A vintage sign on Packard has pointed motorists to the Big Ten Market, Big Ten Party Store, and Morgan & York. The latest subtle change: “York” now encompasses the initials of partners Tommy York, Sarah Okin, Elan Ruggill, and Ethan and Noah Kaplan. | Courtesy of York
A new wine bar and listening room centered around vinyl records—and two neighboring buildings dedicated for private events—are the latest evolution for York Food & Drink.
The former Big Ten Market, Big Ten Party Store, and Morgan & York has come a long way since being reimagined five years ago from a retailer into a hospitality experience. Its vintage sign on Packard now points to an indoor/outdoor campus of community and culture, a self-described “neighborhood oasis.”
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Morgan No More
In 2019, Tommy York brought in new partners: the business-savvy couple Sarah Okin and Elan Ruggill, along with the artistic brothers Ethan and Noah Kaplan of custom audiovisual manufacturer Leon Speakers. Coincidentally, their surname initials combine to spell York.
“This is actually the realization of what we had imagined together as a team: full-scale community engagement, every space activated,” Noah Kaplan says of the latest expansion.
In the back of the building, the retail wine selection is now shelved along the walls to create seating for Vinyl & Wine, where turntables spin records from a broad range of eras and genres while patrons relax and imbibe. The space has a “darker vibe, a little more moody” atmosphere, as Kaplan puts it, adding “I don’t think people remember how good analog sounds.”
At a conference table in the basement wine cellar, the loquacious Kaplan packs plenty of background and enthusiastic envisioning into an hour’s conversation. The York experience, he explains, spans fire pits and food trucks, cocktails and cheese boards, DJs and a deli, pop-up events and pop bottle sculpture. His attention diverts only briefly, once to accept a bottle of spirits Ruggill gifts him, and once to consider which of Pulitzer Prize–winning photographer David Turnley’s works will grace the walls upstairs.
Kaplan explains that he’s long aimed to help “create cultural gravity” with a brewhouse and beer garden, once eyeing the little house that had served as Dog-O-Mat (now on Jackson Ave.), behind a dry cleaners next to what was then Morgan & York. He couldn’t gain approval, though, so those ambitions are now actualized at Mothfire Brewing Company.
And now the York partners have modernized the neighboring buildings into new private event venues known collectively as SPACE by York, adding restroom facilities, AV support, and, of course, plenty of art.
York Food & Drink, 1928 Packard. (734) 662–0798. Sun. & Tues.–Thurs. 8 a.m.–9 p.m., Fri. & Sat. 8 a.m.–10 p.m. Closed Mon. yorka2.com
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