44 May 2 • 2019
jn

Antihero invites unique
culture and exotic fl
avors
to downtown Ferndale.

T

hroughout my childhood, my
grandparents owned an office
furniture business that operated
at 231 W
. Nine Mile Road in Ferndale.
Every other Saturday, my mom took
me and my brother to visit my dad
at the office. We’
d spin around in the
fancy chairs and play hide-and-seek
under the desks. We even used to ride
the rusty furniture eleva-
tor from the top floor to
the basement, something
that probably wouldn’
t
be allowed nowadays. I
loved that store dearly.
More than a decade
later, that same building
is occupied by Antihero,
a Japanese pub. Walking into the build-
ing where we spent a lot of time, my
parents and I were in awe. Outside of
the freshly painted tin ceilings and the
upstairs office, the place was unrecog-
nizable.
Sleek and luxurious, Antihero’
s
interior decor is one to behold. Spiky
chandeliers hang from the bar’
s low
ceiling, and wooden floors and fur-
niture create a sense of cohesion that
really make this pub aesthetically
pleasing. Among all the aspects of its
design, the coolest, by far, was the art-
work on the walls, cementing Antihero
as an establishment for artistic inven-
tion. While the menu was limited, the
interior design worked hard to make
up for it.
Antihero also shines is with its bar
menu, listing a variety of tasty and
exotic drinks. Unfortunately, Antihero
is lacking in its food menu. While
its one-page list of food selection is
unique, its limited selection might be a
challenge for pickier eaters.
If you’
re someone who doesn’
t eat
non-kosher meat or fish, that immedi-

ately eliminates most of the menu. For
example, not one of its five “Noods and
Such” dishes is without pork, shellfish
or non-kosher beef. In addition, those
with food allergies will find little on
the menu they can eat. Almost every
item has either gluten, nuts or shell-
fish somewhere in it. Even if the dish
looks good outside of those allergens,
Antihero doesn’
t supply (or welcome)
many practical substitutions.
I found three things on the menu
to order that were
kosher-friendly: roasted
baby carrots, grilled avo-
cado and salmon poke.
While the avocado and
salmon needed additional
seasoning to pull the dish-
es together, the carrots
were on the opposite end
of the flavor spectrum, on the verge of
being almost too spicy. In an attempt
to make use of what seasoning I had,
I ended up dipping the avocado and
salmon in the spicy sriracha that cov-
ered the carrots.
I can honestly say that Antihero
is a great place to have a drink and a
couple of appetizers with loved ones.
The atmosphere is young and fresh,
the interior decor is stunning, and the
alcohol menu is positively delectable.
Antihero is not, however, a place for
people with diet limitations to have a
full-course meal.
While I find it complicated to
describe how it felt returning to a sig-
nificant building from my childhood,
it’
s easy to say that my family was
impressed with how Anithero trans-
formed our rundown office furniture
store into a gorgeous Japanese pub.
I hope that Antihero expands its
menu to include more allergen-
friendly options. I would love the
chance to make more happy memories
in the building that brought me so
much joy as a child. ■

STEFANI CHUDNOW
SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

nosh

Antihero

231 W. Nine Mile Road,
Ferndale
antiheroferndale.com
(248) 307-7383
Opens at 4 p.m.

Japanese
Pub

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