The Week We Ate (The EID Week in Review)

From Imperial.

ICYMI:
~ For the next several weeks, I'll be profiling many of the full-service supermarkets throughout Detroit for Model D as part of a Green Grocer series for the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation. We started this week with select neighborhoods in northwest Detroit featuring stores like Metro Foodland, Glory Supermarket, and more. Now when people ask you "where do you buy groceries in Detroit [besides Whole Foods]," you can point them here. [Model D]

~Approved! Congratulations to Detroit City Distillery; they've been approved as a distillery by the city and will start major construction on their space in Eastern Market next month. They're looking to open next spring. [Model D]

~A pedal-powered brewery in Detroit? Shawn and Aaron Grose of Windmill Pointe Brewing Company want to make it happen. [EID]

~Tickets to One-Eyed Betty's FestivALE are now on sale! $20 in advance/$25 at the door. Christmas, seasonal, and flagship beers from Bell's Brewery, Inc. (Official), Arbor Brewing Company, and Dark Horse Brewing Co., plus a 30-tap takeover of Short's Brewing Company inside and a special booth of extremely limited Christmas ales from St.Bernardus, Unibroue, and more. Whole animal roasts and tons of decadent cold weather comfort food. This is going to be THE holiday party! [EID]

~Downtown Detroit's Bagger Dave's Burger Tavern is set to open November 10. [EID]

~What's going on this weekend and next? Oh just ALL OF THIS. [EID]

First We Feast has the trailer for the Fresh Off The Boat With Eddie Huang Detroit episode, in which he eats burgers with rapper Danny Brown and does other things. [FWF]

Not all of Corktown has found the pot of gold at the end of the Detroit Is Cool Now rainbow. PJ's Lager House has struggled since the day PJ bought it despite introducing a (very good) food menu in the past couple of years to bring in more business. Bottom line: it might seem like business is booming for all the trendy businesses, but such is not the case for everyone. [Crain's]

The next statewide MLive.com search: Michigan's best pizza. Dear Gonzo, you need an official Detroit consultant. And that person should damn well be me. Please someone make this happen. [MLive]

Imperial is once again hosting their Day of the Dead celebration this year from October 31-November 2 and the skulls designed by local artists for the charity art auction are even more amazing this year than last, PLUS they have a killer special menu with three different kinds of tamales and of course, special drinks as well. These guys know how to do shit, for real. And here are the skulls. [RDW / Imperial FB]

Dia de los Muertos is coming up (Nov 1-2). Celebrate with Savor Southwest by visiting the dozens of ofrendas displayed at restaurants, stores, businesses, and churches throughout the neighborhood. And here's a handy guide to all of them! [SDBA]

Royal Oak is get yet another pizzeria bar and cafe next year, this one called Iron Horse. This is in addition to the Blaze Pizza that opened today and Trattoria Da Luigi that opened just a couple of months ago, plus Pizzeria Biga - Royal Oak and...that...other one. The name of which I forget. It's right on Main Street. Something Neapolitan-nana-something. And the Franklin Cafe that opened earlier this year, which has fallen way short of the really cool cafe/market I thought it would be. [RO Patch]

Bistro 82 and Sabrage are moving along in Royal Oak (in the old Sangria space) and could be open by mid-November. The word "ultra-lounge" still makes me skeptical, even though the chef they have is outstanding. I mean, the place could have a great chef but still be super-douchey, you know? [RO Patch]

B. Nektar continues to grow and expand, now adding New York to their growing list of distribution markets. Plus, B. Nektar's Evil Genius IPA-style mead has been out of production for awhile but Honey Bee Market still has a ton left for all you merds out there. [BeerPulse / EID FB]

Eastern Market Corporation: the go-to example of placemaking from Next City. [Next City]

Couple of factual gaffes here (Tom's Tavern is in Detroit, not Ferndale; Dangerously Delicious pies vacated Comet Bar months ago, and the then-editor of Thrillist even wrote a story on it for this very same publication), but an otherwise nice rundown of some of Detroit's best dives. [Thrillist]

Under The Radar Michigan stopped in Detroit for a full episode and covered Shinola, Dangerously Delicious Pies Baked in Detroit, and Diner en Blanc on Belle Isle. [PBS]

Most of you will probably roll your eyes, but the Starbucks inside of the Crowne Plaza Detroit Downtown-Convention Center is now open. Good for travelers and for when locals are staycationing and in need of immediate caffeine. [EID FB]

Misc.
~Some excellent advice for you all working and aspiring chefs out there from Marc Vetri. (Most of this advice can very easily be translated into most other professions too; it is the ethos that is important here.) [HuffPo]

~America is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay behind on tea, the world's second-most popular beverage (second only to water). Starbucks is looking to change that, aiming to do for tea what they did for coffee. [Freep]

~Yessy yes yes. [EID FB]

~Anyone else remember going to the local police station to have your Halloween candy scanned after trick-or-treating? The poisoned/needle-stuck-inside candy scare was big in the '80s; not sure if it's even still really a thing now. [some blahg]

[NEWS BITES] Tickets to FestivALE at One-Eyed Betty's are now on sale

Mark your calendars for Saturday, November 23, and don't plan on doing anything else. One-Eyed Betty's is hosting a monster FestivALE – a fall festival for all! (Or a festivus for the rest of us, if you must.)

What started out as a beer tent to coincide with the Ferndale DDA's 5k obstacle course nighttime run (a fundraising effort for their holiday events) has turned into a full-scale holiday festival with lots of food and beer and entertainment – like fire dancers, aerialists, and stilt-walkers, plus music from Americana bluegrass bands like the Appleseed Collective.

The DDA approached Beth Hussey, owner of One-Eyed Betty's, about hosting a beer tent for the 1,000 runners they expect at their event. She agreed, then figured, "If I'm going to do a beer tent I might as well turn it into a thing and make it a big deal."

And oh, IT'S A BIG DEAL. FestivALE will feature all seasonal and holiday beers, including some very special limited releases and rare imports. The whole concept is based around Christmas beers – those high-octane specialty releases like St. Bernardus Christmas Ale and Delerium Noel. There will be several local breweries pouring samples of seasonal and limited releases from Bell's, Dark Horse, and Arbor Brewing, all set up in an outdoor tent like at the Michigan Brewers Guild festivals. Plus Short's will have a 30-tap takeover going on inside. There will also be a special one-off Christmas beer booth with scheduled tappings of extremely limited kegs of rare and unusual beers from St. Bernardus, Petrus, Unibroue, Van Eeecke, and more (some of these kegs are the only ones allotted to the state of Michigan). Harpoon with also be there with kegs of their Winter Warmer and their ciders, available for the first time in kegs.

Since this is the Saturday before Thanksgiving and right as we all get into the full holiday swing, the food will also be equally as special as the beer. They'll have a "roast beast" dinner of whole pig, goat, and lamb, all served as finger food in rolls or tortillas with complementary sauces. Beth is also having a giant tartiflette pan custom-made by local metalworker Richard Gage to make the traditional cold weather comfort food of Franco-Swiss origin made with potatoes, Reblochon cheese, lardons and onions (they'll put their own spin on it, naturally). And there will be a six-foot-long apple strudel.

"We're really going for a different kind of feel than other festivals," Beth says. "We just want it to be a really awesome party with really great beer, really great food, and a really great atmosphere."

Another awesome food and drink festival in Ferndale that puts all others to shame? I'm in.

Tickets to FestivaALE are now on sale! $20 advance/$25 at the door.

[NEWS BITES] Introducing Ferndale Restaurant Week + FestivALE

The Burger Brawl winner at One-Eyed Betty's.

Fall is a time for food. We can officially ditch the summer diets and stop worrying about having a "bikini body" (or, for some of us, just continue going on with business as usual but with the relief that comes from knowing we can hide all our rolls under bulky sweaters and snazzy leather jackets) and stuff our faces with the unparalleled bounty of fall foods. Pumpkins and apples and Bambis and Thumpers and doughnuts and pie and all the other rich, fattening, flavorful comfort foods we deny ourselves when it's 90 degrees outside if for no other reason than the fact that it's 90 degrees outside.

So it makes sense that there are a millionjillionfafillion fall-themed food events going on this year because it's fall and fall is awesome. Coming up next is the brand-new Ferndale Restaurant Week, an effort from the Ferndale Downtown Development Authority chaired by Beth Hussey, co-owner of One-Eyed-Betty's.

Beth, who previously spent a couple of years in Grand Rapids and dealing with all of the ArtPrize shenanigans and restaurant week events out there, had been wanting to do something similar in Ferndale for awhile. But she didn't want it to be a "normal" restaurant week – she wanted to really put in the effort to make it cool.

Since Ferndale is home to a wide variety of restaurants and food spots – casual, upscale, breakfast and lunch only, ice cream shops, beer and burger bars – Ferndale Restaurant Week offers a wide variety of options so you can experience everything Ferndale has to offer at prices that make sense for the individual businesses.

The Ferndale Restaurant Week website.

"It's as easy as one-two-three," Beth says, and the website was designed with that in mind. With food options set at $10, $20, and $30 price points; offerings for breakfast, lunch, AND dinner; and options for one or two people, Ferndale Restaurant Week offers the most variety and the most flexibility. Visit the website for the full breakdown of who's offering what with notations next to their names.

23 restaurants in downtown Ferndale are participating in this event, which will be held twice annually in the spring and fall (basically it's most of them). The website will live year-round as a resource for restaurants in downtown Ferndale and participating restaurants will benefit from year-round visibility and promotion.

This first edition of Ferndale Restaurant Week will be held October 7-13.

But that's not all Beth has in the works.

Mark your calendars for Saturday, November 23, and don't plan on doing anything else. One-Eyed Betty's is hosting a monster FestivALE – a fall festival for all! (Or a festivus for the rest of us, if you must.)

What started out as a beer tent to coincide with the Ferndale DDA's 5k obstacle course nighttime run (a fundraising effort for their holiday events) has turned into a full-scale holiday festival with lots of food and beer and entertainment – like fire dancers, aerialists, and stilt-walkers, plus music from Americana bluegrass bands like the Appleseed Collective.

The DDA approached Beth about hosting a beer tent for the 1,000 runners they expect at their event. She agreed, then figured, "If I'm going to do a beer tent I might as well turn it into a thing and make it a big deal."

And oh, IT'S A BIG DEAL. FestivALE will feature all seasonal and holiday beers, including some very special limited releases and rare imports. The whole concept is based around Christmas beers – those high-octane specialty releases like St. Bernardus Christmas Ale and Delerium Noel. There will be several local breweries pouring samples of seasonal and limited releases including (so far) Bell's, Dark Horse, Arbor Brewing, and (99% sure) Short's, all set up in an outdoor tent like at the Michigan Brewers Guild festivals. There will also be a special one-off Christmas beer booth with scheduled tappings of extremely limited kegs of rare and unusual beers (some of these kegs are the only ones allotted to the state of Michigan). Harpoon with also be there with kegs of their Winter Warmer and their ciders, available for the first time in kegs.

Since this is the Saturday before Thanksgiving and right as we all get into the full holiday swing, the food will also be equally as special as the beer. They'll have a "roast beast" dinner of pig, goat, and lamb, all served as finger food in rolls or tortillas with complementary sauces. Beth is also having a giant tartiflette pan custom-made by local metalworker Richard Gage to make the traditional cold weather comfort food of Franco-Swiss origin made with potatoes, Reblochon cheese, lardons and onions (they'll put their own spin on it, naturally). And there will probably be a six-foot-long apple strudel.

"We're really going for a different kind of feel than other festivals," Beth says. "We just want it to be a really awesome party with really great beer, really great food, and a really great atmosphere."

Another awesome food and drink festival in Ferndale that puts all others to shame? I'm in.

UPDATE: Tickets to FestivaALE are now on sale!