HopCat Opens In Royal Oak On May 20

ROYAL OAK, MI — HopCat bar and restaurant — rated by some as the best brewpub in America — is opening in Royal Oak on May 20. Located in downtown at 208 Fifth Street, it will offer more than 100 craft beers and boast more than 130 taps. And that’s not even to mention HopCat’s highly acclaimed “crack fries.”

HopCat will occupy the former Woody’s and Onyx on Fifth Street, which closed in October 2016. The new three-story restaurant features a rooftop beer garden, according to a Royal Oak Tribune report. It will be the Grand Rapids-based company’s sixth Michigan location.

HopCat will open its doors at 11 a.m. and serve the first 200 people to show up will get a free order of crack fries once a week for a year. All other patrons will also get an order of the fries for free that day. Crack fries were ranked among the top 10 french fries recently by the Food Network Magazine, the newspaper reported.

HopCat made a significant investment to open in Royal Oak. The design and build portion of the project cost the company $2.5 million while the owners paid about $3 million for the property, the Tribune reported. Beer lovers across metro Detroit stand to benefit from the investment.

“We’ll also be offering 100 craft beers on tap for the opening,” Chris Knape, a vice president and spokesman for HopCat, told the newspaper. “We’ve focused on southeastern Michigan breweries like Kuhnhenn in Warren, Atwater, Griffin Claw, ciders and meaderies.”

Royal Oak officials approved a liquor license transfer and plan of operation for HopCat back in November. “This is possibly one of the most exciting things to come to town,” City Commissioner Dave Poulton told the Tribune last fall. “It’s an upgrade and increases the caliber of business in the city.”

Besides beer, HopCat offers a full menu. “Shareables” include the famous crack fries, loaded pretzel “nuggz,” wings and pizza rolls, among others. Half-pound, chargrilled hamburgers highlight entree selections, which also includes salads, sandwiches, tacos, fish and chips, as well as “killer” mac and cheese.

In terms of pricing, starters range from $5.95 to $11 while entrees top out at about $14. HopCat’s Detroit location garners a four out of five stars rating on Yelp.

“First visit to a Hopcat, it was packed and lively on a Tuesday evening. We waited about 30 minutes for a table and sampled a few of their gazillion draft beers. Nice selection!,” wrote Greg H. in a May 4 review. He gave HopCat four stars. “I had one of the burgers with their apparently famous crack fries. They should have called it a crack burger because it was excellent. Big, juicy, excellent flavor. The fries weren't quite hot, dropping them out of the crack range for me. They had lots of seasoning. It was okay if you like that sort of thing. Cool place. I'd go back.”

Photo by AJ Gulyas via Flickr Commons