[Macomb Now] Chef Ray Hollingsworth at Loon River Cafe

Chef Ray Hollingsworth. Photo by Garrett MacLean for Macomb Now.

Executive Chef Ray Hollingsworth first started his culinary career people said he was crazy. This was before the days of Food Network and before the cult followings of celebrity chefs, back when saying “I want to be a chef when I grow up,” was akin to saying, “I want to be a famous painter like Picasso.”

“I started cooking when I was 15,” Hollingsworth says. “Oakland Community College was the only school that had any kind of culinary program at the time; they were ahead of everybody.” He went through their program then spent three years training under American Culinary Federation (ACF) Certified Master Chef Jeffrey Gabriel at the Grosse Pointe Yacht Club. “Most of the chefs in the metro area were of European descent — like Master Chef Milos Cihelka of the Golden Mushroom. They were hardcore chefs; it was a harsh upbringing for awhile!” he laughs.

And then came Food Network and, with it, “foodie” culture. The average restaurant patron is much more savvy and educated when it comes to food now, and that knows no boundaries — unless, of course, you’re talking about the invisible line along I-75 that divides the culinary illuminati of Oakland County from the perceived plebian tastes of Macomb. That very same line also prevents the self-proclaimed “foodies” of Oakland County from stepping into eastern territory, convinced that there is no worthwhile culinary landscape to explore here.

At the Loon River Café inside the Best Western of Sterling Heights, a Michigan-themed lodge with emphasis on Michigan products, Hollingsworth tries to educate the eating public by using only the highest-quality ingredients and top talent. “In the early days we put a lot of emphasis in the quality of the product and employees; we hire local culinary students and ACF-certified chefs,” he explains. “We still do to this day, even with budget cuts. We’re not substituting for lower quality ingredients.”

Read the rest of the article here.

[Eater] The Hottest Cocktail Bars In and Around Detroit

Cork Wine Pub. Photo: metroalive.com.

"Just a few weeks ago, all sites across the Eater universe published maps of the hottest cocktail bars in their respective cities. In that spirit, here is a heat map of bars in an area outside of the Eater purview, Detroit, Michigan. The nine selections come courtesy of Curbed Detroit editor Sarah Cox and Eat It Detroit writer Nicole Rupersburg, with blurbs by the latter. No longer can it be said, as one writer recently argued, that 'Michigan is basically ignored by review sites like Zagat and Eater'..."

Check out the Heat Map here.

[HOT LIST] Michigan cheese

At Reserve in Grand Rapids. L to R: "Brighid" from Cowslip Creamery, Fourme D'Ambert (France), and "Heard It Through the Grapevine" from EverGreen Lane. All photos by Nicole Rupersburg.

Behold, the power of cheese. According to the Michigan Department of Agriculture, Michigan was the 8th largest producer of cow's milk cheese in the country in 2010. As artisan food movements continue to gain momentum all over the country, Michigan's artisan cheese makers are growing in number, visibility, and overall quality and diversity of product, making cheeses not just from cow's milk, but also more esoteric cheeses from goat's and sheep's milk.

We all know about Zingerman's Creamery and their popular Detroit Street Brick (a creamy goat's milk cheese made with peppercorns and widely available in area restaurants and markets) as well as their hands-on mozzarella classes, but what we should also all know by now is that when ol' Z's sets the bar, others will surely follow. The Michigan Cheese Makers Cooperative exists to promote and support the craft of artisan and farmstead cheeses and has coined the term "Great Lakes, Great Cheese." From funky artisan to old-world Amish farmers cheese, Michigan's cheesemakers are certainly earning that title.

#1 Leelanau Cheese Company (Suttons Bay)
In 2007 the Leelanau Cheese Company, located on the Black Star Farms agricultural property in Suttons Bay, was awarded "Best in Show" at the 24th Annual American Cheese Society cheese competition for their aged raclette. So it's not just one of the best cheeses in Michigan; it's one of the best in the country. The Leelanau Cheese Co. makes precisely two kinds of cheeses: raclette and aged raclette. With all of that undivided attention it gets, its no wonder that this buttery, semi-firm cow's milk cheese receives such high accolades. If you're in Traverse City, stop by Tastes of Black Star Farms for a traditional Matterhorn Grill Dinner featuring Leelanau's raclette cheese (a steal at only $50 per couple WITH wine).


#2 EverGreen Lane Farm and Creamery (Fennville)
The cheeses made at EverGreen tend towards more of a cheese aficionado's palate. They make artisan goat's milk cheese from their heard of La Mancha and Alpine goats and cow's milk cheese using milk from the Jersey cows at Moo-Nique Dairy in Vandalia, Michigan (Jersey cows are known for a richer, sweeter milk with higher butterfat content). Both farms are committed to sustainable practices. Known for their creamy fresh chevre, a recent discovery at Reserve in Grand Rapids called "Heard It Through the Grapevine" (a washed rind semi-firm goat's milk cheese washed in red wine) is an outstanding example of their artisan craft with an extraordinary balance of flavor and texture.

#3 Cowslip Creamery (Grand Rapids)
Meet the ladies of Cowslip Creamery. First, the 30 Jersey Cows; then the cheesemaker herself, Jana Deppe (who is about to obtain the prestigious "Master Cheesemaker" designation). Jana makes approachable artisan farmstead cow's milk cheeses which include Brighid (a tangy yellow semi-firm cheese with a thin layer of pine ash in the center) and Phocas (a mild, earthy semi-soft cheese).

#4 Pinconning Cheese Company (Pinconning)
The Pinconning Cheese Company has been around since 1948, producing their signature Old-Fashioned Pinconning Cheese, a Colby-style cheese with huge aging potential (the "super sharp" and "super super sharp" aged varieties are only available in the retail store). They produce a wide range of different flavored cheeses, cheese curds and cream cheese spreads, and also carry a variety of different imported cheeses on their online store, along with Michigan-made meats and a host of specialty food products. Gift boxes are available for the holidays.

#5 Farm Country Cheese House (Lakeview)
Located in Michigan's Amish countryside, Farm Country Cheese House has been making cheeses in Lakeview using milk supplied by the surrounding Amish communities since 1984. The cows are naturally raised, grass-fed, antibiotic-free and hand-milked. Farm Country produces over 20 different kinds of traditional and distinctive cheeses, including their decadent Truffle cheese (made with black truffle peelings and white truffle oil) and their extra, extra sharp Christmas Cheddar, aged for three years and only available during the holidays. Their products are widely available in gourmet markets like Holiday and Plum, or you can order online.

Bubbling under Traffic Jam and Snug (Detroit), Zingerman's Creamery (Ann Arbor), Grassfields Cheese (Coopersville), Dancing Goat Creamery (Byron Center), Michigan Farm Cheese Dairy (Fountain), Williams Cheese Co. (Linwood), Greystone Farm and Creamery (Chelsea)

[EID Feature] Big Boy, My Big Boy

All photos by Nicole Rupersburg.

Question I am most often asked, #1: "What's your favorite restaurant?" (Note to the audience: I really hate that question.)

Question I am most often asked, #2: "How did you get 'into' food?"*

My history with food isn't really all that romantic. Shall we begin like David Copperfield?

I've been eating food for as long as I can remember. CRAZY, I know. There was really no impetus for it; just sort of a situation of basic human needs being met kind of a deal.

Okay, I'll stop being a sh*twit. Those of you who have been a Nicole Rupersburg Superfan for awhile have already seen my bio, but for the rest of you I'll repeat this snippet: "I grew up in a household where Shake 'N Bake and Hamburger Helper was de rigueur. Dining 'out' meant a cheeseburger at Big Boy. (And I still to this day love Big Boy.)"

I wrote that a couple of years ago, and I got a lot of positive feedback about it. People really seemed to personally relate to the part about Big Boy.

The thing is, most of you probably have a Big Boy story. The family hamburger chain (headquartered in Warren, Michigan) is ubiquitous in Southeastern Michigan, and no matter what kind of family you grew up in -- no matter how rich or how poor, how city or how suburban -- odds are your parents wrangled all you unruly children into a Big Boy at some point, where you ate their famous Big Boy Burger (the original double-decker ... yup, McDonald's swiped it from them) and drank their hand-dipped shakes served in a fountain glass with the stainless steel mixing cup with MORE shake in it on the side. You remember the brown octagon-shaped tiles, the orange-brown vinyl booths, the one section under the skylight (in every location), and coloring with dull crayons on the paper placemat and all over the iconic large lad.

As part of a corporate-wide re-branding initiative, Big Boy is now referring to itself in marketing and inside the restaurants as your Big Boy. When I walked into the location at Hall Rd. and Garfield in Clinton Township and was greeted with, "Welcome to your Big Boy!," the girl had no way of knowing that this really was MY Big Boy.

Most of my youngest childhood years were spent in Fraser. We went out to eat as a family probably once or twice a month, and it was always to Big Boy, and always at the Fraser location on Groesbeck and Kelly Rd. (long-since closed). My father and I also had a monthly Sunday breakfast ritual. We had to go all the way over to the other Big Boy in Fraser because our Big Boy didn't have the breakfast bar (which was a huge source of excitement and anticipation for me, and most surely marked the beginning of my sacred brunching). Then I got older and things changed. I started high school. I started dating a guy from a different high school. His friends all hung out at Big Boy, and therefore so did we.

When an elderly person succumbs fully to dementia, there is a specific point in their lives in which they seem to live in perpetuity. For me, it will be these days. It was the whole of my high school existence (and most of college); we sat in Big Boy, chain-smoked cigarettes, drank bottomless cups of coffee and talked. About life, the universe and everything (also Douglas Adams). About music and movies and books--Metallica, Jeff Noon, Beavis and Butthead, Sister Machine Gun, the State, everything, nothing, it didn't matter. Hours and hours and hours and hours we spent there. Sometimes our group was only three, sometimes we filled an entire section (looking back I pity those poor waitresses). This parking lot was our pre-concert meeting place; inside we held our post-concert powwows. We made lifelong friends, we fell in and out of love, we had our hearts broken, we learned we were smarter than our parents and also how to be jaded. We experienced all the magnified extremes of raw emotion only possible when you're a teenager. We were adolescents playing at adulthood. All here, at this Big Boy.

I don't often accept invitations from PR reps for media tastings and events. But when I got an email from John Fuller inviting me out to taste some of the new dishes at this Big Boy, MY Big Boy, I couldn't resist.

I walked in to find the place almost unrecognizable. After a $400,000 remodel in mid-July (this location being the first in the company to go through the full re-branding), the space is brighter, cheerier, and more stylish with also a bit of an old-fashioned soda shop throwback appeal. (I remember the last time they remodeled, probably in the late '90s. They shut down for three months. We didn't know what to do. This was how Ram's Horn, Denny's and National Coney Island got thrown into our rotation: it was Big Boy diaspora.) They've introduced a variety of new menu items with a focus on freshness, utilizing more local products, and the same large portions, hearty flavors and low prices that have made Big Boy a family favorite for 75 years.

John and I sit down and order up several rounds of food to sample. There's the BBQ Ranch Chicken Tenders (a sandwich made with chicken tenders on a grilled sesame roll with melted cheddar cheese, tomatoes, shredded lettuce, ranch dressing and BBQ sauce), the Buffalo Chicken Salad (a new menu item with choice of grilled chicken or chicken tenders with tomatoes, red onion, bleu cheese crumbles and croutons, then topped with their signature Buffalo sauce and bleu cheese dressing), Chicken Parmesan (an old favorite with breaded chicken breast, melted mozzarella and marinara sauce), a Coney Dog (from the all-new footlong hot dog menu, loaded with chili, diced white onions and yellow mustard), and the Best Burger on the Planet (another new item from the new Burger Lovers' Burgers menu, and while the name itself may be a bit ambitious it is indeed a DAMN tasty burger). And to wash it all down, a Peanut Butter and Jelly Shake, made with real peanut butter and quite literally just like the real thing blended with ice cream.

John and I sit down to sample all the different items, and they're every bit as reliably big and hearty as you have always been able to expect from your Big Boy. Big Boy epitomizes the American diner: as trends move this way or that (micro, gastro, organic, etc.) there is still a huge faction of America concerned less with celebrity chefs and haute food trends and more with being able to get a good meal at a good price. I will repeat this, ad infinitum: THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT. Big Boy may not be gastro this-or-that, but it's damn tasty diner food. It may be full of blue hairs and screaming kids, but that's the atmosphere of the classic American diner (that and teenagers who will take up several tables for hours sitting, drinking coffee and philosophizing).

When I launched Eat It Detroit, the most important thing to me was to be as all-inclusive as possible. This means putting up fine dining against cheap diners, profiling unknown business owners in NW Detroit alongside the latest white dude opening a cocktail bar, running back-to-back Hot Lists on hot dogs and halal restaurants. To me, Big Boy fully represents that all-inclusive ethos. It's a chain (sneer); it's a non-trendy family restaurant serving pedestrian American diner food (sneer); it appeals to the lowest common denominator (sneer). But the classic Big Boy double-decker sandwich is still one of my favorite burgers, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. Plus, hi, their pies and desserts? AWESOME.

Sitting with John and talking about life, work, travel and Detroit for a couple of hours reminded me of why I loved Big Boy so much in the first place. More often than not, sharing a meal is less often about the food and more about the people that you're with and the memories you associate with the experience, and that is something the Food Network can never package and sell.

*Actually, that's a lie. The second most-often asked question I get is "How do you eat so much and stay so skinny?" I'm on the almost-double-digit side of size 8; I ain't that skinny. Anyway, for the purposes of this, we'll stick with the other #2.

Want to see more? Check out the Flickr set here.

[HOT LIST] Sliders

All photos by Nicole Rupersburg.

"With everything?" Yes, EVERYTHING.

Everything = ketchup, mustard, pickles and onions, wrapped in paper where they further soak in their own grease letting all the flavors marinate together (the true test of a good slider is how greasy the paper bag gets on your drive home). This is universal language for "everything" when at your local slider shack.  In metro Detroit, our little white huts of bite-sized burger worship have been around longer than most of us have been alive ... and the prices are practically the same as they were decades ago. Our slider shacks have a long history here, and the locals are fiercely protective of their favorites. Part of their appeal is their nostalgic sentimental value; the other part is their food: fast, cheap and greasy. Like relics of a former era - which most of them are (some dating back to WWII) - these slider shacks have silently shaped our food scene for decades, standing tall even as trendier and more commercial places have tried to de-throne them. Say what you will about your coneys; metro Detroit just wouldn't be the same without its sliders.

#1 Telway Hamburgers (Detroit)
Telway fans all swear they're the best, and that Motz, Bates and Greene's just don't compare. Located on Michigan Ave. in Southwest Detroit, Telway is probably the best-known of all the local burger emporiums. Part slider joint, part donut shop, they're open 24 hours and can cater to any and all of your grease, salt, fat and sugar cravings. They promise the "Best coffee in town," and at 45 cents it's pretty hard to beat. (We love $4 French press as much as anyone, but sometimes a no-fuss 10-second 45-cent cup of good 'ol American joe hits the spot.) Their burgers are a bit smaller, but at 85 cents at pop for a cheeseburger there's no reason to complain. Plus, this place is EXTRA adorable inside, even more old-timey and cute than all the other cute old-timey places. Cash only. Also in Madison Heights.

#2 Sonny's Hamburgers (Detroit)
Sonny's fans all swear they're the best, and that Telway, Motz and Bates just don't compare. Depending on your perspective, Sonny's has either the distinct advantage or disadvantage of being probably the least-known slider joint in town. Located in NW Detroit's Brightmoor neighborhood, it suffers from the seclusion of not being in one of Detroit's, errrr, trendier parts. But locals know: their burgers are the best. The BEST. Meatier, greasier, just plain gooder. The neighborhood might not be the most enticing but inside Sonny's is plenty welcoming (and no, there's no bullet-proof glass, just the same old giant stainless steel counter you'll find everywhere else). Their cheeseburgers are a little "pricier" at $1.50 each, but you're getting what you pay for. Plus you can order small or large burgers AND they accept credit.

#3 Motz Hamburgers (Detroit)
Motz fans all swear they're the best, and that Bates, Telway and Greene's just don't compare. Ahhhh, DELRAY, another neighborhood in Detroit you have to be a bit adventurous to visit (though being on the edge of SW it's a little less out of the way). Named one of the best burgers in the country by USA Today, Motz is known for thick, meaty "sliders" as big as regular fast food joint burgers, killer fries (with malt vinegar on every table), and a fairly diverse menu of other cheap 'n greasy victuals including other varieties of burgers. Like the geographically-appropriate Mexican Burger. And, Veggie. Which would presumably be cooked on the same beef-grease-coated grill. Which defeats the whole purpose. Kind of like ordering a veggie burger in a slider joint in the first place. Cash only.

#4 Travis Hamburgers (Saint Clair Shores)
Travis fans all swear they're the best, and that Motz, Greene's and Telway just don't compare. Open 24 hours and serving a bevvy of gut-bomb breakfast food in addition to glorious burgers, Travis is an eastside thing, you wouldn't understand. More of a full-fledged diner than a simple slider joint, this place is predictably packed after-hours and is also known for a stellar old jukebox that kicks out the likes of Patsy Cline. You want ambiance? This place has an old-school punk appeal that only comes with decades of serving drunkards warbling along to Johnny Cash. Cash only.

#5 Bates Hamburgers (Livonia)
Bates fans all swear they're the best, and that Greene's, Telway and Motz just don't compare. It's tiny, it's white, it's got the stainless steel counter and the old-fashioned sign menus with the push-in mismatched letters. Bates is known for having a slightly bigger burger, and no trip to Bates would be complete without indulging in their thick chocolate shakes or crispy crinkle-cut fries (add chili for extra oomph). They're also known for having solid coneys, and to mix up your slider experience a bit, get your burgers on a sesame seed bun. Open Monday through Sunday, 7am to 11pm. Cash only.

Bubbling under Greene's Hamburgers (Farmington), Old Fashioned Hamburger (Detroit), Bray's Hamburgers (Westland), Carter's Hamburgers (Lincoln Park), Comet Burger (Royal Oak), Joe's Hamburgers (Wyandotte), Hunter House (Birmingham)

[Real Detroit Weekly] Sangria Tapas Cafe and Sky Club

Photo by Nicole Rupersburg.

"Owner Luigi Cutraro remembers when he first opened the doors to Sangria 12 years ago. At that time, Royal Oak was a hub for locally – and independently – owned businesses, defined by its countercultural ethos and its growing visibility as a vibrant downtown destination. Now, Royal Oak is becoming more 'corporate,' he notes – as Ferndale becomes the new champion of the quirky and independent, long-time Royal Oak mainstays like Sangria struggle to differentiate themselves from the increasingly homogenized look of Main Street.

'Luckily for Sangria (and Luigi), its long history and continued popularity place it far ahead of its other competition. First, as a salsa club: Salsa Wednesdays and Latin Thursdays with DJ Cisco in the Sky Club are just as popular as ever, particularly with metro Detroit's large salsero community. But we already know about the salsa, and there isn't anything new that can really be said about it. Except that in the past 12 years since Sangria opened, there have been 27 salsa clubs that have opened and then closed. Sangria was the first and is the only one still left. And also that DJ Cisco has been the resident DJ here for the past 12 years since they opened, an almost unheard-of length of time for any DJ to have a residency in one place (if for no other reason than that most clubs don't survive that long)..."

Read the rest of the story here.

Want to see more? Check out the Flickr set here.

[EID Feature] Tony Sacco's Coal Oven Pizza: Reinventing the Pizza Wheel

All photos by Nicole Rupersburg.

In 2009, Slice (a subsection of Serious Eats) proclaimed coal-fired ovens the hottest new trend in pizza, also citing Florida as Ground Zero for the explosion of the trend. This is due, at least in part, to Tony Sacco's Coal Oven Pizza.

Tony Sacco's opened their first store in the Bonita Springs area of Florida in July 2008. By early 2009 there was a demand for franchising, and by summer of '09 they began selling their first franchises. A franchisee opened a second Florida location in Fort Meyers; others franchisees opened stores in Illinois and Indiana with more scheduled in Ohio, North Carolina, and a slew more in greater Chicagoland (yep--Chicago will FINALLY have a decent pizza franchise). There are now a total of 18 Tony Sacco's restaurants already open, sold or planned, and in SE Michigan we're about to see several more open in 2012.

Owners Chuck Senatore and Geoge Kurajian are originally from Michigan, so it was only natural that as they opened more of their own stores that they would open one here. The Novi location opened in January 2011, and brought with it what might actually be among the first of its kind in metro Detroit: a coal-fired pizza oven. (The only other local pizzeria we know of using a coal-fired oven is Tomatoes Apizza.)

The idea for Tony Sacco's came into existence as Senatore and Kurajian were looking for a project. At the time they also had a third partner, Tony Sacco, but he left the business before they even opened their first store. "We liked the name," Chuck says. "It's a cool name, and we already had the fuse lit with that name so Tony let us use it and now we own the trademark so it's our name to use." Besides, it sounds a lot better than "George Kurajian's Coal Oven Pizza" (sorry, George). "People call me Tony half the time but whatever," Chuck laughs.

In 2008 they got a good space in the largest lifestyle mall in America, and because of all the snowbirds and tourists descending on that area they were able to share their concept with people from all over the country and world, getting exposure that wouldn't have been possible if they had been located anywhere else. "It was really strange how all the pieces fell into place," Chuck reflects. "We've never even tried to sell a franchise; this has all been people who came to us!"

They decided to go with coal-fired pizza because it was a simple concept they could go anywhere with that appeals to everyone. It was also a solid concept during down economic times because pizza is reasonably priced but also gourmet in its own right. "We could see how coal was going to be the next big thing on the horizon for pizza," explains Chuck. He traces the history of pizza in America from the immigrant-owned Italian eateries who brought traditional pizza styles with them, to the mass-production corporate chains making pizzas glopped high with cheese and toppings, to the "esoteric weird pizzas [places were doing] after chains sputtered out." Chuck says, "Until you start cooking something different with a different method you’re still making the same product. We’re doing something completely different by cooking it with coal. You're not going to change the flavor profiles until you start cooking it differently."

Coal-fired ovens may seem like a "new" concept, but really it's a very old one. Chuck insists they aren't reinventing the wheel here; they're just doing things in a more traditional way that has since been all but forgotten. "We had been to some of the old authentic coal oven places," Chuck says. "We wanted to do something that was high-end, something we could run with." He identified that the trend in pizza and food was moving more towards healthier, natural, gourmet items, which is really how pizza started.  "There's always a need for high-quality, high-end product. Pizza has gotten so far away from that it was just crap. There are not a lot of sit-down high-end pizza places where you can bring your family, a date, an office party, whatever. And we also knew if we have a high-end environment with high-end product then we need a high-end cooking method."

Enter the $50,000 custom-made coal-fired oven from Wood Stone in Washington. The oven at the Novi store weighs 7,000 pounds. The oven in their new Lansing store (breaking ground on Nov. 14) will be the largest coal oven Wood Stone has ever manufactured. The oven uses only anthracite coal from Pennsylvania, the cleanest burning solid fuel on the planet (cleaner even than wood with no soot no odor). It burns at a very high temperature allowing pizzas to cook in 4-5 minutes so the crust will be crunchy but still chewy on the inside and the toppings don’t get killed.

At Tony Sacco's, there are no freezers, no fryers and no microwave ovens. Vegetables are fresh and cut by hand. They make their sauce and dough from scratch. "We aren't really being magical," Chuck says. "We're just going back to the beginning when things were done right and were high quality." They strive for a balanced flavor profile--the don't overwhelm the pie with cheese, don't over-cook the toppings, don't add much salt or sugar. "Even our sauce is just olive oil, fresh basil and ground tomatoes." Because of this, their pizza is ACTUALLY healthy; a slice of cheese pizza from a 12'' pie is only 135 calories and 3.5 grams of fat. "If anyone asked me how we could make it better I honestly don't know. Every restaurant says, 'We use the finest ingredients,' but we actually do."

Everything here is made from scratch in-house and with hearty, fresh ingredients. The antipasto salad has big, beautiful slices of tomato and huge chunks of ham and salami. The marinated chicken wings are oven roasted for a smooth, smoky flavor. The garlic rotoli are roly-poly rounds of soft, homemade dough slathered in olive oil, garlic and Romano cheese (at $5 for a basket of 8 they're a damn steal; pace yourself because you won't want to put these down).

The pizzas are true Neapolitan style--big and round and semi-thin with fresh toppings and generous amounts of olive oil. Choose from toppings like Roma tomatoes, Kalamata olives, roasted garlic, zucchini and standard meats, or select one of Sacco's Specialty Pizzas like the Margherita (made simply with crushed Italian plum tomato sauce, fresh soft mozzarella and basil), Bianco (made with olive oil, ricotta, provolone, Romano and mozzarella) or Capo (pepperoni, sweet Italian sausage, roasted mushrooms and caramelized onions). The flavors are at once light and full, fresh and colorful, and the crust is a perfect balance of crunchy and chewy, tender and resistant. The robust olive oil creates a delicate harmony between the flavors; close your eyes and imagine you're in Italy, because this is exactly what the pizza there is like.

Cap off your meal with their Sacco's Shortcake, a coal-oven baked shortcake loaded with plump, juicy berries and homemade vanilla mousse, or try the liquid version under their "Specialty Cocktails."

Inside Tony Sacco's is more upscale than your average pizzeria. The floor plan is very open and casual, but they ditch "mom and pop red and white checker cloth" look of most eye-talian eateries. "We have a high-energy, upbeat environment. That's really what we set out to do; we wanted a concept that could carry the next 20 years. There are no pictures of Frank Sinatra or Dean Martin or the Rat Pack. Kids in their 20s don't even know who these guys are! [That photos of Frank Sinatra when he got arrested,] it's in every different Italian restaurant on the planet. It's played out!" At Tony Sacco's you can come in, enjoy a nice glass of wine or a cocktail along with your pizza and be in an environment that would suit a date as much as a dinner out with friends.

Right now the Novi location is the only location in Michigan (check out their $6.95 lunch buffet too), but 2012 will see the opening of the Lansing store as well as the Ann Arbor and Rochester Hills franchisees. In metro Detroit we have pizzerias using stone ovens, brick ovens, wood-fired ovens, and good ol' gas ... now taste the difference clean-burning coal can make. (As far as stocking stuffers go, it's not such a bad deal.)

Want to see more? Check out the Flickr set here.