[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.

[Real Detroit] Hog's Hollow

This post written by EID Co-Conspirator Stefanie Cobb.

Photo by Stefanie Cobb.

Major changes are in store for Cass Bar and Grill this month and it would be a poor decision not to partake in the excitement. First of all, the name Cass Bar and Grill is dead and gone. Gather round y'all, and acquaint yourselves with the new and improved Hog's Hollow, the revitalized version of Cass Bar and Grill (same ownership). John Sattmann, owner of Hog's Hollow, is avid about the success of his restaurant. It is clear that his passion lies in good old-fashioned barbeque, as well as providing a community for people to relax with a beer and a good meal.

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[Real Detroit] Lockhart's BBQ

This post written by EID Co-Conspirator Stefanie Cobb.

The new Cuban sandwich at Lockhart's.

Praise is definitely something that isn't necessarily needed for Lockhart's BBQ in Royal Oak, as they are already one of the most beloved BBQ joints in all the lands of metro Detroit. Since their opening in 2010, Lockhart's success continues to grow and it's certainly well deserved. The effort and passion put into the food they serve is intense. All menu items are made from scratch and in house by Executive Chef Rene Moreno, as well as Chef Brett Barrett. Whether they are enjoyed in happy hour small plates, dinner entrees or the brunch menu, the ingredients used in the dishes are extremely fresh and of the finest quality.

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[EID Feature] Smoked meats and wines on draft: Red Crown is not just another garage grill rehab

All photos by Nicole Rupersburg.

It's been called the Vinsetta Garage of the East by … well, by me, because that's just the sort of thing that I would say. But I do it in good fun, mostly because the comparisons between the recently-opened Red Crown in Grosse Pointe Park and the smash hit two-hour-wait-all-day-every-day Vinsetta Garage in Berkley are inevitable and started immediately upon the announcement of Red Crown opening. Vinsetta is a comfort food, burgers and craft beer joint located in a historic old garage. Red Crown is a barbecue, wine and craft cocktail joint located in a historic old gas and service station.

Well. On second thought, maybe the two don't really lend themselves to comparison as much as it might have seemed – really the only common thread between the two is their respective ties to metro Detroit's automotive history (and let's just be real here: please go out and find me a historic building, the size of which is aptly-suited for a restaurant, that is not in some way connected to Detroit's automotive history … that isn't a church). Oh, and they both have mac and cheese on the menu because, you know, that's not common to see in these parts at all.

So let's just look at what Red Crown is instead of how it might compare to Vinsetta: Red Crown (named after the Standard Oil Red Crown Service Station it was once home to) is an all-American barbecue concept with an all-American menu and all-American beverage program.

Now, that doesn't mean that the speakers blare patriotic rawk favorites from the likes of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bruce Springsteen and Kid Rock. (Think more Stevie Ray Vaughn and ZZ Top.) There's no steer horns on the wall (there is sort of a steer head, but it is plaster and painted black and looks more like an art piece send-up of Texas roadhouse chic). The décor is tasteful and understated, with the color red as the prominent theme.

Owner Mindy Lopus, who has been busy working on expansion plans for her Silver Pig Restaurant Group, wanted to make this more of a casual, comfortable restaurant, and something that was a totally new concept for the area. When she was approached by the Cottons – the family that owns Meridian Health Plan that has been buying up property in Grosse Pointe Park the way Dan Gilbert has done downtown in an effort to totally transform it – to open a restaurant in the area, she found an eager and underserved clientele and decided to open three. "People told me Grosse Pointers only go to their few favorite restaurants and their country clubs," Lopus says, but Red Crown has been packed every day since it opened. (I suppose, in that regard, it is also like Vinsetta.)

Red Crown is the first of the bunch, an upscale American barbecue and comfort food restaurant. In May, Bona Fide Baking Company will open as both a bakery and breakfast spot/café. Then this fall a second location of Lopus's flagship concept Tallulah Wine Bar + Bistro, which breaks ground in Grosse Pointe Park this week, will round out her trio.

Lopus is a savvy businesswoman and a Certified Wine Professional. Restaurateuring is a second career for her, but a first passion. Where other upscale barbecue concepts in metro Detroit (and yes, there are a few of them) focus their beverage program on craft beer, Lopus saw a unique opportunity to promote wine as a choice beverage for barbecue pairing.

“I’m really excited about this," she says. "Comfort food is the perfect food for wine pairing.” Because, think about it: comfort food tends to be high in fat, much like the cuisines typically aligned with wine – French food, American steakhouse fare, seafood in rich cream sauces, the heavy side of Italian cooking. If there has been a backlash against snooty wine connoisseurship in recent years, and there most certainly has been, part of that backlash has not only included a hard and fast embracing of craft beer but also a refusal to accept the idea that wine is only meant to be paired with a certain class of cuisine. Red Crown falls more heavily into the latter category (though those who opt for the former will not be disappointed with Red Crown's small but respectable craft beer list, or their ambitious craft cocktail program for that matter) with an ambitious wine program that includes – ye gods! – wine on draft.

In the last two or three years, sparkling wine has started popping up on menus throughout Michigan. (The first place I was introduced to the concept was Left Foot Charley in Traverse City, where winemaker Bryan Ulbrich was working up a draft system for one of the other area wineries based on his own draft system for ciders. This was early in 2011, and the concept was still entirely foreign.) Recently Local Kitchen + Bar in Ferndale made a splash when they introduced a bubbly by M. Lawrence (aka Michigan's esteemed sparkling winemaker Lawrence Mawby, based on the Leelanau Peninsula) on draft. But still wines on tap are STILL unheard of … until now.

Red Crown is the first restaurant in Michigan serving still wines on draft. The advantage? The wine is temperature-controlled, stays fresh down to the last glass, is never corked, and enables them to sell these wines by the glass for a much (MUCH) lower price than what you would otherwise pay if they were poured from a bottle. The keg is also refillable and creates less waste. Just as wine drinkers have adapted to synthetic corks and screw-top bottles over the last decade, even the fussiest among them finally recognizing the advantages in quality and economy both offer, they will now learn to embrace wine in kegs.

The wine list is organized by price as opposed to being organized by region or varietal. For wines on draft, a glass is $8, a half carafe $15, and a full carafe $29. Glasses are available in $8, $11 and $14 price points, and bottles are $29, $49 and $69. All of it is American, and each quarter one of Michigan's best wine producers is highlighted in their "In the Mitten" program.

Oh, and they also have an M. Lawrence bubbly on draft: "Sex," to be specific.

Chef de Cuisine Jim Delao's food menu is small but mighty (and meaty). Barbecued meats made in their wood-fired "little red smokehouse" in their kitchen, which burns local fruitwoods and mesquite charcoal. Ribs, sausages, pulled pork, pork shoulder and brisket, complemented by southern comfort sides like mac and cheese and braised greens (with bacon). Appetizers include masa-crusted onion rings and peel 'n eat Georgia shrimp. For "supper" there's comfort food favorites like shrimp and grits and grilled meatloaf. Non-alcoholic drinks include milkshakes and floats. Lunch, weekend brunch and Sunday support will start in April, and the massive patio is sure to be a massive hit this summer.

Want to see more? View the Flickr set here.

 

[Model D] Slows expanding, adding more seats and offerings

Detroit’s most famous restaurant is currently going through a much-needed expansion.

Slows BAR BQ, which has been covered in national media from the New York Times to Food and Wine and was a 2012 finalist in Adam Richman’s Best Sandwich in America on the Travel Channel, is largely credited with kick-starting the rebirth of Corktown, attracting several new independent businesses on its block of Michigan Avenue and leading to what is now a total lack of available rental units according to Ryan Cooley, co-owner of Slows and owner of O’Connor Realty.

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[EID Feature] Of Barns and Barbecue: Bad Brad's BBQ

Barbecue: the people's food. All photos by Nicole Rupersburg.

When writing about Detroit, or food, but more specifically food in Detroit, and also Detroit's rebirth et.al., it's almost impossible to imagine the time Before Slows. Now it just feels like The Most Important Barbecue Restaurant in the Country has always been and forever will be; and every upscale BBQ joint to open in its wake is likely to suffer the accusation of "just trying to be Slows."

For the sake of discussion, let's get one thing straight: Slows Bar BQ did not invent BBQ. It didn't even invent upscale BBQ. And it certainly wasn't the first BBQ restaurant in Detroit; it was the first, however, to attract a predominantly suburban crowd. Detroit staples like Uptown BBQ, Nunn's Barbecue and Bert's Market Place all have a few decades on the place but the aesthetics and demographics of these old Detroit BBQ joints are markedly different.

Slows has been written up a million times in a million places and probably people in New York think it's the only restaurant in Detroit (incidentally, I'm told Phil Cooley - who has affectionately(??) been nicknamed "BBQ Jesus" - will be interviewed by Diane Sawyer next week). Now, we can make jokes (like the aforementioned "BBQ Jesus" bit), and we can snark (we LOVE to snark!), but there is simply no denying the impact that Slows has had on the immediate community that surrounds it and also on the image of the city of Detroit as a whole. To paraphrase from the best movie ever The Dark Knight, Phil Cooley might not be the hero Detroit wants but he's the hero Detroit needs. (Plus, Detroiters are never fucking happy. We've very much like New Yorkers in that way.)

Bad Brad's BBQ

It's no doubt that Slows has started a trend. In recent years metro Detroit has seen half a dozen new upscale BBQ restaurants that smoke all their own meats in-house etc. etc. open, all of them insisting that they're not the same as Slows. And you know what? They're not. Because to make that claim would be the same as to argue that all pizzerias are the same and every new pizzeria is just copying off of whichever one came before it. Or all sushi places are the same, or steakhouses, or what-the-hell ever - pick a food genre and accuse them all of copying each other; much like literary plot lines there are really only seven basic restaurant concepts that just get repeated ad infinitum so let's not act like this is some sort of new thing. Plus, each of these BBQ restaurants are as different as the different styles of BBQ across America.

But from all of this, something unexpected happened. For all of the accusations that metro Detroit - and thus, Michigan as a whole - has no "signature" cuisine, at least nothing that national media has previously cared to acknowledge, upscale barbecue has become something of a de facto specialty. Clarkston's Union Woodshop was recently featured in the Food Network's "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives," Chef Alex Young of Zingerman's Roadhouse in Ann Arbor received the prestigious James Beard Award for "Best Chef: Great Lakes" in 2011, and let's not forget the article that arguably started it all, Bon Appetit naming Slows one of the "Top 10 New Barbecue Restaurants" in 2009.

Detroit has always been a meat-and-potatoes kind of town, but lately it seems like it's more meat-and-mac 'n cheese.

So what's the appeal of upscale barbecue? And why all of a sudden now? Well, the short of it is in 2009 the world got pretty fucking awful, people started to really reevaluate their lifestyle spending habits and decided that high-end fine dining wasn't a necessity anymore but they still wanted to go out to eat once in awhile, chefs and restaurateurs had to scramble to identify and address the new demands of the consumer, then we got a fuckton of fancy BBQ joints. Is the short of it.

Really it came down to accessibility in food trends. Low-brow foods that were accessible to wider audiences (the key to that ultimately being affordability) were elevated to the level of gourmet: food trucks, street food, barbecue, classic American comfort food ... your average consumer probably couldn't identify why all of a sudden this was what they cared most about but the truth is these "pedestrian" foods was all anybody could afford. The foodie movement adapted; a major shift in America's culinary landscape occurred.

Brothers Mike and Marc Pollard, owners of Bad Brad's BBQ in New Baltimore and the second soon-to-open Shelby Twp. location, both have extensive culinary backgrounds in fine dining. Both attended culinary school and have worked under some of the best chefs in the country - Mike at Michael Mina in Las Vegas and Tribute in Farmington Hills; Marc under James Beard Award-winning chefs at AAA five-diamond restaurants in Las Vegas (including Julian Serrano's Picasso).

"When we came back here [to Detroit] we knew fine dining wasn't going to cut it here in Michigan," Mike says. They came up with their barbecue concept and readily admit to being inspired by Slows. They traveled throughout the country to research the different BBQ regions of America, then came back and opened rather quietly in a smallish space in New Baltimore in 2010. "We had time to hone everything in the dim lights of New Baltimore rather than the bright lights of Royal Oak," he says. "At this point we're ready and prepared!"

Much like Slows to the south and Union Woodshop to the north, Bad Brad's has a rabidly loyal following and sees hour-long wait times on weekends. And despite early support from both Sylvia Rector and Molly Abraham, there's still a good chance you haven't heard of them. (You people and your east side prejudices, I swear...) "That was the nice thing about the New Baltimore location," Mike says. "It was this quiet little joint. We always felt we opened strong but now we're extremely strong."

Mike says they have an extremely high level of food and take a fine dining approach to this casual cuisine without being "in your face" about it. "We source out the best possible product because it's better," he states. "We use all [USDA] Prime beef, six-year-aged Vermont cheddar, Maytag Bleu cheese ... because it's better. Everything is driven by just being better. But the menu doesn't say [all] that - we're not trying to 'wow' people with these descriptions. We use gastriques but we don't say that because barbecue isn't fancy."

To Mike, the best part about barbecue isn't just its accessibility as a cuisine, but how it appeals to all people. "Barbecue is one of those cuisines that can reach all levels - it crosses all demographics, all races. That's the great thing about barbecue: it's extremely approachable, and that's what makes sense around here. Barbecue, burgers, nachos, pizza - that's what we're serving but it's extremely high-end."

One of Mike's favorite stories to tell is the time he was at the restaurant and he noticed a guy drive up in a Bentley. He parked his car, came inside, sat by himself in a booth and had his lunch. Another guy came in at about the same time on a bike, also sat in a booth by himself and ordered lunch. These two guys, presumably with vastly different backgrounds, had ordered the exact same thing. For Mike, that is the essence of barbecue food in metro Detroit.

The new location exercises the same commitment to sustainability in design as the original, utilizing salvaged barn wood and reclaimed materials for what ends up being a country-meets-industrial motif that just works. As an astute person on Curbed Detroit noted (who, moi?):

The juxtaposition seems to suit the cuisine - barbecue is kind of a get-down-and-dirty food, and it also has a deep history with roots in the American South. Barbecue is cowboys, Everyman and guys named Bubba; if that feeling can be adequately translated into a building, Bad Brad's nails it. It's a little dirty, a little gritty - as the Osmonds might say, it's a little bit country and a little bit rock 'n roll - but also highly polished.

This location is also an evolution for Bad Brad's: in addition to their in-house smoker, they're also adding an in-house wood-burning stone oven for pizzas (the same one used at Cellar 849 in Plymouth, the home of Michigan's first "Certified Neapolitan" pizza) and a temperature- and humidity-controlled dough room. "The dough is the most important thing [for pizza]," Mike says. "If you're going to have some of the best barbecue you have to have good pizzas!" While some might argue that pizza and barbecue don't make natural menu mates, Mike thinks they are closer kindred than they're given credit. "It's all wood-fired," he explains of both how the pizzas and the meats are cooked. He adds, "There's so many things you can do with smoked meats [on a pizza]."

Mike hopes to have the new location opened by May 1 and continue exceeding expectations with their come-one, come-all cuisine. "As long as I can keep waking up every day and be excited about my job, that’s what it’s about."

Want to see more? View the Flickr set here.

Read more on the design of Bad Brad's new Shelby Twp. location on Curbed Detroit here.