[HOT LIST] Movement off-site food guide

Photo from the Official Movement Facebook page.

I get a lot of emails asking me for recommendations - places to eat that are new and cool, places to eat for an anniversary/birthday/special occasion, places to get married, places to sightsee. Etc. While I don't have time to respond to each and every one of these requests (seriously, I get a lot), I do try my best to answer as many as I can, particularly for people coming in from out of town (I get a lot of those, too).

Last weekend the social media coordinator for Beatport got in touch asking for some recommendations within walking distance of the Movement festival grounds while she was in town. She wanted beer bars, a beer store, and a place to get some of that oft-cited Detroit-style pizza that's been making some national waves lately. Which got me thinking: wouldn't it be nice if I had a list of places to go for ALL people coming into town for Movement? Even semi-local people who might not be as familiar with the area immediately surrounding the festival grounds?

Indeed it would. So here you go.

Note: this year, the boys of Bailout Productions invite you to take Refuge at the Rhino Bar. I recommend you do so.

#1 Foran's Grand Trunk Pub/MotorCity Wine Downtown
If it's beer you seek, to Foran's Grand Trunk Pub you should go. They were the first bar in Detroit to switch over to all Michigan craft taps and have a huge selection of craft beer by the bottle too. For Movement they usually have a few coordinating parties, plus they are also open for Saturday and Sunday brunch. *AND* they sell beer to go, *AND* they are all of five minutes walking distance from the festival grounds. Expect heavy Midwestern bar food: burgers, corned beef, deep fried pickles, deep fried pickle corned beef burgers (actually you would have to special request that, but they would totally do it), etc. Upstairs is MotorCity Wine, and this will be its last year in this location. Take advantage: yes it's a wine bar and as such they have a fantastic selection of wine, beer, cheese and charcuterie, but it's also a live music venue with events planned all Movement weekend. (Pro tip: Monday's "House Gallery" is free and goes on all day.)

Ribber at Bert's. Photo from @eatitdetroit Instagram feed.

#2 Eastern Market Eastern Market
Walkable for those who really enjoy walking (for everyone else, there's Uber), Eastern Market is pretty much the second-greatest thing about Detroit. The first greatest is the Riverfront, which, as a festival attendee, you are already familiar with (though if you need a break during the day, a jaunt down the RiverWalk and maybe even a guided bike tour with Wheelhouse Detroit -- they have special Movement tour packages for the weekend -- will offer some scenic solace). Eastern Market is quickly becoming Detroit's alternative arts district. Once home to many, many, many many manymanymany raves in the '90s (and maybe possibly this is occasionally still known to sometimes happen), Eastern Market is more legit with all the same grit. The Red Bull House of Art and the newly-opened Inner State Gallery both have Movement-partnered programming for the festival, while Supino Pizzeria, Russell Street Deli, and the market's Saturday food truck rallies and ribbers outside of Bert's Marketplace are all on the master Detroit bucket list.

#3 Niki's Pizza Bricktown
For Detroit-style pizza, another bucket-lister, the biggies really require you to have a car and drive a bit (Buddy's Pizza being THE biggie). However, Niki's Pizza in Greektown will give you a good Detroit-style deep dish fix, and they're open until 4am on weekends. There is a Greek version of their pizza with feta cheese, black olives and lamb, which is sort of an extra-Detroit version of the Detroit pizza since we have such a strong Greek culture here. I mean, it's in Greektown, you know? Loco Bar and Grill serves meh Meximerican food next door but is also open until 4am which makes all the difference.

Sweetwater wings. Photo from @eatitdetroit Instagram feed.

#4 Sweetwater Tavern Bricktown
Detroit's most famous wings are at Sweetwater Tavern, all of five minutes walking distance from the fest. All-natural Amish chickens (Amish chickens taste better! Because they're Amish!) delivered daily from Eastern Market are marinated for 24 hours and rubbed in their secret blend of spices and seasonings. Go there. Get wings. The end. The beer selection sucks but if you like ice cream drinks, try the hummer (it's got booze and is also a Detroit "thing").

#5 Roast Downtown
If you have time for a proper dinner, or really just want to experience the very best dining Detroit has to offer, hit up Roast in the Westin Book Cadillac. It's a Michael Symon restaurant and it is outstanding - excellent beer list (do be sure to try some Jolly Pumpkin, Michigan's all oak-aged Belgian-style sour beer producer -- also available at Foran's), excellent bites (the Roast burger, the sweetbreads, the marrow, the everything), excellent cocktails (I hold them personally responsible for two of the worst hangovers I've had in the last two years), excellent space. And not exceptionally expensive; you can totally share apps and walk out spending the same you would in any other bar. Just excellent, all around. 24grille in the same building is also very, very good, only slightly less very, very good than Roast. If you need some quiet time on Sunday, check out the build-your-own Bloody Mary bar at the Motor Bar on the second floor.

Bubbling under Greektown Casino (Greektown - Market District food court for fast, Brizola for fancy), the Detroiter Bar (Bricktown), SkyBar Lounge (Downtown), Golden Fleece (Greektown), Jacoby's German Biergarten (Bricktown), Lafayette Coney Island (Downtown), American Coney Island (Downtown), Tom's Oyster Bar (Riverfront), Greenwich Times Pub (Downtown), Fountain Bistro (Downtown), Pegasus (Greektown), Red Smoke (Greektown), Buffalo Wild Wings (Greektown), Five Guys Burgers and Fries (Greektown)

[HOT LIST] Wings

Sweetwater Tavern. All photos from EID.

I have but one rule when it comes to chicken wings: NEVER order wings to go. It is a crime against food tantamount to microwaved pizza and mayonnaise (which, as you all should know by now, is disgusting). The whole enjoyment of your wing-eating experience hinges upon the crispiness of said wing. You know what happens when you throw a freshly-fried chicken wing in a styrofoam container and let it sit in there steaming in its own little hotbox for 20 minutes until you get it home? It becomes soggy and disgusting. This is no way to eat a wing.

A good wing starts with the chicken: plump and juicy, not tiny like some embarrassing little pigeon wing. If fried, they should be crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. If other (smoked, oven-roasted) they should have a clean, smokey flavor without char. Some of the best wings really don't need a sauce to dress them up, but the sauce itself can make or break a wing (so to speak). These places get it all, or at least most of it enough for it to count, right. Oh, I should also mention, blue cheese and ranch dressing are for pussies. Skip that shit; you're ruining your wings.

#1 City Wings (New Center)
14 different flavors of meaty Amish chicken wings fried fresh to order in one of the most immaculate dining environments you could ever hope to stumble across. Seriously, it smells like fried chicken and clean inside. There are hospitals that could aspire to their level of cleanliness. And I appreciate that: it shows respect to your business and to your customers. So, okay, maybe not everyone will be as impressed by this as I am, so let's get back to important stuff: these are the best wings you will find anywhere in metro Detroit right now. Everything is fried up fresh to order in their open kitchen (so CLEAN!) and the wings are perfectly crispy, just that right amount of crunch at the edges without being burnt, with juicy meat inside with none of that nasty ridge of fat under the skin and fantastic sauces to boot. (Try the parmesan garlic or the lemon pepper if you can't take the heat.)

#2 Sweetwater Tavern (Detroit)
Ladies and gentleman, in a massive upset Sweetwater comes in second! Yes, that's right, what are usually voted as Detroit's best wings are coming in second to City Wings, which has only been open for a little over a year. And why? Sweetwater has been resting on its laurels for awhile. They too serve plump, juicy Amish chicken wings that they get daily from Eastern Market and rub in their own secret blend of spices, fry up crispy fresh to order in their own dedicated fryer and in oil that they say is changed daily, and douse in their signature sauce which is both slightly sweet and slightly tangy ("hot" isn't really the right word, but the flavor of the spices certainly comes through). These are stellar wings, no doubt, and sometimes you just can't (and shouldn't) mess with a classic. It's also a full bar that is open for lunch and late-night with a full menu of other options to choose from as well; City Wings has food only. So why City Wings over Sweetwater? YOU GUYS, IT'S REALLY REALLY CLEAN. Also when speaking strictly about the wings themselves, the quality is directly comparable which means variety wins out.

#3 Your Mother's (Mt. Clemens)
There is not much fancy or special about Your Mother's in the Clem. It's a sports bar, and not a particularly snazzy one at that. But good GOD they have good wings. 17 different flavors of house-made sauces includes five different kinds of hot sauces, which in turn include my personal favorite spicy garlic (they call it "hot garlic" - tomahto) and the they're-not-kidding bright-ass-red "I Dare You." (And seriously, I do. Shit is HOT.) Big big big meaty wings roasted, fried in oil and sautéed in sauce with each order. It's a veritable rainbow of flavors both on the palate and as a palette (you know, like when you order a whole bunch of different flavors and set them next to each other and it looks like a rainbow). If you're hardcore about wings, this place is well worth checking out.

#4 Seoul Street (Ann Arbor)
First, it's impossible to find. Don't even bother with your GPS because it won't be able to find it. There's a really good chance that you'll end up at Seoul Garden, which is in fact the wrong place but the helpful woman who works there will kindly tell you that this happens all the time when after you spend a solid 10 minutes flipping through the menu you finally ask her, "Uh, someone told me you had wings?" When you finally approach your destination, you will not see a sign for it in front of the massive strip mall complex it resides in. Instead you must know that when you see the signage for Panera Bread and Great Plains Burger Co. that you must turn into that parking lot and drive to the far corner. And there it is. Tiny. Nondescript. About 8 seats in the whole house. And real, genuine, bonafide KFC - Korean fried chicken. They describe their sauces as "glazes" and that seems pretty appropriate as they look almost glassy - the wings are fried up crispy and then "glazed" in a soy-based sauce (choose from "hot and spicy" or soy garlic - I recommend trying both) and served with pickled radish or corn salad. And yes, they have other Korean dishes too (kimchee, bibimbop, etc.).

#5 Cass Cafe (Midtown)
A place best known for their vegetarian cuisine has some of the best wings in town? You betcha. Their Asian Sriracha Wings are the bomb-diggity: deep-fried wings glazed in honey and sriracha, served with peanut sauce (which quite frankly you won't even need ... unless you're a pussy). This might actually be the best thing on their whole menu (with apologies to vegetarian friends who might beg to differ). Plus they usually have really awesome broke college student/artist/hipster drink specials, which is always nice.

Bubbling under Nikola's (Southfield), Tipsy McStagger's (Warren), Anita's Kitchen (Ferndale), Slows BAR BQ (Corktown), Union Street (Midtown), Bookies Bar and Grill (Detroit)

Honorable mention Detroit's Turkey Grill, while not serving "wings" in the traditional sense of it being chicken, still deserves a mention for their massive barbarian-sized turkey leg drumstick (suggestion: skip the fried legs and go with the smoked version rubbed in herbs and spices).