The Week We Ate (The EID Week in Review)

Of all the Detroit photos run in national news outlets this week...

Here is your official Detroit bankruptcy travel guide, courtesy of me and Fox News. [Fox]

The beer list for the Sweet 16 MBG Summer Beer Festival is out. Hour gave some pro tips and MittenBrew put together this handy guide to the 800+ beers on hand. [MBG / Hour / MittenBrew]

ICYMI:
~For the sake of Just Baked and their continued expansion, I really hope this cupcake bubble doesn't burst. Just Baked is one of the likely new tenants of the Woodward Gardens Block Development in Midtown, which will be completed by the end of the year. [Model D]
~Well we ARE a burger town. Check out the new Eastern Market Corporation murals by The Weird, presented by Inner State Gallery and 1xRUN, and read more about them here. [Pure Detroit FB / Model D]
~Okay so I was wondering about the beer on offer at the new Coors Light Sky Deck at the Detroit Opera House. So I asked. Answer: all the MillerCoors products (including Blue Moon and Leinenkugel). They also plan on hosting beer tastings with food pairings. [Model D]
~Mr. Tim of Detroit BBQ Company is one of Nikki's Boys, and this is why. [EID]

Pig + Whiskey: the best event of the summer. Nikki's Boys KILLED IT, btw. [Metro Times]

Are you guys just not familiar with The Bruery? I expected a lot more excitement about this. And am disappointed that it has not received it. THIS IS A HELL OF A LOT FUCKING BETTER THAN OSKAR BLUES, YOU GUYS. [Produce Station FB]

Bon Appétit Magazine gives some love to Vinsetta Garage, a "hip eatery" in an old gas station among many hip eateries in old gas stations in America. [Bon Appetit]

Have you been to the Wayne State University Farmers Market on Wednesdays yet? This is a project of SEED Wayne, overseen by Kami Pothukuchi. Read more about her work here in Urban Innovation Exchange. [UIX]

In keeping with "nothing keeps Detroit down" (even bankruptcy), after his world-famous coffeeshop closed in Ferndale, AJ O'Neill continued on to launch AJ's Coffee Works in Highland Park. Roasted by the century-old Becharas Brothers Coffee Company, Detroit Bold is very much a Detroit product. [Michipreneur]

Next thing you know Oak Park will allow broads and The Blacks to vote. !!! [Detroit News]

BuzzFeed does something other than run slideshows of Nicolas Cage as your favorite Disney princesses; Detroiters likely would have pitched a petulant fit over this but then the bankruptcy announcement happened and everyone expended all their energy on self-affirming fit-pitching instead. [BuzzFeed]

In a super-scientific and totally reliable study published by HuffPo, Detroit has been ranked the most gluten-free city in America. This is likely because of all of the meat that we eat. [HuffPo]

And that's a wrap now for Chen Chow. Looks like the Dali Group is officially kaput (at least in its Vegas-in-Birmingham capacity). [Crain's]

La Feria Detroit is getting closer to opening and is now hiring all positions. [La Feria]

Gas station food. I'm telling you, you guys. It's going to be a thing. [Royal Oak Patch]

What are some of the local products on offer at Whole Foods Market Detroit? Here's a nice rundown of Detroit producers that can be found on the shelves. [Model D]

His name is actually "Happy." LOL. [WXYZ]

The owner of Beans and Cornbread Soulful Bistro and Bar has opened Southern Nosh, a vegetarian soul food restaurant also in Southfield. Card-carrying meat-eater Nathan Skid of Crain's Detroit Business says it doesn't suck. [Crain's]

Thrillist took a look-see-eat at Bistro Joe's, the buzzy new bistro above Papa Joe's Gourmet Market in B-Ham. [Thrillist]

Wolverine Lake is this teeeeeeeeeeeeny tiny township in the middle of Commerce, Walled Lake, Wixom and West Bloomfield. (Fun bit of EID trivia: one time I threw a party in the park there and got into a fight with the cops around 2am.) Chef Jeff Rose is a well-known chef around town, and his new concept CAYA Smokehouse Grill is probably going to be worth the drive twisting and turning through all of the lakes in the area. Very pretty location, and did I mention there's a pretty cool park on the lake there? (Just don't party there after 2am. They don't like that.) [Freep]

Food Network was in town last week filming an episode of On the Rocks (think Kitchen Nightmares but for bars) at The Oxford Inn of Royal Oak. If you'll recall an announcement earlier this year to re-brand as a country-western bar was met with a lot of eye-rolling, ultimately hurting the business. When this opportunity to be a part of the Food Network's show came up and they took it. Lock and Key, a "speakeasy"-themed bar, is now open to the public, and the episode will air around the end of the year. An insider source tells me the production team and on-air talent was brutal during the flip, which is pretty typical for these kinds of shows, but owner Bob Higgins held it together and didn't pull an Amy's Baking Company. And now you can check it out for yourself. [Royal Oak Patch]

And here is an update on Craftwork in West Village. [Crain's]

Detroit, are you showing Next Food Network Star contestant Rodney Henry of Dangerously Delicious Pies Baked in Detroit Internet love? Vote for him up to 10 times a day on this Food Network poll. [Food Network]

At least the name "Red Sauce" still works. Red Sauce inside Breeze Dining Court at MGM Grand Detroit has ditched the Mexican and gone (back) to Italian. [My Fox Detroit]

Chef Robert of Bastone Brewery, Monk Beer Bar, Vinotecca and Craft is a lovable kind of guy (in a shitwit kind of way) who loves what he does. [Daily Tribune]

John D Bistro has a new chef (one of the The Detroit Three) and a new weekend menu. [Detroit News]

Free popcorn Tuesdays run through August 27 at MJR Digital Cinemas. With popcorn being almost as much as the cost of a movie ticket, seems like a pretty good deal. [MLive]

[EID Feature] Detroit BBQ Company will take over Pig + Whiskey, soon all of Detroit

All photos pulled from the Detroit BBQ Co. Facebook page. 

Over the years I've written about hundreds of people, places, and events hundreds (thousands?) of times for dozens of media outlets. I try to keep up with as many of them as I can, as much as one human being can possibly strive towards total omniscience, through Facebook and whatever (not so much Twitter; Twitter is stupid).

I'd be lying if I said I remembered each and every one of them. I don't even remember who I interviewed this morning. Half the time I forget the name of the person I'm interviewing halfway through the damn interview. I'm not trying to be insensitive. This is just the way it is when you're juggling multiple different media identities.

But there are still those who make a lasting impression. Big personalities (and big mouths) that usually hide equally big hearts, but you'd never know it unless you actually bothered to get to know the person, and most people don't. I get that, because I am that – all iron and venom in the front with a mushy center. Takes one to know one, I suppose. I can sniff these types out faster than a beer bar in a beer desert, and I usually take an immediate liking to them, and thus an immediate loyalty – with all of the iron and venom that my loyalty implies.

Timmay.

In my head I call them "Nikki's Boys." (They're usually boys. Not for any sexytime reasons; much like my grandmother, whom I was lucky enough to have all to myself for my first 25 years, I've always favored my boys.) James Rigato of the Root is one. Nikita Santches of Rock City Pies and the soon-to-open Rock City Eatery is one. And Tim Idzikowski of Detroit BBQ Company is one.

Some of you might already be familiar with Tim; he's kind of famous on my Facebook page. Probably you don't really understand Tim, and that's okay. You don't need to. If you trust me, then trust this: he's legit. He's one of Nikki's Boys. Because part of being one of Nikki's Boys isn't just being a big-hearted shitwit; it also means having real, actual, no-bullshit talent and passion beyond what a publicist would have you believe of many talk-the-talk types. (Definitely not Nikki's Boys.)

So now I'd like for you to understand Tim a little better. And I'm requiring you (REQUIRING) to pay him a visit this weekend at Pig + Whiskey, the smoky, sweltering summertime Ferndale food and booze event now in its third year.

Tim and his brother Zac own Detroit BBQ Company. They started out as brothers usually do: in competition with each other. In this case, it was to see who could make the best ribs. Then, just for funsies, they bought a smoker and started making barbecue at the West Park Farmers Market in Grosse Pointe Park on Saturday mornings, picking up the occasional odd catering gig every once in awhile and figuring it would just be a cool way to make some extra cash on the side.

"We went from doing one market and getting excited to do a house party, and now we're booked for the whole summer," Tim says. "This year has been nuts. We probably turned down 15 events for August 3 [alone]."

Their one modest BBQ rig has multiplied into four. Their setup now includes two rotisseries and two commercial smokers (which allows the crew, made up of friends and family, to split apart and cater multiple events simultaneously), one of which they just got and enables them to do a full pig roast. They also just placed their order for a custom-built trailer with a 500-lb capacity commercial smoker as well as a flat top grill and cooler, making it a fully mobile restaurant. The truck will serve a small menu that will include sandwiches and all-homemade sides and will function as a roving catering business that will also have a presence at some regular spots for lunch crowds. It will be ready to roll next year, at which point they're looking to be a five-days-a-week business, and Tim will quit his job to be Mr. BBQ full time. Their goal is to have their own brick-and-mortar business in three to five years, and this trailer is a huge next step towards that.

This little piggy did not make it all the way home.

"We started this just to make a little money on the side," he says. "In our wildest dreams we never saw it going like this. We thought we would just do one graduation party and make a couple of hundred of bucks on weekend. We just thought it would be a hobby, doing the farmers markets. Neither of us thought we would be buying whole palates of meat from supply stores. Next year will be even more nuts with the trailer."

When the BBQ ball started rolling, they expanded their reach into other farmers markets, and eventually connected with Motor City Street Eats to have a presence at some of the regular food truck rally events (including the monthly event at the Royal Oak Farmers Market). Then the catering side caught fire (delicious meat fire), and now Detroit BBQ Company regularly caters weddings, graduations, and private parties – including events for some high-profile clients like Skidmore Studio.

Detroit BBQ Co. takes much of their inspiration from Franklin Barbecue in Austin, Texas, arguably the most famous barbecue joint in the country. Much like at Franklin, their seasoning is simply salt and pepper, they slice their brisket to order, and they make just enough so they can sell out each day and never have reuse anything. "I prefer to sell out at events instead of reuse shit," Tim says, which means nothing you order has been overcooked, reheated, or sitting for longer than it should have been.

As far as it compares to the most famous barbecue joint in Detroit, well…Slows is best known for chicken and mac and cheese. Enough said.

You can now find Detroit BBQ Company every Friday and Saturday at Kuhnhenn Brewing Company year-round, as well as at food truck rallies, the New Baltimore Farmers Market and occasionally still the Grosse Pointe Farmers Market, and major events like this weekend's Pig + Whiskey – Tim's favorite event of the year, the crown jewel food event of the summer, and the biggest single barbecue event in metro Detroit.

For Pig + Whiskey they'll be serving their signature meat suite: ribs, brisket, pulled pork, pulled chicken, sausage, and turkey. There won't be any sides this time because, let's face it, people don't come to Pig + Whiskey for the sides, and the boys would rather put all their energy into the meat.

"We're the only barbecue people at Pig + Whiskey three years in a row," Tim says. "That's really how we got our start." A fruitful relationship with the Metro Times has been invaluable to the fledgling BBQ company from the very beginning; they've been at Blowout, Vodka Vodka, and, of course, Pig + Whiskey. "We couldn't pay for that kind of marketing. The support from the Metro Times has been huge."

They're also partnering with Bob Perye of the Rogue Estate, who makes the kick-ass Smolder Sauce Detroit BBQ Co. usually has on hand, on a special "9 and Woodford" bourbon-based peach sauce for this year's event made with Woodford Reserve. Because it's Pig + Whiskey, after all.

After this Detroit BBQ Company will also be at the Detroit Lions training camp, open to the public starting July 29, along with Treat Dreams. Tim says that Treat Dreams owner Scott Moloney has also been a huge supporter from the very beginning and instrumental in getting their name out. (Scott Moloney, who was a banker in his former life, used to do all of the banking for Tim's dad.)

When Tim talks about barbecue, he talks with the enthusiasm of someone who really fucking loves barbecue. And when he talks about Pig + Whiskey, he talks with the enthusiasm of someone who really fucking loves pigs and whiskey. "It's going to be big this year," he says. "We probably have $8-9,000 up for this one. We've got a big crush ahead of us. We're really hoping for good weather. If they weather is absolutely gorgeous, we will kill it."

So go visit Tim and Zac this weekend. Help them kill it. Maybe bring them a delicious bourbony beverage from Cocktail Corner as a way of saying "thank for the tasty meat." And keep an eye out for these guys – this is just the beginning for them. How do I know? Because I fucking know.

[Metromode] Back to the Future of Food Trucks

When we first looked at mobile vending, Mark's Carts in Ann Arbor had only just opened and El Guapo, the popular taco and burrito truck based in Madison Heights, was at the end of a year-long challenge with the city of Detroit to get mobile vending laws changed to allow more to operate on the streets. (Their 60 trips to city hall is now the stuff of local legend.) As mobile vending momentum gained, Ferndale took a "come one, come all" approach, but not without some backlash from brick and mortar businesses that felt mobile vendors were at an unfair advantage.

Now here we are, almost two years later, and mobile vendors seem to have found a comfortable place in the marketplace. While no laws have changed allowing these businesses to operate freely on the streets, there is now a more comfortable set of rules governing their operation – where the health department didn't seem to know what to do with them initially, the difficulties that the early adopters once faced seem to have diminished and there's a general (if not yet entirely consistent) consensus as to what they need to do in order to legally operate.

Read more.

The Week We Ate (The EID Week in Review)

Treat Dreams's "Michigan Salad" ice cream flavor was named one of the "Fifteen Funkiest Ice Cream Flavors on Earth" by Time Magazine. And it's in some interesting company - foie gras and bone marrow with smoked cherries also made the cut. To celebrate, Treat Dreams will be featuring this flavor June 2-15. [Time]

And here is a story from CNN Money about Treat Dreams owner Scott Moloney, who left a career in banking to make ice cream, reminding us that sometimes making crazy decisions and taking a (huge) leap can pay off. [CNN Money]

The building that is home to Jacoby's German Biergarten is up for sale, though that doesn't mean it's closing. [Crain's]

In case you missed it: Burger furor. [EID]

Join me on June 29 with The Detroit Bus Company! [Det Bus Co]

Or watch me fumble this Friday morning at Detroit Creative Mornings with Amy Kaherl of Detroit Soup! [Creative Mornings]

MLive takes us inside the new Whole Foods Midtown. Two more days! [MLive]

Check out the olde-timey label for Two James Spirits' gin. [Two James FB]

Hot sauce. It's going to be the next pickle. I'm telling you. Hell, even the picklers at the Brinery are getting into the hot sauce game with their new pickled hot sauce, now available wherever the Brinery products are! [Brinery FB]

The Detroit News spilled a couple of details about the two new restaurants that Curbed Detroit has been reporting on for ages now, or at least as long as the GAR has been under renovation. Which has sort of felt like ages, but restoring a castle takes time. [Curbed / Det News]

Detroit BBQ Co. will now be slangin' 'cue every weekend forevermore at Kuhnhenn Brewing Company in Warren. [Det BBQ Co FB]

Griffin Claw is getting close. [Hometown Life]

Herd shares (or "cow shares") are now legally recognized and allowed to operate unregulated in Michigan. Drink all the raw milk you want without the guv'ment butting in on your decision. [Farm to Consumer]

Grizzly Peak Brewing Company (and Jolly Pumpkin Brewery and Bastone Brewery and Monk Beer Bar and many more) owners plan to reopen the Old German in July! Here's more about this old Ann Arbor institution. [AnnArbor.com]

JBaldwins Restaurant-Catering was heavily damaged by a fire last week, though no one was injured. Owners Jeff and Rose Baldwin plan on rebuilding and hope to reopen by the end of summer. [Detroit News]

Baltimore media is doing a really great job covering Dangerously Delicious Pies Baked in Detroit's Rodney Henry's appearance on Next Food Network Star. Detroit is kind of dropping the ball with this one. We can partially claim him too, you know. [Baltimore Guide]

In Detroit, we take the Life Aquatic very seriously. Marinas are remaking themselves into floating resorts. [Detroit News]

Apparently Michigan's wine industry lobbying group is still better at their job than that of the craft brewers, but at least now we can drink wine at farmers markets despite protests from "opponents," who happen to make a lot of money from Michigan's strict distribution laws and thus stand to lose money at even the slightest relaxation of them, claiming it will lead to increased alcohol abuse because FOR YOUR SAFETY and also LESS MONEY IN THEIR FAT FAT POCKETS. [Detroit News]

Designtripper's Meghan McEwen, Corktown resident, names her favorite Detroit places for Fathom. [Fathom]

West Coast is the best coast! Here's more love for Traverse City and beyond. [Freep]

Michigan DOMINATES this list of the best summer beers with Bell's Brewery, Founders Brewing Co., Arcadia Ales and New Holland Brewing Co. all in the top 10, leaving only 6 spots left for the rest of the country. Let's hear it for the Great Beer State! [Fat Wallet]

Foran's Grand Trunk Pub's lovely Beth Joy is featured talking shit in Esquire. [Esquire]