"Okay all you self-styled 'chefs' out there, here's a recipe for you to try: take one stylishly rehabbed vacant old building, add a smoker or two, throw in some mixed-bag barbecue from the major American south BBQ regions (Texas, Memphis, the Carolinas, Kansas City), emphasize locally-sourced products, tout the variety of Michigan-brewed beers on tap, and let simmer, stirring occasionally. The idea is that you will ultimately end up with an unprecedentedly successful restaurant which will get you bags and bags of money as well as many stories in the New York Times et al.
'I kid, of course, but there certainly doesn't seem to be a great mystery behind the current metro Detroit BBQ trend.
'Far from being a matter of astounding coincidence with like-minded people having the same idea at the same time à la the crepes expectations, the current trend of upscale barbecue eateries (three opened in July and August 2010 alone; two are only 0.8 miles apart) certainly didn't happen in a vacuum. Ever heard of a place called Slows?..."
Read the rest of the article here ... and you definitely should because this is the best article yet written about metro Detroit's BBQ craze that has nothing to do with the food and only a little to do with Slows. In my own humble opinion, of course.
