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CHEF and R E S TAU R AT EU R
MOLLY MITCHELL and EGGY DING The power duo leading Rose’s Fine Food. by JORIE JACOBI / Photography by ATTILIO D’AGOSTINO
Molly Mitchell’s current interpretation of the classic neighborhood diner is a bit different than what she grew up loving. The Detroit-based chef and restaurateur worked at a local eatery in her small hometown of Howell, Michigan, about an hour outside of Detroit. “You’d see so many different kinds of people together: high school kids, construction workers, young families, retirees. And they were all being taken care of, eating something delicious,” she says. Mitchell became passionate about the casual community vibe of traditional diners—each one its own hallmark of Americana, complete with a cast of characters and stories with the potential to become lore. So much so that she co-founded Rose’s Fine Food in 2014 with her cousin and fellow restaurateur Lucy Peters and developed a menu with a mixture of recognizable staples like pancakes, egg platters and breakfast sandwiches alongside dishes with an eclectic twist. There’s the vegan pesto sandwich, breakfast noodles and the egg sandwich, which comes with cheddar, local
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greens and aioli, served with pickles and grits or potatoes. An adventurous diner could even pair it with a side of kimchi. Scan the beverage menu and you’ll also see chocolate milk and Coke coexisting alongside hibiscus iced tea and Topo Chico mineral water. While Peters has since left Rose’s to focus on her family, she connected Mitchell to the highly artistic baker and chef Eggy Ding. Rarely seen without her glasses and a knitted cap or bandana, Ding bakes majestic, detailed birthday cakes that are a favorite of Detroit’s locals, and she pays equal attention to one of Rose’s specialties: house-made bread. Ding makes it from scratch based on a recipe she learned while studying at the San Francisco Baking Institute, crafted using stone-ground organic flour from Michigan’s Ferris Organic Farm. A Cincinnati native, Ding originally studied fine art in college before moving to Detroit. “I had some friends who lived here, and when Lucy [Peters] approached me about Rose’s, I was working at a bakery in the suburbs. I had to be there at 3 a.m., so I’d be driving to work when everyone’s
