Not long ago I was hired to shoot Chef Adam Hightower for a new restaurant to open this month. I can’t say enough great things about Adam. I admire his ambition, attention to detail and appreciation for art in all forms. After our first session (linked above) he decided to use me for food photography that would later be hung on the walls at the new restaurant and also for images of drinks to be hung in the gastropub. This project has been a real pleasure for me and I now have a new respect and appreciation for the culinary arts. If you happen to be particular about your food and drink, Gastronomy will certainly have to go on your list of places to dine in the near future.
Gastronomy is one of several restaurants owned by The Epicurean Group  which owns places like Coach Insignia and Novi Chop House.
From the Detroit Free Press:
“We’re doing 100% from-scratch cooking,” Hightower said. Most of the restaurant’s beers are from Michigan and all the wines are from the U.S. A staff of four mixologists will create the bar’s craftcocktails, he said.
The menu will emphasize American ingredients. “I’m not bringing anything in” — even the soy sauce is made in Kentucky, he added. One section of the menu will highlight America’s ethnic diversity and will change every six weeks.
“The gastropub has been very important to me. I’ve put 22 years of research and development into this restaurant, and two years in Hong Kong to see what the gastropub concept was” and what made it successful, said the chef, a Rochester native whose career has taken him around the globe. Hightower is best-known locally as the chef who opened Motor City Casino’s revamped Iridescence restaurant in 2008.”
..”About 98% of his staff members have culinary degrees, and four others are award-winning high school culinary students who begin college-level culinary training this fall.”
Prepare yourself for some salivation…



















 
The restaurant will mark its opening with a benefit dinner Aug. 8 in which 50% of proceeds will be donated to the AIDS Coalition and the Affirmations center in Ferndale for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. Benefit seating is limited; reservations are required by calling 248-864-4410.