The people behind the popular Noble Fish sushi restaurant and White Wolf Japanese patisserie,will be opening two new Asian food halls in Metro Detroit called "Noble Village."
The first, a 12,000-square-foot location, will be in Clawson at the site of the existing Noble Fish and White Wolf locations. This hall will incorporate the existing brands, expand seating and offerings, and include a ramen counter and a cocktail bar.
The Clawson food hall is expected to open in phases beginning in March and include an adjacent grocery section and a larger grab-and-go selection.
The second project, a massive 34,000-square-foot food hall in Novi, will be at the current location of One World Market, a Japanese grocery store owned by the same group.
This location will be significantly larger and include more food concepts including a cocktail bar, an Asian fried chicken concept, a sandwich concept, an Izakaya restaurant, an expansive second floor theater space, and an expanded marketplace including an Asian spirits section. It is projected to open within a couple of years.
Doran Brooks, director of business development for Noble Village Group, joined us on the show to talk about not only the two major upcoming expansions, but his story and things he's learned over the years as a restauranteur.
You can find a full transcript below, and make sure to follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get shows.
Podcast transcript
Jer Staes: Metro Detroit is getting not just one but two new Asian food halls, one in Clawson and one in Novi. For your Daily Detroit on January 27th, 2025, we're going to talk about this Noble Village concept and the road ahead. I'm Jer Staes, and let's just jump into that conversation.
Joining me at the studio at TechTown is Doran Brooks, the Director of Business Development for the Noble Village Group, and foodies, you are going to want to listen to this because there's some big developments happening across Metro Detroit with one of, frankly, one of the more loved brands and storied brands of late in the area. Well Doran, welcome to Daily Detroit! Good to see you.
Doran Brooks: Good to see you. Thank you.
Jer Staes: So, I think a lot of people might know about Noble Fish. Let's start there because that's a name so many people know. Noble Fish has been around for a minute, right? And this is the the the genesis of some of the things that are are happening.
Doran Brooks: Yeah, Noble Fish has been in business for 40 years. We actually celebrated our 40th anniversary in 2024. So it's been around for quite a while.
Jer Staes: You know, 40 years of success. You're building on it for these new plans for Noble Village.
Doran Brooks: Yes.
Jer Staes: Which is going to be a 12,000 square foot Asian food hall. Let's talk about it.
Doran Brooks: Correct. Yeah. So we took this inspiration from some of the other markets around the country. Food halls are very popular in New York City, Chicago, on the West Coast. And so we wanted to kind of take inspiration from that and build something similar in the Detroit community. And we have this business that's been around for 40 years and we decided that we were going to build a food hall, an Asian food hall concept. So bring in our brands that we have right now that the community loves, and actually add more to that facility.
Jer Staes: One of those brands has boxes that are sitting on the studio table right now, called White Wolf. Let's talk about that for a minute.
Doran Brooks: Yeah. So White Wolf Japanese Patisserie, I was actually the founder of that. I opened that, uh, five, six years ago now. Um, and it's an Asian, Japanese, French kind of combo patisserie. So there's bakery items, croissants, a really cool cafe with some really interesting drinks on the menu.
Jer Staes: You have traveled the world.
Doran Brooks: Correct, yeah.
Jer Staes: So let's talk about it because this is fascinating to me.
Doran Brooks: Yeah. I mean, I'm originally from the San Francisco Bay Area. I was born and raised in Oakland and then when I was 17, my father moved us back to his hometown in Australia. So I lived there for many years. I actually ended up going to culinary school there, and then from there I just left home when I was, uh, 21 and decided to just travel the world. Ended up in New York City, in Boston, Japan, Korea, Chicago, a bunch of different places. So kind of took jobs wherever I could, and just, uh, learned as much as I could over the years.
Jer Staes: So why do a food hall in Clawson? There's so much talk about different areas of Metro Detroit. Clawson, if people are not familiar, you're over on 14 Mile Road. That is a suburb and kind of the middle of Oakland County. Would you say like a little north of Royal Oak?
Doran Brooks: Yeah, it's like exactly one mile north of Royal Oak, pretty much, uh, right on 14 Mile and Main Street, right, is pretty much where we are. I think Clawson is this place partially because Noble Fish has been there for its whole tenure, um, and the community has been really good to us, this, uh, City of Clawson. And there's a lot of new business happening there. There's a lot of like foody related things. There's Nori right across the street, um, Wise Distillery, and Sabbath Coffee right across the street. So there's a lot of new businesses coming in there, and it just felt like this community where we could add even more to it and kind of become this new central like little foody hub.
Jer Staes: It seems like in the last few years, that Clawson's really gotten a lot of momentum. What do you think's behind that?
Doran Brooks: You know, I, I think there's a few different guesses out. I don't wanna say, you know, it's one thing or another. I think it was just kind of this snowball effect where, you know, I hate to say it, but Noble Fish has been there and created like a staple in the community, and then a few other businesses came in. Then we opened White Wolf in that community. And then, you know, there's been an influx of other things. I think it's geographically really centrally located, like you were saying. Um, you know, you have Birmingham right down the street, you have West Bloomfield right there, you have Royal Oak really close by. It's kind of ancillary to Troy. There's a lot of like really great communities around that people want more. They, they ask for more. I mean, we have people coming all the time saying, "Can you do this? Can you do more of this? Can you add grocery? Can you add ramen?" Can you add all these different things. So we get those comments constantly.
Jer Staes: So let's talk about this food hall space. What's going to be inside of it?
Doran Brooks: Noble Fish is going to be there. We're actually expanding the sushi bar so there's going to be more seating. We're gonna add more options, more variety of sushi. Uh, then we're moving what is the White Wolf space, which is like two doors down from Noble Fish in a different building. Uh, we're actually moving the whole bakery counter into what is currently the seating area of Noble Fish. So those are gonna be kind of mirrored to each other. And then off of the sushi bar, we're actually adding a ramen concept there. So we're gonna have really authentic Japanese ramen. We're adding a cocktail bar into there. And so those four concepts are going to create like a little kind of central seated food hall kind of vibe. So the idea is you can come in from all hours of the day, come in early in the morning, get your coffee, get your pastries. Um, you can get lunch there. There's going to be sandwiches, salads, your sushi, you can get a bowl of ramen. And then we'll be open later so if you hang out all day, then you can get your, you know, cocktails at the end of the day as well. And that's going to be connected. What is currently the White Wolf space, from a physical standpoint, we're going to reformat that into what is the grocery section, the market section of Noble Fish. We're going to put that into what is the White Wolf section. And then what is really popular right now is our grab and go case. There's just tons of sushi and items that are uh, pre-made, people can just in the rush, come and grab them. We're going to make that probably five or six times as big as it is.
Jer Staes: Give people an idea when they're coming into this room, like people, I could say the number of square feet, which I think is like 12,000. But that's a very like, like the builders will know what that means. But when you walk in there, what are we, what are we thinking?
Doran Brooks: So there's two different forms of seating. We're expanding the patio, so that's going to add a lot of seating in like the summer months, right? But inside we're going to have about 70-80 seats inside. Um, we found that a large majority of our business is grab and go, so people come and take out. So that, I think, will suffice a lot of what we have during the winter months, right? And then in the summer there's going to be close to 150 seats in total.
Jer Staes: This isn't Noble Fish going away, or being any secondary. This is almost like a different way to present part of it as part of this food hall. Is that making sense?
Doran Brooks: Yeah. Yeah, and I'm glad you bring that up because that was kind of the idea behind Noble Village, right? If you think of a village, you go to a village somewhere, right? A village is a place where you find all the little shops, right? You have your little cafe, you have your retail store, you have all these different things all in this little community village downtown. So the Noble Village, the inspiration behind that is, we want to bring all of your favorite brands under one roof, right? Like, that statement, I think is the crux of what we're trying to do. So, in a Noble Village you will find a Noble Fish, you will find a White Wolf Japanese Patisserie, you will find the ramen concept, you will find a cocktail bar, you will find the market component. So all of those different things are a part of Noble Village. Like, nothing is Noble Village in terms of the offering. The Noble Village is the place where you find everything else. If that makes sense.
Jer Staes: Yeah, I think about when I visited, say, like the, uh, Time Out Food Hall in Chicago.
Doran Brooks: Yep.
Jer Staes: Like the, the village is the food hall concept that houses everything. But Noble Village, the place, and White Wolf and anything else that joins you, those are concepts within it.
Doran Brooks: Correct. Yes.
Jer Staes: Okay. And when is this particular project looking? You're hoping to get this done?
Doran Brooks: So it's gonna be done in phases, because one of the most important parts is that we're not going to close Noble Fish or White Wolf during this whole project. So we planned out really, uh, hard on how to make sure that these businesses stay open. So it's going to be rolled out in phases. So the first phase is in March. Our goal is to reopen the new White Wolf space and then what is the current White Wolf space we'll close down, but you'll still have White Wolf, right? And Noble Fish will stay open. And then we'll build out a different section, then we'll reopen that, and we'll close down a different part and reopen that. So it'll be done in phases as we go forward. But we want to ensure everyone that nothing is closing. It's all going to be open. It's all going to be available. You can come and get your coffee and sushi whenever you want, yeah.
Jer Staes: Now, I'm hesitant to say it this way because it'll make it sound like an infomercial.
Doran Brooks: Yeah.
Jer Staes: But wait, there's more.
Doran Brooks: Yeah.
Jer Staes: One more thing, as Steve Jobs would say.
Doran Brooks: Yes, one more thing. Um, we have a sister Noble Village. So this one that we've been talking about is Noble Village Clawson, like we said, in downtown Clawson, 14 and Main Street. Um, we are doing the same style concept, Noble Village Novi in downtown Novi. And that is going to be a very similar thing, but it's going to be much, much bigger with a lot more food options, a lot more going on. And that building that we have is currently the location of One World Market, which is our Japanese grocery store. It's the largest Japanese market in Michigan currently. Um, so we are building that into a 34,000 square foot food hall.
Jer Staes: So close to three times the size?
Doran Brooks: Three times the size, yeah.
Jer Staes: Woo. In that food hall, what are you looking at programming with, or are you, that's still coming together?
Doran Brooks: Uh, no, we have everything decided, which is really exciting. Um, we have, so the, the main things, like Noble Fish, and White Wolf, the ramen concept, cocktail bar, that whole market component. That's all going to be a part of this one as well. But in addition to that, we're building like a, uh, Asian fried chicken concept. We're building a whole sandwich concept into there as well, so into that food hall section. Um, the grab-and-go area will be much bigger, the market will be much bigger. We'll have like a whole Asian spirits, so if you want to come in and get, you know, 18-year Yamazaki whiskey, or things like that, depending on what you want, that'll be a whole, um, avenue for those types of products. And then we have a whole second floor, which is going to be a 400 person theater. So it's going to have a stage, lighting, entertainment component, so we're going to program everything from shows, or make the space available for rent, for conferences, or whatever you want to use it for. We're kind of calling it a community center. We haven't really figured out exactly what we want the public like name to be that really encapsulates the versatility of it. Uh, and then we're also building an izakaya style restaurant on the second floor as well, which will seat, um, probably about 100 people-ish, uh, on the second floor. And we'll have like catering ability and things like that available through this, uh, facility as well.
Jer Staes: And what drew you to Novi? What about Novi supports some project like this? This is pretty sizable to be honest.
Doran Brooks: Oh yeah, it's a big project. Um, yeah, I mean, we've been planning and talking about it for a while, and I think Novi is just a really powerful Japanese community. Um, you know, a lot of the Japanese automakers are there. It's one of the largest Japanese populations, uh, in Michigan. So it just kind of naturally made sense and then we have this like Clawson with Noble Fish, we have One World Market that's already there in that community. And then the community's been really good to us. They've been really supportive. The customers really love it, so we just decided that it made sense to do more in that community as well. So it was just kind of a natural, I guess, escalation of of that thought process.
Jer Staes: And is there a timeline on this one?
Doran Brooks: Um, so this one is a little bit more in the air. We've gutted the building and we've started some work there. Um, because of the scale of the project, I'm hesitant to like give any kind of hard, fast dates for anything, right? Um, I would say probably a couple of years is when this is going to be finished. Uh, with that said, you know, One World Market is open right now, right? Our market component, grocery, and that does have a sushi bar and stuff in it as well. Um, yeah, hopefully this doesn't sound like a plug for our businesses, but yeah, I'm really excited about what we're doing though.
Jer Staes: Well, I know people want to know about the new things happening around, around Metro Detroit. You know, I do want to ask you though, you started White Wolf, and you're now involved in Noble Fish. What are some things that you've learned serving Metro Detroit?
Doran Brooks: I think Metro Detroit is a really interesting community when it comes to the food culture. Um, people love new things and they're really excited about exploring new things, uh, and they, they will try anything once, right? Um, and that's been really exciting is when I first moved here, many years ago, there was this kind of aura of, "Oh, Detroit" and and what is Detroit, and it's kind of looked at in some ways as not the most positive light in a lot of other places around the country. Um, and then my first time visiting here, I was just absolutely blown away by what's available. And it was just really inspiring, like going and hunting down restaurants and cafes and little coffee shops and little hole-in-the-wall places to like some of the nicest restaurants in town. Um, there's, like the Book Tower, I think is a great example of what Detroit is capable of, right? Some of the restaurants in there are just staggering. Le Supreme is probably one of my favorite restaurants personally right now.
Jer Staes: Pretty much everyone I talk to raves about that place. I mean, I enjoy it too, but it's very rarely do I see like a universally loved restaurant, and that's one of them.
Doran Brooks: Yeah, it's, it's just impressive. I mean, the, the quality of the food and just the environment and everything. So, I think that was kind of my, um, introduction to Detroit, based on, so it was kind of this like blown away experience, because you have this preconceived notion of what it's about. And then I see that, you know, over the years and in doing things, people want high-quality stuff. They want something unique. They want something different. Um, so that, that's been really exciting to try things and experiment with different kinds of food and different concepts, and try to listen to the community, I think is probably the most important thing. I mean, I think through the years and and working in the food industry, a lot of people have this idea of like, "I want to do this," right? And they want to bring this business or idea or this food concept. But I think what we need to do is really listen to the community. And I think that's what we are taking a step back and trying really hard to do, is understand what do people love about us and our businesses or about the food community in general, or what do they dislike about it? And try to really understand that fundamentally, and bring more of what they love and try to change what they don't love, right? Like that's, it's a challenge. I'm not saying it's easy, or you know, it's a walk in the park to do so, because everyone's a little different, everyone has different preferences, but, um, the more that we can kind of take a step back and remove our own egos from the food culture and just bring, you know, food is about sharing community and bringing people together. So if we continue down that path, I think is the right motivation behind it.
Jer Staes: What is something new that you've learned, you know, that you didn't realize at first, like this is the way it was going to be?
Doran Brooks: That question brings like two things initially. The, the first thing is what I've learned about Detroit in general, right? The community in general. And that is that the people are probably some of the nicest people I've ever met. You know, I've lived in a lot of different states around the United States and different countries and been traveling a lot and and the people here are just amazing, right? Like I thought when I first moved here, I would spend some time here, um, and then I'd probably go onto the next thing, and, you know, eight years later, I'm still here, um, bought a house and, you know, have my wife here and we're just, you know, we love the community, right? So I think that was something that I, I learned about this place is it's just filled with really, really good people. Um, and then I think the from the food side, I've learned that creativity is key would be my, my kind of comment on that. Is the more kind of outside the box that we can get and the more that we challenge people, right, in the community, I think the more that we can really create something special. I think a lot of people try to mimic what everyone else is doing, and, you know, we're never going to be do anything as well as Starbucks is doing, or anything as well as McDonald's is doing, right? Or what your next door neighbor's doing. I think people don't want, you know, a different version of that restaurant that already exists. They want something new, they want something different. And that took me, I think, a really long time to learn, is that when I was going through my career is like, you're always trying to learn, "Oh, how did that person do this and that and try to replicate that." And I think when you break through and you go like, "Wait, I just need to do something that no one else is doing." And that's really hard. But you also have to be careful because if you go too far outside that box of of weird, then you scare people away, right? So I think that's the fine line that you're always walking.
Jer Staes: Doran Brooks, Noble Village Group, Noble Fish, White Wolf, all the things, where can people find more about what you're doing and follow you?
Doran Brooks: Yeah, so at Noble Village on the socials is a good way. You can find all the brands like at Noble Fish, Sushi, Clawson is our Instagram handle for Noble Fish, at White Wolf Bakery. Um, but if you just go to www.noblevillage.com, then you'll find pretty much everything, the links to everything else and you can see all the brands, you can find out more about everything pretty much.
Jer Staes: Awesome. Well, Doran, I appreciate you and thank you for your time on Daily Detroit.
Doran Brooks: Thank you!
Jer Staes: Thanks so much for listening. Thanks so much to our members on Patreon! patreon.com/dailydetroit. Remember that you are somebody, and we'll see you around town. Talk tomorrow.
