Huntington Woods Resident Helps Make 'Cork' Dream a Reality

Huntington Woods resident Vince Dattilo helped bring the newly opened Cork Wine Pub in Pleasant Ridge to life, fulfilling a dream and creating a new community gathering space.

Dattilo, a contractor, was brought in to transform Pleasant Ridge architect Mark Johnson's old office on Woodward Avenue into a warm, inviting place for wine aficionados to eat, drink, be merry – and shop.

"Much of what you see in Cork right now in terms of the walnut bookcases and the French doors were carry-overs from Mark's original design," Dattilo said. "The greatest effort one can pursue is to leave behind as much of what was there as possible."

What is now Cork's retail space had been leased to an interior designer, so it needed little changing, said Dattilo. His firm, Roxbury Group, is based the Guardian Building in Detroit. Dattilo added that architect Joe Novitsky of Berkley and kitchen consultant/designer Matt Badrak of Grosse Pointe were "absolutely critical" to completing the project.

He also praised co-owner Nancy Crutchfield for giving the team "a lot of latitude" to help bring her dream to life.

Crutchfield said she had worked in the restaurant business years ago and always aspired to open up her own place.

"I always thought I'd like to have  a little coffee shop or a wine shop," she said.

But her career path took her to General Motors, where she worked until about a year ago. Worried about the future, Crutchfield said she decided to take a buyout and a leap of faith and get into the restaurant business full time. She had begun working with Pleasant Ridge in 2007 to nail down the project and secure the rights to the city's sole liquor license, Crutchfield said.

It all finally came together when Cork opened the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

"It already has the flavor of a neighborhood establishment," said Dattilo, who admitted with a chuckle that he's already visited Cork "many times."

Cork is open Tuesday through Thursday from 4 to 10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 4 p.m. until midnight. Call 248-544-2675 or visit http://corkwinepub.com for more information.