HopCat Returning To Royal Oak, Look Inside New Restaurant

ROYAL OAK, MI — After closing down two years ago, HopCat is planning to open a new location on Main Street in downtown Royal Oak.

The popular gastropub, known for its award-winning Cosmik Fries, will softly open at 10 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 6, offering guests 60 taps of curated local craft beer and famous Cosmik Fries.

A few days later on Feb. 10, the restaurant will host an invitation-only ribbon-cutting ceremony with the Royal Oak Restaurant Association, local community and business leaders and HopCat leadership and staff, as well as the restaurant’s mascot, Brewce.

The public grand opening will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 11, with the first 100 guests in line receiving free Cosmik Fries for one year, HopCat swag and other special giveaways. Lunch and dinner dine-in guests will also receive complimentary Cosmik Fries and swag while supplies last.

"We’re thrilled to be back in the vibrancy of Royal Oak," Project BarFly CEO Ned Lidvall said. "Given the challenges that the industry as a whole has faced the past couple of years, we are more than ready to hit the ground running. We have assembled a very strong team—led by Kinnewu Pulford—and we’re very excited to be a growth company again, and to continue our focus on craft beer, music, good times and 'food your mom would make if she loved craft beer.'"

The new HopCat restaurant seats 266 customers and features three indoor dining areas with hi-top and low-top tables, mafia booths and a two-room private event space that can becombined into one larger space.

The main bar has 30 available seats with a redesigned beertap system and countertops from the original Royal Oak location. Customers will also have the option to sit outside on an outdoor dog-friendly patio during the warmer months. The patio is located along W. Main St. and Fifth Ave and seats 98 people.

"As the dining landscape has changed so much, HopCat decided to open with a second off premise kitchen in our building," HopCat Royal Oak General Manager Kinnewu Pulford said. "This will ensure that we can execute all of our to-go guests efficiently without compromisingour service standards that made us so popular in the area prior. Needless to say, we are very,very excited to be back in the city of Royal Oak."