European-style Charcuterie is a specialty at the Forest Grill!
Located on the street level of 735 Forest, this 65-seat boutique restaurant features an open kitchen, brick oven, and seasonal outdoor patio.
Nick Janutol heard from James Rigato, the chef of Mabel Gray in Hazel Park and a former co-worker of his from the Rugby Grille in Birmingham, that Forest Grill had a chef opening. After interviewing for the job, Janutol knew this was the next step and came back home.
After Janutol worked as chef de cuisine for a couple of years, another door opened. Samy Eid, whose family owns Phoenicia in Birmingham, was a customer at Forest Grill and had expressed interest in buying the restaurant if it ever came up for sale, Janutol recalls. Not long after that, founding chef Brian Polcyn sold the restaurant, and Janutol was elevated to the executive chef role.
For the past three years, Eid and Janutol have worked hard to revamp the restaurant’s brand, now simply Forest.
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Brian is an advocate of using locally grown, organic ingredients and is respected for his regional American cooking style.
Brian Polcyn is a nationally recognized Chef who has been active in the Detroit market for 33 years. he was trained at The Golden Mushroom, was the chef at The Lark, and has owned and operated some of the most acclaimed restaurants in the area such as Pike Street and Chimayo in Pontiac, Michigan, Acadia in Auburn Hills, Michigan, and Five Lakes Grill in Milford, Michigan.
Brian has been the Chef/Proprietor of Five Lakes Grill for twelve years. The Detroit Free Press named Five Lakes Grill as Restaurant of the Year in 2005. In 2006, Brian was honored to be nominated for the prestigious Best Chef in the Midwest award from the James Beard Foundation. Brian is the author of the cookbook Charcuterie, also nominated for a James Beard award for best single subject that same year. He teaches Culinary Arts at Schoolcraft College in Livonia, Michigan and has consulted for the restaurant community for 20 years for companies such as Northwest Airlines, Kellogg’s, and numerous restaurants.
Brian is an advocate of using locally grown, organic ingredients and is respected for his regional American cooking style. He was the subject in Micheal Ruhlmans book, “The Soul of a Chef,” and had been featured in such publications as The New York Times, Gourmet Magazine, Bon Appetite, Nuvo, The Detroit News, The Detroit Free Press, Playboy and Hour Detroit Magazine.