Nine Kitchen + Bar

Nine Kitchen + Bar makes a strong first impression: polished and modern, a little sexy, with the kind of lively, diverse room where people are dressed casual-cute and the playlist lands somewhere between Gorillaz and The Black Keys. It works for a girls’ brunch, a book-club meet-up, or a friend catch-up that turns into drinks; we can also easily see it as a proper date-night spot after dark.

We stopped in late on a Saturday afternoon and, craving lunch over traditional brunch, both ordered Nine’s Smash Burger: double smash patties with onions, smoked Gouda cheese sauce, pickles, burger sauce, and Cajun lemon-pepper fries with garlic aioli. The burger was delicious. The fries were the real table-stealer—crispy, boldly seasoned, and among the best we’ve had in a while. My mom, who usually passes on fries, devoured hers, boxed up what remained, and asked for a second garlic aioli. An endorsement we take seriously.

Service was friendly but moved a little slowly during our visit. Still, we walked in with no reservation and no wait, parking was easy out front, and the whole outing felt pleasantly effortless. Nine sits only a couple businesses from The Rust Belt Market, so make a weekend afternoon of it: brunch here, then a drink, a wander, and a little shopping down the street. Brunch won this visit, but we’ll be back for dinner—and there are plenty of other Ferndale spots to round out the day.