~Metro Detroit, meet your newest best thing ever. Public House, from the fine folks behind Imperial, will open soon in downtown Ferndale. Here's a look at the concept, the space, and the menus. Is it going to be just as awesome as Imperial? Yes. Yes it f-ing will. [EID]
~Update to the dates: the first-ever #DineDrinkDetroit will now be held October 10-16. (And Detroit Beer Week starts the very next day.) Mark it, dude. [EID]
~Chef James of The Root Restaurant and Bar cooked with the big dogs in Chicago last week, including Paul Kahan of The Publican and Paul Virant of Vie Restaurant. James's star just keeps rising. Nikki's Boys *heart* [EID]
~The Jefferson House, recently opened inside the newly remodled Crowne Plaza Detroit Downtown-Convention Center, is now part of Detroit Restaurant Week September 20-29. [DRW / EID]
Sports!~For all you Detroit Lions game-goers, here's a handy list of what to eat and where, including stands from Slows To Go, Corridor Sausage Co., Russell Street Deli, Pegasus Taverna, and The Sugar House. [Detroit Lions Official]
~And here is that same list in editorial form. Ford Field food includes food and drink stands from local businesses like Slows To Go, Corridor Sausage Co., Russell Street Deli, Zingerman's Delicatessen, Billy Sims BBQ, Pegasus Taverna, American Coney Island, The Sugar House, and more. [Detroit News]
~Some will weep. Others will rejoice. Charlie Marcuse, the Singing Hot Dog Man of Comerica Park, has been fired. Again. [Detroit News]
~If you're in Ann Arbor on a U-M game day and failed to stock up on supplies in preparation ... HA HA HA HA HA. You must be new to town. Here's some places where you can seek out sustenance without being surrounded by a sea of blue and maize. Isalita, Jolly Pumpkin Cafe + Brewery, The Ravens Club, Zingerman's Roadhouse, more. [AnnArbor.com]
~Ford Field was named by The Daily Meal one of the best NFL stadiums in America for craft beer. Our football fans binge drink the best beers! [Daily Meal]
Keep an eye out for the Grindhouse's "secret breakfast" Saturdays at Eastern Market. [Grindhouse FB]Detroit Vegan Soul will open for business in West Village on September 28. [DVS FB]American Coney Island is hosting a coney dog eating challenge on September 12. So there's that. [MLive]What's the Detroit version of the Irish Boston Cooler? Head to Woodbridge Pub now to find out! (Note: it has Jameson Irish Whiskey in it.) Brought to you by the fine folks of Pure Detroit. [Pure Detroit]Last was a week for mega-updates (which has nothing to do with the fact that it was a holiday week and update lists are much easier to put together than new material, I'm sure, says the media person running her own such update list for one of her media things because easy). ~Here's a list of restaurants/bars happening in Midtown. [MLive]
~Here's a list of restaurants/bars happening in metro Detroit. [Freep] (Worth noting: Dave Mancini, owner of Supino Pizzeria - which just celebrated its five year anniversary - has officially christened his expansion next to the pizzeria "La Rondinella.")
~Here's a list of restaurants/bars happening in Ann Arbor. [A2 Gastro Boy]
Nate Skid has a moment of ZING. [Crain's]There is a "for sale" sign in the windows of the recently-opened Food Truck Cafe in Berkley. Now, I most certainly poked fun of the concept, but I certainly didn't wish them failure, and certainly not so quickly. But apparently customers have spoken: food truck food tastes better on actual trucks; everything else is a restaurant. [EID FB]Pasadena-based chain Blaze Pizza will open in Royal Oak with plans to open several more throughout metro Detroit. "Blaze Pizza uses an assembly line format to create artisan pizzas for only $6.95. Guests watch as they travel down an assembly line to create a signature pizza or design one of their own choosing from over 40 toppings." So basically it's the Subway of pizza. [Royal Oak Patch]And because Royal Oak is apparently Pizza Oak, Trattoria Pizzeria da Luigi is now open in the old Antica Pizzeria Fellini spot, owned by Luigi Cutraro, who closed Sangria last year to focus on something this smaller Sicilian bistro concept. [Detroit News]And the first metro Detroit location for Michael Symon's B Spot Burgers is....*drumroll*...Rochester Hills. And YES there will be a downtown Detroit location; stop whining. [Freep]This is a great story about how weird regulars make the best bartenders, and how The Oakland's own Shane Bang has come full circle. [The Oakland Official]DBusiness names the "80+ top restaurants in metro Detroit for business," which is basically just a list of the 81 most expensive restaurants in southeastern Michigan. [DBusiness]Michigan Main Street Center calls Detroit "a perfect example of Main Street culture" thanks to projects like Jazzin' on Jefferson, D:hive, Georgia Street Community Collective, and others. The National Main Streets Conference will be held in Detroit next year. [Preservation Nation]Detroit is the new New Orleans. Except without the high-profile celebrities coming in to "save" it. Erin Cummings doesn't count. [See Change]Tater tots, T-bones, and bacon bowls. How forward. [Detroit News]Beerie
~Get your tickets to Brewed in Michigan's 5th annual mini-Beer Fest at Baker's of Milford on September 27. [BiM Official]
~Vote for the Michigan Brewers Guild in this Intuit "Small Business Big Game" contest to win a FREE ad during the Super Bowl! (Or Superbowl. Whatever.) Vote once a day every day and show the country how we do things in the Great Beer State! [SBBG Official]
~What are the best craft beer bars in metro Detroit? Freep says Clubhouse BFD, One-Eyed Betty's, SLOWS BAR BQ, Pizzeria Biga - Royal Oak and The Wurst Bar. Sounds about right. [Freep]
Misc.
~"Coffee squatters" - those who set up shop for interminable hours gobbling up a café's bandwidth and available seating - are starting to see some pushback from cafe owners who need to be able to seat other customers (so they can, you know, stay in business and whatnot) and those who just prefer to encourage a more conversational cafe experience. Here I check in with places across the country like Lamill Coffee Boutique, Verve Coffee Roasters, Cafe Grumpy and others about their Wi-Fi policies and how they deal with squatters. [Fox News]
~The media's current rhetorical war against tipping rages on, this time with Pete Wells of The New York Times chiming in dramatically, calling the long-accepted industry practice and the American culture of tipping "irrational, outdated, ineffective, confusing, prone to abuse and sometimes discriminatory." [NYT]
~And just in time for all these anti-tipping stories, taxes are about to get a bit bleaker for tip-based employees. [Yahoo Finance]
