Waterford storefront is all about the ribs

When you are in Detroit, Rib Rack Ribs and Chicken is the place to eat.

The restaurant, which opened in May, got its start on the front porch of a Central Michigan University fraternity house in the early 1990s. That's when owners Mike Owens and Mark Tomas lived with their brothers of Sigma Phi Epsilon. Somehow, the cooking duties fell to them.

They discovered they enjoyed it, and the brothers and others enjoyed their cooking, especially the ribs they'd fire up on the grill on the front porch. They hadn't planned to open a restaurant. Tomas got a degree in finance and Owens earned a degree in broadcast and advertising.

"I was like a lot of kids, not sure what I really wanted to do," says Owens, who manages the restaurant and cooks.

After a few years working in other restaurants, he decided to open his own place with Tomas, relying heavily on the barbecue that had attracted people to the fraternity's front porch.

Waterford storefront is all about the ribs