Mold Remediation in Dexter, MI

DEXTER, MI - A new restaurant will soon fill a need for breakfast and lunch in downtown Dexter following the closure of a beloved cafe earlier this year.

Husband-and-wife Enzo and Nela Shahinllari are opening Dexter Brunch House at 8124 Main St., which formerly held Dexter Riverview Café for 10 years before it closed in January.

Read more: Beloved Dexter breakfast, lunch spot closes due to lease dispute

The Shahinllaris said they have been working tirelessly to remodel the family-owned restaurant so it could hit the ground running. They are hoping to open their doors Thursday, Feb. 20.

Options seem to be endless on the new restaurant’s menu, which is filled with omelets, skillets, crepes, oatmeal, breakfast sandwiches, pancakes, egg benedicts, French toast, waffles, sandwiches, salads, wraps and burgers.

“I wanted something on the menu for everyone,” Enzo Shahinllari said, adding he’s excited for people to try the corned beef sandwiches and pancakes.

The menu may be large, but he said the restaurant is all about quality.

Ultimately, he wants the menu’s fresh ingredients to set Dexter Brunch House apart from the rest. He plans to keep prices as “reasonable” as he can.

“We don’t want to just take, take, take,” Enzo Shahinllari said. “I’ve noticed people put profits over quality sometimes and that’s not our goal and people will notice that when they come in there.”

Dexter Brunch House will make homemade items like its jelly, biscuits and gravy and corned beef hash and will also serve a variety of bread, including gluten-free options.

Customers can expect other things like fresh squeezed orange juice and toast that use real butter as opposed to margarine, Enzo Shahinllari said.

“I want people to come in and feel like they got a good home cooked meal,” he said.

Enzo Shahinllari, 31, has been working within the restaurant industry for roughly 15 years. He got his start at Bode’s Corn Beef House in downtown Plymouth.

The Shahinllaris met in the United States after moving from Albania at different points of their lives. They now live in the Plymouth area, but there was something about Dexter that really drew them in, he said.

“The feeling of Dexter made us feel like home,” he said. “We love the close-knit community, and we have been getting an unbelievable amount of support.”

The couple plans to add themselves to Dexter’s support by participating in school fundraisers and local community events.

Dexter Brunch House ultimately aims to be a welcoming space for the city, Enzo Shahinllari said, adding he wants people to feel they “got their money’s worth.”

“We hope that Dexter will give us a chance to show that we care and we’re passionate about what we are doing,” he said.

Dexter Brunch House will be open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day. Learn more on social media.

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DEXTER, MI - Tiramisu pancakes, Nutella crepes, strawberry cheesecake waffles and many other meals make up the large menu at Dexter Brunch House.

The new restaurant in downtown Dexter officially opened at 8124 Main St. on Saturday, Feb. 22, thanks to husband-and-wife Enzo and Nela Shahinllari.

Read more: Breakfast, lunch spot to replace beloved former Dexter cafe

The duo opened it following the closure of Dexter Riverview Café in January.

It hasn’t been long, but the couple said they already have some fan favorite menu items like eggs Benedict, chicken avocado wraps and the Tiramisu pancakes.

“It’s funny, my wife made (the pancakes) for me one day at home and I said when we get a restaurant, we have to put these on the menu,” Enzo said.

Dexter Brunch House is all about offering fresh menu items made from scratch, Enzo said. Customers can order both breakfast and lunch all day.

“I’m using real ingredients which helps, but I’m also cooking it with love,” he said. “I’m not just making the food because there’s a ticket and I have to get it out.”

The menu has a lot of different options to choose from, whether someone is looking for eggs, Benedicts, omelets, breakfast sandwiches, skillets, pancakes, waffles, crepes, French Toast, oatmeal, sandwiches, salads, burgers or wraps. There are also some gluten-free options available as well.

It may not always be easy having a big menu, but Enzo said it keeps customers wanting to come back for more. He typically starts his days at 3 a.m. often doesn’t finish the day until 7 p.m. to make sure everything is fresh.

“It’s a little bit difficult on us to have such a big menu, but the customers seem to love it so if they like it then I am going to do it,” he said.

Enzo really takes pride in his corned beef sandwiches, which use real Swiss cheese, rye bread from a bakery and corned beef from Wigley’s in Detroit, he said.

“When all three things come together, it makes for a beautiful sandwich,” he said.

Customers have also been enjoying the restaurant’s homemade strawberry and blueberry jam, fresh squeezed orange juice and its lattes.

“They’re telling us we should sell (jam) in the store because it’s so good,” he said.

Dexter Brunch House may have just begun, but Enzo and Nela can already feel the love from Dexter. The couple is grateful to those who have come out to support.

Enzo said he’s had many customers tell him that Dexter Brunch House is exactly what the community has needed.

“The support we’ve gotten from the community has been nothing that we’ve ever imagined or were ready for,” he said. “Everyone is making us feel like we belong here.”

Dexter Brunch House is open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day. Find the restaurant online, on social media or by phone at 734-819-8143.

The restaurant will also be open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. on St. Patrick’s Day on Monday, March 17, serving corned beef sandwiches and cabbage.

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The Huron Waterloo Pathways Initiative (HWPI) is excited to announce the official launch of the Bridge the B2B: Double your Donation for Dexter’s Trail Connection, a fundraising campaign aimed at raising $250,000 to complete the final trail segment connecting the Border to Border (B2B) Trail into downtown Dexter. The campaign will operate on a peer-to-peer model, where individuals, teams, and businesses are encouraged to raise funds by reaching out to their networks. Donations will be matched dollar-for-dollar up to $250,000 by an anonymous foundation, allowing every dollar contributed to make an even greater impact on completing this trail segment and restoring the historic bridge.

The project to connect the B2B Trail into downtown Dexter has been years in the making, made possible through a collaborative effort of HWPI, the Washtenaw County Parks and Recreation Commission, and the City of Dexter. In addition to the construction of 0.8-miles of trail from Dexter-Chelsea Road to Mill Creek Park, it includes the restoration and installation of the historic Bell Road Bridge over Mill Creek.

“This project will complete the B2B Trail’s easternmost connection into Dexter along the Dexter-Chelsea corridor, providing safer access to nature and improving connectivity between Dexter, Chelsea, and Ann Arbor,” said Kiff Hamp, Executive Director of HWPI. “With this generous matching grant, every dollar raised will be doubled, meaning all contributions to this campaign will go twice as far in supporting this important project.”

The Bell Road Bridge, dating back to 1891 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, will be refurbished and placed across Mill Creek, creating a historic and scenic gateway into Dexter. This connection will complete the trail corridor between communities, offering a valuable recreational resource while preserving local history.

Huron Waterloo Pathways Initiative

339 E Liberty St. Suite 320, Ann Arbor, MI 48104 Tel: 734-480-8381

For additional information about HWPI please visit our website at: huron-waterloo-pathways.org

How You Can Help & Join the Movement

Support the Bridge the B2B campaign by setting a fundraising goal as an individual, team, or business. Fundraisers will receive exclusive perks and recognition on trail signage. This is a great opportunity to help complete the B2B Trail and enhance the Dexter area. To get started, visit the campaign page, set your goal, and share it with your network. For more details, visit the Campaign Fundraising Page at https://give.classy.org/BridgetheB2B or contact giving@b2btrail.org.

“Monday night, the DCS Board of Education voted to pursue tenure charges against a DCS teacher. Filing tenure charges is part of the process of terminating a contract with a tenured teacher.”

At the Dexter Community Schools Board of Education meeting on Monday, February 24, the board entered a closed session to discuss what was listed as a “Tenure Charge Recommendation” on the agenda. According to the Michigan Department of Education, a tenure charge is a “formal disciplinary action initiated by a school district against a tenured teacher under the Teacher Tenure Act (Public Act 4 of 1937, as amended).”

The session was closed at the request of the educator, whose name was not disclosed by the board. However, during the public comment portion of the meeting, several people provided comments in support of the teacher. In doing so, at least two individuals identified the person in question as Katherine Kuzma, a physical education teacher at Mill Creek Middle School.

Though all public comments at the meeting were in support of Ms. Kuzma, some of the wording used in those comments indicated that the tenure charge may be related to accusations of “grooming” or “sexual impropriety.” Neither the school district nor Ms. Kuzma has commented on the nature of the tenure charges.

Bruce Brown is the former Superintendent at Stockbridge Schools and worked with Ms. Kuzma for several years before she moved to Dexter Community Schools. He said, “Ms. Kuzma is one of the most moral, one of the most ethical people that I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with in my career. As I read through the charges against her, and I read the word ‘grooming,’ it’s not in her DNA, simply impossible.”

Additional comments revealed that the accusations could have to do with Ms. Kuzma’s email communications. Cindy Lance, a longtime Trustee of the Stockbridge School Board also spoke publicly in support of Kuzma. “Snippets from emails can be taken out of context and presented in a manner to lead a conclusion and a vote a certain way. We’ve all seen the power of context–when things are taken out of context.”

She continued, “The term grooming, as mentioned before, I am almost confident, positive with this, she probably didn’t even know what the definition of that word was. The emails to male students were at the top of the list. Was that a strategy to promote outrage or hysteria? Why was that more important as a central focus than what was stated as the same amount of emails to female athletes and students?” It is unclear to what list Ms. Lance was referring.

Lance concluded her prepared remarks with, “Mrs. Kuzma is an exceptional coach, educator, leader, and person. It’s my opinion that any accusations made against her character, integrity, or professionalism are gross misrepresentations of who she is.”

One Dexter parent described the impact Ms. Kuzma had on their students during the time she taught and coached them saying, “[Student name] really valued Katherine’s periodic messages of encouraging hard work, overcoming adversity, leading by examples and he wanted to show his appreciation to her by motivating Katherine to pursue her own weight lifting goals during Coach Whittaker’s before school conditioning program.”

When asked about the tenure charges discussed in the closed session, Dexter Community Schools Superintendent Dr. Chris Timmis provided The Sun Times News with the following statement:

“Dexter Community Schools takes tremendous pride in hiring the best educators to work with our students. When we have a situation where one of those educators does not meet our expectations, we are swift with removing the individual from our schools.

Monday night, the DCS Board of Education voted to pursue tenure charges against a DCS teacher. Filing tenure charges is part of the process of terminating a contract with a tenured teacher. This decision is not taken lightly but is necessary to uphold our standard of only having the best educators working with our students.”

Video for the Board Meeting can be found on the Dexter Community Schools YouTube channel.

Katherine Kuzma could not be reached for comment.