2 New Restaurants Coming to Chesterfield

New dining options are on the menu in Chesterfield Township.

The former Steak 'n Shake on Gratiot north of 23 Mile, which had long been closed and boarded up, is being converted into a Happy's Pizza, township building officials said Wednesday.

Additionally, plans have been submitted to the Building Department to turn O'Charley's near Wal-Mart off Hall Road and Gratiot into a Twisted Rooster restaurant.

Both the restaurants are chains that offer a slew of menu items. Besides pizza, Happy's Pizza serves ribs, seafood, wraps, wings, salads and more. There are locations throughout Michigan, including Detroit, Mount Clemens, St. Clair Shores, Eastpointe, Farmington and Warren, according to its website.

Grand Rapids-based Twisted Rooster has anything from pastas to burgers on its extensive menu. (It even has four kinds of mac and cheese.) According to its website, Twisted Rooster is the first independent concept for Meritage Hospitality Group that employs 2,200 workers, 1,600 of them living in Michigan.

O'Charley's will close Sunday and remodeling is slated to begin Monday for Twisted Rooster. A tentative opening date is schedule for April 28, said Heather Halligan, marketing coordinator for Meritage Hospitality Group.

Halligan said Meritage operated O'Charley's as a franchisee and decided to use the Chesterfield location for the second Twisted Rooster restaurant following the first opening in Grand Rapids last July.

"We felt that the concept was solid enough and we wanted to bring it to the Detroit area," she said, adding the menu will be tweaked for the township restaurant.

The company, which will be hiring soon for the new restaurant, is also looking forward to supporting the local economy by buying as many local products and produce as possible, she said.

"With our new concept, we want to keep as much money as we can within the state."

Construction has begun at Happy's Pizza, but an opening date was not immediately known.