PHOTO BY MARS HA SUNDQU IST
siness
Rick Halberg's new Northville
restaurant is named for his
daughter Emily.
DEBBIE L. SKLAR SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
.
Rick Halberg at Emily's.
welve-year-old Emily Halberg of
Farmington Hills has something
her friends don't have — a
restaurant is named after her.
Emily's opened last month to
rave reviews from local restau-
rant critics.
Emily is the daughter of Rick
Halberg, former owner of R.I.K.'s
Catering in Birmingham and
R.I.K.'s restaurant in West
Bloomfield.
"I chose to call the restaurant
Emily's because it sounds French
and because it's a pretty name,"
said Mr. Halberg. "I contemplat-
ed calling it R.I.K.'s Too, but I
thought it sounded a little too
cute."
As for his daughter, she says
having a restaurant named after
her is "way cool."
Emily's is housed in a large Vic-
torian home atop a hill in down-
town Northville. It is the former
home of the Sheldon Road House
and Rose Cottage restaurants.
"We've definitely done some re-
modeling," Mr. Halberg said as
he strolled around the home built
in the 1800s. "It used to be pret-
ty dark and it had a lot of wood.
I wanted Emily's to be brighter
and more festive."
Mr. Halberg hired famed
restaurant interior designer Ron
Rea to refurbish the old house
and give it the look he wanted.
The 45-year-old Mr. Halberg
is a native Detroiter and a grad-
uate of the Culinary Institute of
America in New York.
In his early years, he was a
cook at what he refers to as a
"1960s hippie commune" in Tuc-
son, Ariz.
"It was one of those healthy
food businesses," he said. "I start-
ed there washing dishes for 75
cents an hour."
Mr. Halberg went from wash-
ing pots and pans to running the
business after he was approached
by the owner.
Along the way, Mr. Halberg
met his future wife Karen (she
was studying at the University
of Arizona), now a special educa-
tion teacher in Farming-
ton Hills. The couple mar-
ried in 1974. In addition to
Emily, they also have a son
Daniel, 15.
Mr. Halberg held sever-
al jobs as a chef, working
at Seva in Ann Arbor and
the DePuy Canal House in
New York among other
places.
He also worked in
Delaware before moving
back to Detroit in 1980.
From 1980 through 1984, Mr.
Halberg worked at Tweeny's and
the Holly Hotel.
It was irr 1984 that Mr. Hal-
berg opened his own catering
business in, Birmingham with
two other prtners.
"It's the ultimate goal of a chef
to have his own place," Mr. Halberg
said. "The early 1980s was a good
time to open a business because it
was the me-me generation.
"People were into expensive
things, like buying flavored vine-
gar just to have it in their
kitchens. It was the time of the
Yuppie and a perfect time for me
and my peers to start."
In 1988, Mr. Halberg got out
of the catering business and
opened a full-service restaurant
in West Bloomfield. He ran the
restaurant until March, when he
sold it to its current owners. It
is now called the Russian Bear.
Since March, Mr. Halberg has
been working on making Emily's
an "in spot."
"I decided when I pulled into
the driveway of this house
months ago that I wanted a
small, independent, chef-operat-
ed business," he said. "I heard the
house was going to be on the mar-
ket before it actually was."
A fixed-price four-course menu,
non-smoking atmosphere and
healthy dining are Emily's features.
Five entrees are offered nightly in
the dinner-only establishment, in-
cluding a vegetarian dish.
"Vegetarian is the wave of the
future," said Mr. Halberg, who
describes Emily's fare as
"Mediterranean with a Western
flair. There really isn't a two-word
catch phrase."
Emily's serves by reservation
only and it seats between 55-70
customers. There is one main din-
ing room and two smaller dining
areas.
"I wanted something small be-
cause it enables me to enjoy the
restaurant, too," Mr. Halberg
said. "I still want to cook, but not
for hundreds of people.
"My goal is for people to be able
to talk and enjoy themselves in a
leisurely, relaxed atmosphere.
Hopefully, it'll be a two-to-three-
hour experience."
Mr. Halberg said he rarely
cooks at home, and when he
dines out he likes Mexican and
Chinese.
"Basically, I'll eat anywhere
someone will put something
down in front of me," he said. "I'm
not particular." ❑