[NEWS BITES] Great Lakes Coffee Roasting Co. expands into Lake Orion; more

All this news of expansions and growing empires in recent months ... it's like, what recession two years ago, you know?

All snarking aside (it happens occasionally), it's really quite amazing when you step back and look at what a difference two years have made, not just to the city but to greater metro Detroit as a whole. From a seemingly endless stream of bankruptcies and closures to new restaurants opening on a weekly basis and restaurateurs both seasoned and new to the game building empires, and businesses increasing their hours just to keep up with demand. But enough waxing poetic; here's news:

Great Lakes Coffee Roasting Company's Institute for Advanced Drinking (IFAD, or #ifad for those of you who speak in hashtags) opened in Midtown in June, was featured in Food + Wine Magazine in September, opened a second outlet in Bloomfield Hills earlier this month, and is now working on a third location in Lake Orion. Is partner/face of IFAD James Cadariu on a roll? Yes, I think that's pretty safe to say.

Incidentally, no I do not work for them since a couple of people have asked and presumably more have wondered. I just think they're super-swell.

That being said, the O-IFAD ("original IFAD," that is) is now open on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

And in other increased hours news, Local Kitchen + Bar, Rick Halberg's insta-hit in Ferndale that opened in August, is now open for lunch as of this week.