepting credit card payments. The spot 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 and shuttered in June 2023 after nearly 60 years in operation, according to 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 stacked ham sandwiches, split pea soup with chunks of pork, and affordable breakfasts for generations of working-class Detroiters; this diner is now among the region’s few remaining such establishments." - Serena Maria Daniels