nosh

eats

| drinks | sweets

The

Nomad Grill

At the crossroads for business travelers.

T

Mary Meldrum

Special to the
Jewish News

he Epicurean Group, the corporate force behind
familiar names such as the Novi Chophouse, the
Plaza Deli, Soul Café and Epic Kosher Catering, has
recently opened the Nomad Grill in Southfield adjacent
to the newly renovated Premier Best Western Hotel on
Telegraph ( formerly the Holiday Inn of Southfield).
“Stan Dixon purchased the company to save everyone’s
job. At the time, the Epicurean Group had just over 500
employees and he saw the opportunity,” explains Regina
Peters, director of sales and marketing for the Epicurean
Group. “Stan hijacked Eric Djordjevic from the Detroit
Athletic Club to be the president of the company.”

Classically trained by the Ritz Carlton, both Regina
and Eric bring a substantial depth of industry knowl-
edge and experience to the Nomad Grill. They have
taken everything that they know about food and bev-
erage, fine dining, service and hospitality and put it
all in a very comfortable setting.
“Eric and I are both Ritz Carlton alums, so we have
a similar philosophy with the beverage, hospitality
and the overall guest experience,” Regina says. “We
want people to come in and have great food and
great options, but we don’t want them to be intimi-
dated by the food, beverage or the venue.”
A full-service restaurant, the Nomad Grill is locat-
ed inside an enormous event center with more than
20,000 square feet of event space. The restaurant has
three private dining rooms that seat 30 to 40 people
— perfect for small gatherings and training sessions.
They also have three major ballrooms.
“We are very excited to be Southfield’s event cen-
ter hub, especially considering our location at the
crossroads of Telegraph, I-696 and Northwestern
Highways — all the major arteries in Southfield,”
Regina says.
The restaurant is a welcoming place for travelers.
“We wanted people to feel like they are coming
home, hence the fireplace and the soft seating,” Eric
says. “This might be their fourth continent in seven
days; we want them to come in and decompress. We
have all the elements of fine dining in quality and
service, but not a stuffy pretentiousness.”
The hotel embedded in this event center used to
be the Holiday Inn years ago. It sat vacant for 10
years, and two-and-a-half years ago Epicurean Group
entered the project with their hotel partners, Kiwi
Hospitality out of New Zealand and spent more than
two years building out the hotel, which was taken
down to the studs.
“There is new plumbing, electrical, HVAC,” Regina
says. There are new walls, ceilings, floors, fixtures,
doors and windows, too.
“Kiwi Hospitality came in with the capital to do
the project correctly, and they are a true hospitality
company. They didn’t want to just come in and flip
the space. They wanted to grow the brand and the
facility.”
The menu rotates and evolves with seasonal offer-
ings to keep things interesting and fresh. The name

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August 24 • 2017

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