[Concentrate] A delicious homecoming: Takashi Yagihashi returns to Michigan with Slurping Turtle

Takashi Yagihashi at Slurping Turtle. Photo by Doug Coombe.

Metro Detroit has been slow to take up the noodle trend that has been dominating the trendy food scene of major cities all over the world for nearly a decade now. While casual Asian take-out eateries in strip malls are never in short supply, especially in cities with larger ethnic Asian populations like Novi and Canton and, a little further east and a little less glamorous, Madison Heights, the metro area's core – Detroit – was noticeably absent the kind of upscale and/or late-night noodle shop found in abundance in places like Chicago and Toronto (and still is, if you consider that the places now just recently serving this kind of food – Rock City Eatery, Katoi, and Johnny Noodle King – are all helmed by non-Asians).

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[Concentrate] From cart to cafe: The evolution of two local food trucks

HELEN HARDING AND BLAKE REETZ AT EAT - DOUG COOMBE

It has been more than three years since Mark's Carts first debuted in Ann Arbor in March 2011, and since we first started to discuss mobile food vending in the city. Food trucks – as in, actual street-mobile roving kitchens on wheels – have yet to find their place in Ann Arbor, but thanks to Mark's Carts, there is at least a little corner of Tree Town that allows cart-based food vendors to operate.

When we first began discussing the benefits of mobile vending, and why Ann Arbor should embrace this new-ish business model rather than relentlessly block it, we explored how mobile vending is an ideal way to vet a new concept and build up a business before making the significant investment into a permanent brick-and-mortar location. Now we'll check in with two businesses that got their start as carts and have since transitioned to full-time brick-and-mortar café.

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[HOT LIST] Pursuit of Pappy 2013

If you're a craft beer nerd, you are more than familiar with the concept of white whales: Pliny the Younger, Dark Lord, KBS, CBS, Heady Topper, Black Tuesday, and so many more all have cultish followings with people willing to pay ten times retail or more just to get their hands on a bottle. The beers are made in limited quantities and with limited allocations, sometimes never even distributed out of their own state, sometimes never even distributed outside of their own brewery. (Yeah, all you Dark Lord Day nuts, I'm looking at you.)

Spirits are a different story. There may come a day that a west coast distillery will grow to have a serious cult following all over the country and people will pay several times over what it's worth on eBay to get their hands on a bottle if it's not distributed in their state. But the fact is, we're just not there yet with American craft spirits.

Except when it comes to Pappy Van Winkle.

(We're going to be taking a long walk for a short drink of water here so just sit tight, this will all come together soon enough.)

Old Rip Van Winkle was a pre-Prohibition brand that was resurrected by the Van Winkle family in the 1970s. The Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve is the rarest of the rare, bottled in 15-, 20-, and 23-year-aged releases. It has been contract distilled by the Sazerac Company at the Buffalo Trace Distillery since 1991, but because of the low production and extremely long aging process - much longer than what any other distillery is willing to sit on - it is the rarest bourbon in the world. While some distillers get a little persnickety over which distillers can accurately be considered "craft" and which are merely glorified finishing houses - buying all of the booze pre-made by the tank only to finish it with their own flavors and age it themselves, putting their own labels on it and calling it "craft" - no one seems to split hairs over Pappy.

"Why not just make more of it?" For the same reason every new distillery starts by producing vodka (it's the fastest turnover from still to bottle and the fastest way to start bringing in money) and why you don't see quality whiskeys coming out of craft distilleries that just opened in the last two years - age. Anything other than white whiskey (whiskey that hasn't spent any time aging in barrels; it's basically moonshine and almost always terrible so please stop making this trendy) has to sit in barrels for at least a year, and even then you're rushing it. 18 months is the minimum for most, and two years is more preferable still. But beyond two years isn't practical for most companies. Why? Not only is storage often an issue (and it is, because those barrels need to sit somewhere), but this also means that these distilleries - so many of them still pretty new and operating on shoestring budgets - are sitting on hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars worth of product, just for those two years.

Now multiply that by about 10, and you'll see the Van Winkles' predicament. Also, what is trendy now might not still be trendy 15, 20, or 23 years from now - aging bourbon for this long is a long-term commitment and a long-term gamble, and company president Julian Van Winkle III doesn't want to sit on millions of dollars worth of bourbon he can't sell 20 years from now. Can you blame him?

And this brings us to the Pappy Panic of 2013. You see, Louisville Magazine wrote a pretty great story on the brand earlier this year, and that story got picked up by the Wall Street Journal, which then got picked up by every lifestyle aggregator blog in the country, and now everyone wants Pappy. And everyone already wanted Pappy, but now it's EVERYONE. Pappy Panic was further perpetuated by a massive theft of $26,000+ worth of product from the company reported earlier this year, and reached what one can only hope to be its nadir (but probably not) with the announcement of a Pappy Van Winkle clothing line. Which, much like the Ferrari clothing line, will probably be worn almost exclusively by people who have never so much as seen or touched a bottle in their lives and never will.

SIDEBAR: This will also lead to people who have had it claiming that it's good, but it's not THAT good. (I've already heard it myself.) In short, both media and people are awful.

So! For all you shameless white whale chasers out there, and also those of you who really truly and sincerely love bourbon (please let it be more latter than former), here are a few places around town where you can find it right now. Know of somewhere that I missed? Leave it in the Facebook comments.

The Oakland, Ferndale
Yep, they have it, at least as of Friday night. And I would guess they always have a stash of it somewhere if you know how and who to ask. But I'm just guessing here.

Palate, Milford
They had five bottles as of Friday.

The Raven's Club, Ann Arbor
On Monday the Raven's Club is hosting a Pappy Van Winkle tasting with Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery President Julian Van Winkle III. They'll be tasting five bourbons from Julian's own personal collection, paired with dishes from Ann Arbor and Detroit area chefs. For bourbon fans, this is pretty much the place to be - alas, it's already sold out, but maybe stop by and see if anyone will let you lick one of their glasses when they're done.

The Wine Garden, St. Clair Shores
Want to buy a whole bottle of it and not just drink a little of it at the bar? As the number four account for Buffalo Trace in the entire state of Michigan, the Wine Garden is one of only a few stores in the state that will receive an allotment (they are expecting six bottles). In order to be as fair as possible, they are going to raffle off the bottles at a party in-store on December 19. Stop in the store any time this month and buy a bottle of bourbon to be entered into the drawing. There will be only three winners and you MUST be present for the drawing to win. "Wait, only three winners? You said they were getting six bottles! What about the other three?" This store has customers that spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars a year on bourbon, and those special customers will get first dibs. Why? Because sometimes a store wants to reward their loyal customers and not just cater to the Ahab assholes helicoptering in for their first and last time ever in the store to get a rare bottle of bourbon they read about on the Internet, that's why.

UPDATED: Townhouse in Birmingham has some, Red Wagon in Troy is selling it for $500/bottle, mL Spirits in Birmingham has some (including the 23-year), Merchant's Fine Wine in Dearborn has it but there is already a two-year waiting list, and One-Eyed Betty's has a serious stash of it as well as their own single-barrel batch of Buffalo Trace.

[HOT LIST] Cocktails

Dave Kwiatkowski of the Sugar House. All photos by Nicole Rupersburg.

It goes without saying that the BEST best places in metro Detroit to get a craft cocktail are Roast, the Oakland, and the Sugar House (which was just named one of the best bars in America by Playboy). But as the trend has grown over the last couple of years - so much so that Michigan Radio recently took notice and ran a state-wide poll looking for Michigan's best craft cocktail bar, and Michigan State University has their own Artisan Distilling Program (the Master Distiller of Death's Door is a graduate of this program) - an ever-increasing number of bars and restaurants are getting with the craft cocktail program. And not in the half-assed way they did before (changing the name of their martini menu to "craft cocktails," yet keeping all the same candy-flavored vodka drinks) - this time it's in earnest. Top-shelf spirits (think bourbons, gins, and boutique liqueurs), fresh-squeezed juices, and house-made bitters and infusions separate the men from the martinis. What a difference two years make, eh? These are some of the best places to get some (aside from Roast, the Oakland, and the Sugar House, of course).

#1 Pizzeria Biga Royal Oak, Southfield, Ann Arbor (opening soon)
Pizza and craft cocktails? Absolutely, when the pizza in question is made by James Beard award-nominated chef Luciano del Signore (along with house-made charcuterie) and the cocktails by some of the best local bartenders in the business. Biga's beverage program in general is a thing of excellence, with proper dues given to its Italian inspiration in its selection of Italian beers, wines, and liqueurs. They also have a great selection of craft beers and have recently started hosting beer dinners. As for cocktails, they have a full selection of classic craft cocktails as well as some of their own creations.

Red Crown. 

#2 Red Crown Grosse Pointe Park
Turns out, Grosse Pointers are a bunch of booze-hounds. (This probably surprises no one who is familiar with Grosse Pointers and their lifestyles.) Mixologist Thomas Phillips, a self-described liquor nerd, leads the bar's cocktail program, which includes a mix of classic cocktails and his own creations, which he changes seasonally. The renovated historic gas station in Grosse Pointe Park opened earlier this year and was an instant hit with the community that has been woefully underserved in their demand for drink. This summer, enjoy their expansive, beautifully-landscaped patio with a cold cocktail and some smoked meat and Southern-style comfort food.

#3 The Last Word Ann Arbor
The Last Word takes its name from the classic cocktail of the same name, which is fitting for this Prohibition-era craft cocktail bar. This place is all about the booze, and be sure to shop in for Whiskey Wednesdays when they serve Scotch (SCOTCH SCOTCH SCOTCHY SCOTCH), bourbon and rye half-off. It's a classy joint in a college town, and their cocktails are on point.

#4 Bailout Productions Detroit
We all know that Roast is one of the best places to go for a craft cocktail, and that's because of the talent behind the bar. Bailout Productions has its roots in Roast, where founders Travis Fourmont (who now works at Great Lakes Wine and Spirits) and Joe Robinson (still holding down the happy hour fort) both worked. They now team up for pop-up bar events at places like Green Dot Stables and the currently-uninhabited Rhino Club in Harmonie Park, and bring their full cocktailing skills along with some friends – like chef Andy Hollyday, who recently left his post at Roast to work on opening his own restaurant in Midtown. They've got more events planned for this summer, so be sure to follow them on Facebook for updates on their upcoming pop-ups.

#5 Sardine Room Plymouth
The much-buzzed-about Sardine Room in Plymouth just celebrated its one-year anniversary earlier this month. Known for their selection of fresh seafood (oysters, the oysters, especially the oysters) and elevated small plates, the Sardine Room also has an excellent selection of craft beer and craft cocktails. What with all of the oysters and the hot sauce and the lobster rolls (basically a lobster po'boy) and the shrimp and grits, the Sardine Room has a vaguely New Orleansean vibe, so it seems only fitting to sip on a Sazerac (the drink that originated in the Big Easy over 150 years ago) while you're here.

Bubbling under Valentine Distillery (Ferndale), Gastronomy (Southfield), Zingerman's Roadhouse (Ann Arbor), St. Cece's Pub (Corktown), Vellum (Ann Arbor), Great Lakes Coffee (Midtown), Union Woodshop (Clarkston), the Raven's Club (Ann Arbor), Imperial (Ferndale), the Bar at 327 Braun Court (Ann Arbor), the Laundry (Fenton), the Root (White Lake), Torino (Ferndale), Lena (Ann Arbor)

[NEWS BITES] The Lunch Room in Ann Arbor opening restaurant in Kerrytown

About a year and a half ago, food cart culture was a hot topic around these parts -- How do we circumvent the laws preventing them from operating and become more like other cities where the mobile model has proven successful? How is the mobile model preferable for some start-ups in terms of lower barrier to entry and potential to evolve into brick-and-mortar (and is the latter even a feasible end-goal)? And let's not forget all the brick-and-mortars who got a bad case of the It's-Not-Fairs.

Since then the furor has died down and while we still have nothing in greater metro Detroit the mimics the food cart culture of Portland or the roaming herds of food trucks in Austin, but we're at least used to the idea now, and some of these concepts have successfully been able to spin their mobile start-ups into bonafide brick-and-mortars.

Mark's Carts in Ann Arbor, more than anywhere else in metro Detroit, has acted as something of a mobile-to-permanent food business incubator. After a successful first season when Mark's Carts opened in 2011 (as well as, admittedly, a catering business that took off stronger and faster than the owners expected), eat catering and chef services was able to open their own small retail space where they serve hearty home-cooked foods for lunch and dinner carry-out, and also have the large kitchen space in back for their catering.

Now Mark's Carts has a brand new graduate to the brick-and-mortar program. The Lunch Room, a vegetarian and vegan restaurant, has announced they will now be opening their own restaurant in Kerrytown. And before Mark's Carts they originally started as a pop-up, so there's a feather in the cap for that food business trend too. The full press release is copied below; they hope to open in June.

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This spring The Lunch Room will become the second business from Mark’s Carts to move to a permanent, year-round location (the first was eat, in the fall of 2011, to 1906 Packard). The award-winning vegan eatery will take over the space last occupied by Yamato restaurant at 403 N. Fifth Ave. on the west side of Kerrytown Market & Shops, nestled between Everyday Wines and Zingerman’s Events (formerly Eve’s). Projected to open in June, The Lunch Room will serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and Saturday and Sunday brunches. Proprietors Phillis Engelbert and Joel Panozzo are seeking to create an establishment that will be noteworthy for its hearty and delicious plant-based food; compelling, attractive interior and exterior design; and spirited ambience that includes live music. The Lunch Room is grateful to Trillium Real Estate for their assistance in securing such a prime downtown location.

“Kerrytown Market & Shops is thrilled to welcome The Lunch Room to our community,” stated Karen Farmer, Manager of Kerrytown Market & Shops. “We’ve patiently waited for the right fit, and feel we’ve got that with Joel and Phillis. Their wonderful food and positive energy will make them a great addition to our unique collection of local businesses.”

The restaurant will provide Ann Arbor with exciting new vegan fare and will greatly increase the city’s vegetarian cuisine offerings. The restaurant menu will feature new entrees such as veggie burgers, tacos, roasted root veggie pasties, tempeh reubens, and udon noodle seitan stirfry -- as well as many of the items that made the food cart famous. There will be rotating dinner specials including pizza; paella; mac & cheese; veggie sushi platter; panang curry; Cuban black beans & rice, and breaded seitan cutlets with rice, broccoli & gravy. Among the new breakfast and brunch offerings will be breakfast burritos, French toast, cauliflower-spinach frittata, potato pancakes with applesauce & sour cream, oatmeal-fruit-granola platter and more. A bakery display case will show off The Lunch Room’s cookies, pies and pastries. The restaurant will also sell fresh-squeezed fruit and vegetable juices, smoothies, coffee, root beer floats and Boston coolers, and coconut-milk ice-cream sundaes with hot fudge and other homemade toppings.

The Lunch Room promises to become a destination not only for its food, but also for its decor. Adam Smith and Lisa Suavé of Synecdoche (Si-NEK-duh-kee) “simultaneous understanding” are designing the space as a showcase for their dynamic modern architectural style that accentuates materials, space, and light. Holders of Master’s degrees in Architecture from the University of Michigan’s Taubman College, the pair were the 2011 winners of the Young Architects Forum of Atlanta for a temporary outdoor installation called Edge Condition. They will work in conjunction with Lunch Room co-owner and graphic designer Joel Panozzo and plant artist Andy Sell (aka Foraging Florist) to create a bright and beautiful space, incorporating  and blending elements of indoors and outdoors, to enhance the dining experience.

The Lunch Room got its start as a “pop-up” restaurant in the fall of 2010, when next-door neighbors and vegan foodies Engelbert and Panozzo began serving 5-course meals on their signature cafeteria trays to private parties of 40-60 people in retail locations throughout Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. In April 2011 The Lunch Room joined the inaugural group of food carts at Mark’s Carts, selling sandwiches, salads, entrees, soups and baked goods from a cute, wood-paneled food cart. During its two seasons as a food cart it gained a reputation for making nutritious, delicious food that happened to be vegan yet appealed to people of all eating persuasions. The Lunch Room became most famous for its BBQ tofu sliders, banh mi chay (Vietnamese baguette) sandwiches, loaded nachos, Saturday brunch plate, cookies and ice cream sandwiches, as well as for being a place where smiling proprietors greeted customers by name and created a community spirit.

The Lunch Room serves plant-based foods made from scratch from fresh, high-quality ingredients. It makes every effort to use products from local vendors and to use locally grown, seasonal vegetables and fruits. Many of its menu items are gluten-free and the proprietors make every effort to accommodate guests with any food allergy.

The Lunch Room food cart was recognized in annarbor.com in July 2011 for achieving profitability after just five weeks in business. That October The Lunch Room won an Awesome Award from Ypsilanti’s iSPY Magazine. In June 2012 The Lunch Room received another honor: Best Food Cart in Washtenaw County in Current Magazine’s Readers’ Choice competition. It was recently favorably reviewed in Current Magazine’s Vegetarian Odyssey.

[NEWS BITES] Chef Steven Grostick leaves Toasted Oak, joins the Produce Station

Chef Steven Grostick, from his Facebook page.

Baconfest Michigan superstar and King of Butchery Chef Steven Grostick (a Brian Polcyn School of Charcuterie PhD grad who helped develop recipes for Polcyn's seminal cookbook Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking and Curing, has cooked at the James Beard House, and was on the Cochon Heritage BBQ culinary team in 2012) has left his position as Executive Chef of Toasted Oak Grill + Market in Novi to join the team at the Produce Station in Ann Arbor. Steve is coming on board as Executive Chef, overseeing their prepared foods and events catering departments as well as developing some signature events of their own.

The Produce Station has really grown their presence over the last year, but has been focused on carrying locally-grown, locally-raised and locally-made products since they opened in 1986. (Yep ... loooooooong before the locavore movement became a thing.) With Steve on board you can expect to see more signature events, like their "The Art of Local" event held this past June and other ticketed events with Michigan wine, beer and cider producers paired with Steve's house-made charcuterie and more. (Also check out their monthly (un)Corked Wine Tastings and Free Beer Friday beer tastings.)

Steve, himself one of the most passionate and dedicated supporters of Michigan products currently working as a chef in Southeastern Michigan, will continue to be available on a freelance basis for butchery classes, cooking classes and speaking at events.

And also Baconfest, if I have my way. And I usually do.

[NEWS BITES] Jolly Pumpkin Royal Oak update, Red Crown opening soon, more

I've got a two-punch motherlode of restaurant info coming out this week and next in Metromode. I'll drop the relevant names now: Curt Catallo and Ann Stevenson (Union Joints, aka Union Woodshop, Vinsetta Garage et.al.), Luciano del Signore (Pizzeria Biga, Bacco), Jon Carlson and Greg Lobdell (2Mission Development, aka Jolly Pumpkin, Bastone et.al.), and Mindy Lopus (Silver Pig Restaurant Group, aka Tallulah, Red Crown et.al.).

LOTS of new news coming from these cats, but you're just going to have to wait. In the meantime, I'll hand-tip a few of the tastier morsels:

Jolly Pumpkin's new production brewery in Dexter and Avalon Breads' new production facility in Detroit should both be open and operating within two weeks.

2Mission is still going forward with the Jolly Pumpkin Cafe in Royal Oak and have already completed construction plans and design work. The guys are very eager and excited to move forward; an unforeseen issue with the title on the seller's end is the cause of the delay. Jon and Greg also have some other plans for new spots in both Royal Oak and Ann Arbor in the works, but sorry my lovelies: spoilers!

Mindy's Red Crown will be open by mid-January and perhaps earlier depending on liquor license approval. Bona Fide Baking Co. will follow shortly thereafter. She's also got other concepts in the works at various stages of planning in Birmingham, Grosse Pointe Park and ... wait for it ... Detroit! But again: spoilers.

The Cafe con Leche del Este pop-up in Lafayette Park has closed (the final weekend was very funereal), but owners Jordi Carbonell and Mellissa Fernandez have plans to do a second pop-up on the east riverfront and are also looking towards Eastern Market for a potential permanent location that would be more than "just" a cafe. You'll know more when there is more to know.

Incidentally, the space that housed the pop-up will now be a laundromat, despite Fernandez doing everything she could to keep the space for a permanent location. (PS, this laundromat lease was confirmed before the pop-up's run even ended, in a direct affront to the rhetoric that this pop-up was intended as a "test run" for the coffeehouse to open in the space permanently.) For those of you not familiar with Lafayette Park, all of the high rises, condos and town homes in the immediate vicinity of this strip mall have their own laundry facilities, but perhaps it's just, you know, easier for the owner. As one friend observed on the Facebook, "Ownership politics seems to be as big an impediment to renewal as much as anything." To which I added, "At this point I'd argue it's quite possibly the BIGGEST problem, all throughout Detroit." So here's a great feature idea: the nightmarish experiences of would-be entrepreneurs with viable business plans trying to deal with property owners in this city. (I've heard dozens such stories myself.)

And finally, Rodin, a French-ish restaurant/lounge owned by Torya Blanchard that builds off of the French theme of her Good Girls Go to Paris Crepes also located in Midtown's Park Shelton building, will open 12/12/12.

[NEWS BITES] The Root opening second location in Howell; Pizzeria Biga opening third location in Ann Arbor

Both these haps are pretty hush-hush, but I have confirmation that Pizzeria Biga has started build-out on what will be their third location, this one in Ann Arbor. Proprietor Luciano del Signore always intended for Biga to expand into multiple locations and with Royal Oak already a hit, that ball of dough certainly seems to be rolling.

And in keeping with their tradition of choosing WTF locations in metro Detroit's BFE, the Root Restaurant will be opening a second location in Howell. An agreement has been reached but build-out has not yet started.

[EID Feature] Sexy Time in Ann Arbor: Lena + Habana

All photos by Nicole Rupersburg.

Two of my favorite people in restaurateuring (actually, it would probably be safe to say that these guys ARE my two favorite restaurateurs, the end) have opened yet another business in Ann Arbor (two, really) and it looks like they've got yet another winner(s) under their belts.

Greg Lobdell and Jon Carlson of 2Mission Design and Development have been on a tear here, there and everywhere. Jolly Pumpkin is expanding their Dexter brewing facilities (so Ron Jeffries can keep brewing unicorn tears and more of it) and they'll be opening a third Jolly Pumpkin Cafe soon (this one in Royal Oak). Together they own more than a dozen restaurants and bars in Royal Oak, Ann Arbor and Traverse City, and they're not slowing down any time soon.

Meet Lena (Lay-na), the team's newest venture and Ann Arbor's latest in cosmopolitan Latin-fusion cuisine. The place is total sexy time with a stripped-down aesthetic and an emphasis on clean, curved lines. From the Jetsons-inspired ceiling-mounted fireplace (get your own for a mere $8,500) to the curved wall and sparse west coast palette (save for the very very green exterior), this place just oozes sexy savvy chic. Oh, Ann Arbor, you.

But that's not all: in the basement is the newly-relocated and revamped Habana. It's still everything that it was before (Latin-inspired food and drink, salsa dancing, nightclub on weekends), only better. Sexier.  And minus the "Cafe." (The old Cafe Habana space, in the basement of Blue Tractor BBQ + Brewery, is now Mash, a whiskey and beer bar which admittedly fits the BBQ joint above it a bit more naturally.)

Lena and Habana are both Latin-inspired concepts but the similarities end there. They are otherwise as different as night and day, black and white, below ground and above ground. Where Lena upstairs is light and airy with an open floor plan awash in natural sunlight, breezy like an outdoor cliff-side patio on the Baja Peninsula, Habana is its dark underbelly. Literally. Located beneath Lena, Habana is dark and cavernous, an ultra-sexy nightclub carved out of the earth in the footprints of former secret vaults found beneath what was once Cunningham's Drug Store.

The building itself dates back to the late 1800s (possibly as far back as 1860), when it was home to the department store Mack and Co. When the store shut down, the top floors were removed and it became Cunningham's (1940). That store closed in 1973, replaced by a flower store briefly and then the Greek restaurant Parthenon in 1975, which closed in April of this year after more than 40 years of service.

The renovations were fast and furious (the Parthenon wasn't the cleanest of places, and the basement was pretty much dirt). During the renovation process, secret chambers were found behind the walls of the basement running under the sidewalks of the city; the walls were blown out and those chambers are now lounge areas. As for the very very green exterior, it is a faithful recreation of the original Cunningham's Drug Store facade; metalwork, awnings and all.

Lena is conceived to be a culinary experience inspired by the foods and traditions of Latin America and influenced by contemporary American cuisine. Chef Gabriel Vera is from Ecuador but uses French techniques with his own spin. He also recently represented Team Michigan at the Culinary Olympics in Frankfurt earlier this month -- this guy ain't no Tex-Mex joint line cook.

The menu is tapas and tacos with items like roasted corvina (an excellent fish from the coast of Ecuador you won't find anywhere else around here), an excellent selection of ceviche (try the sampler), traditional items like Caldo de Bolas (shredded beef soup), tostones, Spanish yapingacho (potato cakes stuffed with queso blanco, avocado, peanut sauce and chorizo), giant broiled Spanish sardines (not the kind that come in cans), 58-day-aged NY Strip steaks, a primarily Latin American wine list, and a huge emphasis on craft cocktails made with fresh-squeezed juices and house-made infusions. Plus rotating Jolly Pumpkin handles and Brazilian-style Chopp beer (light and dark) brewed especially for Lena and Habana.

I could use more words to say all of these things in more detail, but I'm going to let pictures do the talking here.

The bar at Habana.

Former secret vault made lounge.

House-infused vodka.

Ceviche sampler.

Want to see more? View the Flickr set here.

[HOT LIST] Scotch eggs

Ye Olde Scotch egg. Technically not era-appropriate but whatevs.

The Scotch egg. In addition to thanking the British for Shakespeare and Doctor Who, we can also thank them for this. It is a hard-boiled egg wrapped in sausage, coated in bread crumbs and deep-fried. Brilliant! Places that serve them are in short supply in metro Detroit (most people's first and probably only experience of them was likely at the Ren Faire, which only merely does the trick like any festival food), but no need to go all arse-over-tit trying to find some -- I've done the work for you. (With thanks to my western beerespondent for being my steel-stomached guinea pig.)

#1 Grange Kitchen + Bar (Ann Arbor)
All good things are made with duck. It's a Scotch egg only the egg comes from ducks from Our Family Farm in Manchester, MI. Duck eggs might be smaller but they are soooooo much richer than those of their pedestrian poultry cousin chicken. And if you question Chef Brandon Johns's commitment to local sourcing (or are just really passionate about it yourself), don't miss his annual 52 Mile Dinner on Nov. 7.

#2 One-Eyed Betty's (Ferndale)
Can you believe this place hasn't even been open a year yet? I feel like it has always been and forever will be. Like having a cell phone. Like, I know intellectually that there was a time in my life before it but it just seems so foreign and far removed from me now. So anyway, the Scotch egg is a fairly new menu item and it is ON POINT. Their secret to Scotchy awesomeness? Panko bread crumbs. It makes ALL of the difference. Not some. ALL.

#3 Red Coat Tavern (Royal Oak, West Bloomfield)
One of these days these guys are going to jump into the new millennium and get a real website. Until then you'll just have to take my word for it: they have Scotch eggs, and they are good. And as one of metro Detroit's mainstays of awesome Belgian beer lists, this place is a consistent win (maybe you've heard of their burgers?). Also now that Vinsetta Garage is reeling in all the traffic it might actually be easier to get a seat here!

#4 Wurst Bar (Ypsilanti)
You may have noticed that I pretty much love this place. (They are featured in three of the last five Hot Lists, including this one.) So yes, I really pretty much entirely love this place. But please take note: these are not Scotch eggs. These are motherfucking pterodactyl eggs. And for $5.95 you get two of these monsters, which are soft-boiled so that the yolks are all yummy and runny. Fair warning, if you eat them both you will likely spend most of the next day feeling like there is an actual pterodactyl in your intestines that is about to rip its way free Alien-style.

Pterodactyl eggs from the Wurst Bar.

#5 Dominion House Tavern (Windsor)
There are Scotch eggs and they have them, but the interesting thing about "the DH" -- located juuuuuuust across the border in Windsor, making it all of about 10-15 minutes depending on bridge and tunnel traffic (heh heh heh ehhhhhh, that only means something to New Yorkers) -- is its history. It is the oldest continuously-run tavern in the Border Region and would have served well on my Prohibition bars hot list except for that OH WAIT, CANADA DIDN'T HAVE PROHIBITION. Canada is awesome. And living on a border is also awesome. And also you can see metal bands play there without any of that "bridge and tunnel" newly-minted Canadian legal/American minor nonsense you get on Ouellette.

Bubbling under Concrete Cuisine (food truck; menu varies), Ye Olde Saloon (Royal Oak), Sean O'Callaghan's (Plymouth), Fort Street Brewery (Lincoln Park), O'Connor's Public House (Rochester)

Now THAT is a Scotch egg. 

[HOT LIST] German food

Cheese and sausage platter at the Berkley Front. All photos by Nicole Rupersburg.

Pretzels and mustard. Sausage and sauerkraut. Beer and ... beer. And cheese. And beer. And more sausage. Beer, brot* and brats are the base elements of German cuisine -- much as the Irish stew everything, the Germans grind everything and stuff it inside animal intestine then eat it with beer. So what I'm getting at here is that they're really into sausage -- bratwurst and knackwurst and wieners of various form.

With Oktoberfest officially beginning this Saturday there is no shortage of Oktoberfest-themed parties at brewpubs and restaurants all over metro Detroit (basically it's St. Patrick's Day: The Fall Edition, but with lederhosen instead of leprechauns), but these are the places where it's pretty much Oktoberfest all year round. Some are decidedly German; others are German in spirit if not so much in name and décor. PS, straight-up cheese and meat plates totally count -- in Germany it's called Frühstück if it's breakfast, Abendbrot if it's dinner; either way it is an extremely common meal (served with bread, mustard and other accoutrements; many sauered, of course). Plus bier. Viele bier.

I never said it was pretty.

#1 Richter's Chalet (Dearborn)
I love this place so hard. From the Bavarian chalet-style facade (barely noticeable from the road as it is located right where Telegraph eats Michigan Ave.) and the lovely older ladies who take exceptionally good care of each customer, right down to the German music playing nonstop (everything from polka to German pop, which is really, really bad), this place is homey and quaint and kind of kitschy and totally adorbs. Specialties include Jaeger Schnitzel (sauteed veal with mushrooms in gravy) and Rindsroulade (round steak rolled and stuffed with bacon, rice and onion served in gravy), and schnitzel and sauerbraten and spätzle and Spaten ... German words are fun. They've also got Bavarian chicken dinners as well as American options, and entrees come with about 18 different sides for under $15 so come hungry.

#2 Jacoby's German Biergarten (Detroit)
"Spaghetti and meatballs" in German is Koenigsberger Klopps. That's actually not a literal translation but basically it's German meatballs over slightly crispy spätzle covered in lemon beurre blanc served with a side of red cabbage, and you can get it -- as well as a variety of other German specialties and American pub food -- at Jacoby's Biergarten (though, technically, the name is a misnomer; really it's just an indoor beer hall). They've got a great selection of German beers and other imports with a smattering of Michigan crafts to keep everyone happy, plus they've got those communal tables everyone seems to be so fond of now and have had them for, like, over 100 years. Once upon a time -- in the before time, the long long ago -- the beer hall upstairs was a riot on weekends, but now they just rent it out for private parties. Back in the days when people hung out in Detroit not because there was some intrinsic value attached to hanging out in Detroit but because it was cheap and kind of seedy and nowhere carded or cared was when Jacoby's used to have live music upstairs every weekend, but those days are gone and now people would rather drink in empty lots without indoor plumbing. (Though, to be fair, Jacoby's version of indoor plumbing isn't much of an improvement over an outhouse.)

#3 Dakota Inn Rathskeller (Detroit)
They serve traditional German dishes, but that's not why people come here. People come here for the chicken hats. At the Dakota Inn, located in Detroit's Palmer Park neighborhood and owned by the Kurz family since 1933, Oktoberfest is six weeks of sing-alongs and ceremonial keg tappings. And chicken hats. Design nurds will dig the beautiful Bavarian architecture and rugged antique furniture (and cuckoo clock!), beeries will lurv the selection of seasonal German biers, and everyone will love the polka because polka is the music of The People.

The Dakota Inn.

#4 Wurst Bar (Ypsilanti)
Wat is more German than wurst? The Wurst Bar might not be QUOTE-UNQUOTE "German" per se, but close enough. Beer? Check. (Really killer Michigan beer at that.) Brats? Pick an animal. There might not be sing-alongs or chicken hats, but all craft on draft is $2 after 8 p.m. on Fridays and probably that is all you really need to start your own damn sing-along. To, like, Slayer or something.

#5 Metzger's German Restaurant (Ann Arbor)
They've been serving traditional German dishes like schnitzel and stuffed cabbage for over 80 years, and they also pack some awesome German beers like Einbecker Schwartz. Try the "Haus Platter for Two" with wiener schnitzel, bratwurst, mettwurst, knockwurst, spätzle, sauerkraut, red cabbage, potato salad and house salad or soup for the most delicious of Deutsch-ish experiences. (Alternatively, their fresh lake perch is also a house specialty.)

Bubbling under Ye Olde Tap Room (Detroit), Fort Street Brewery (Lincoln Park), Berkley Front (Berkley), Biercamp (Ann Arbor), Heidelberg Restaurant (Ann Arbor), Schnäck (Detroit-area pop-up), One-Eyed Betty's (Ferndale), Georgio's Apple Orchard Inn (Washington)

*brot = "bread"

 

[Metromode] Beer + Bikes: A Match Made in Heaven

In recent years, cycling culture in metro Detroit has gone from nearly nonexistent to explosively popular, with significant cycling infrastructure being added in major metropolitan centers and small towns alike. At the same time, the same thing has been happening with craft beer culture, evolving from the niche realm of beer geekdom to mass consumption. Coincidence? Never. As bike culture and beer culture have grown exponentially in Michigan, they have also been growing together, in a symbiotic relationship of fun.

Stephen Johnson launched the Motor City Tour Company in 2009 as Motor City Brew Tours, offering guided brewery tours (with samples) by bus. Each tour would hit three different breweries, and was more than just a standard-issue pub crawl: designed for people with a real passion (or at least sincere interest) for craft beer, the tours also included a meet-and-greet with the brewers themselves and a behind-the-scenes walk-through of the brewing facilities. As Motor City Brew Tours grew, Johnson began offering different kinds of tour packages: first walking tours, then biking tours.

Read more.

[HOT LIST] Poutine

Brooklyn Street Local. 

Last week both the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News ran stories on Detroit's sudden poutine craze. Seeing as how I've been Pied-Pipering the poutine scene for the better part of a year now (while the bulk of that was covered on Facebook, there are also searchable archives here to support that), I feel it a matter of unfortunate timing that the results of my diligent research for this particular Hot List -- which is, make no mistake, the most thoroughly-researched Hot List I've ever published -- should come out after both of those stories. Let us remember who asked to henceforth be referred to as the Queen of Poutine before either of them ran. In other words what I'm really trying to say is FIRST.

Poutine is the most magical of comfort foods. Authentic ethnic cuisine from the exotic foreign lands of Canada, poutine is in essence French fries covered in gravy and cheese curds. And it must -- *MUST* -- be cheese curds; shredded cheese simply will not do. Perfect for the late-night drunchies, homeopathic hangover treatments and all hours of comfort food cravings, poutine is sovereign. With Windsor closer to Detroit than Royal Oak, it's a bit befuddling as to why poutine never became a "thing" until now. (Sidebar: If I had a dime for every time I've said "Poutine: it's gonna be a thing," well, I'd actually be getting paid for doing this which would be awesome.) But these dark days are now behind us and the poutine prophecy has been fulfilled.

Mercury Burger Bar.

Some things to note before we move forward, as this one has been particularly near and dear to me: with no fewer than three of the four hyper-trendy eateries in Corktown serving the stuff, Corktown can now be called Poutine Town. (Someone tell Slows that they're falling behind.) Some places serve what can only best be called variations on the theme of poutine (like Woodbridge Pub, which uses potato wedges with mushroom gravy and cheddar cheese cubes, or the Rattlesnake Club, which uses a bleu cheese sauce served on the side of their truffle fries), others need to go back to the drawing board (sorry, Mac Shack), and others still have been vastly improved upon after a little constructive criticism (Mercury Burger Bar before; Mercury Burger Bar after). And the trend shows no sign of stopping: Local Kitchen + Bar will have poutine on their menu too.

And finally, some might question why none of the Windsor joints are in the top 5. Easy: no one is paying $8 roundtrip to cross the border and deal with American customs for a $6 order of fries. Agree or disagree; that's just reality. Windsor will gets its due soon enough, promise.

#1 Vinsetta Garage (Berkley)
Yep. Number one. It isn't even called "poutine" on the menu, but their "Disco Fries" are no doubt of Canadian lineage. House-cut fries dolloped with perfectly melty gooey Ellsworth cheese curds and slathered in piping hot whole grain mustard gravy, chili flakes and scallions. How did this place beat out those of authentic Canadian pedigree? Well this restaurant is nothing if not a comfort food house of worship and while their mac + cheese is most exalted, the poutine is secretly king. Also, I have a bias towards spicy foods and the addition of whole grain mustard and chili flakes shot this over the top.

Vinsetta Garage.

#2 Brooklyn Street Local (Corktown)
Welcome to our country you lovely Canadians and thank you for sharing with us this part of your culture! Brooklyn Street Local serves the best traditional Canadian poutine: hand-cut fries with organic cheese curds and homemade beef gravy. Vegetarian? They'll swap out the beef gravy with a tasty homemade mushroom gravy. Bacontarian? They'll add caramelized onions and bacon. (That's the special house "BSL Poutine.") And and AND ... if what you really want is one of their other many fantastic made-from-scratch hearty diner eats, you can get a side of poutine for only $3. AND! As of this week, they now accept credit cards.

#3 Grange Kitchen + Bar (Ann Arbor)
No one's ever going to accuse their poutine of being pretty, but Chef Brandon Johns's duck confit poutine with goat cheese curd and duck sage gravy (all locally-sourced and made in-house, the cheese from Four Corners Creamery and the duck from Back Forty Acres) is not just awesome -- it is aw-awholelot. Grange, and quite possibly this dish in itself, is well worth the trip to A2.

#4 24grille (Detroit)
Kind of glad I kept this one in my back pocket. Executive Chef Christian Borden is from Toronto. This is important because, as we know, poutine is an indigenous Canadian cuisine and Canadians do it best by nature. The poutine at 24grille is something of a best-kept secret: only available on their lunch menu, it's $6 for an order of proper poutine made with hand-cut Idaho potato, gravy, cheese curds, herbs, and then cranked up with a pile o' pulled pork.

#5 Green Dot Stables (Corktown)
How much do we love them? Let's count the ways! (1) Owners Jacques and Christine Driscoll are simply outstanding people (ditto Chef Les Molnar). You'd want them to do well even if their product sucked. While there is certainly no shortage of nepotism in Detroit, thankfully their product does not suck so you can support awesome people doing equally awesome things. (2) Cheap beer! (3) Cheap food! (4) Cheap GOOD beer! (5) Cheap GOOD food! (6) And also poutine! "Le poutine" is $3 in the classic Canadian style: homemade gravy and cheese curds over their crispy shoestring fries. For added emphasis, it's $3. In fact, nothing on their menu is more than $3 ... and that includes all their craft beer and cocktails. LOVE.

Bubbling under Sardine Room (Plymouth), Frenchy's Poutinery (Windsor), Woodbridge Pub (Detroit), Toscana (Windsor), Mercury Burger Bar (Corktown), Rattlesnake Club (Detroit), Pita Grill (Windsor)

 

[EID Feature] This Cider House Rules: Tandem Ciders

Dan Young, owner of Tandem Ciders. All photos from Tandem Ciders.

When you think about "hard ciders," your first thought is probably that sickly-sweet alcoholic apple juice from the likes of Woodchuck and Strongbow, multinational corporate producers that make all of their ciders from apple juice concentrate and flavor it with -- what else? -- more apple juice concentrate. This is akin to forming your entire opinion of wine based on Bartles and Jaymes wine coolers. Cider -- as in "the hard stuff," as in the real stuff - can be as delicate and nuanced as a fine wine, and we Michiganders are in a unique position to appreciate the majesty of the fermented apple.

"One measure [of the growing craft cider industry] is that now the large conglomerate beverage companies are adding ciders to their product portfolios," explains Gary Awdey, president of the Great Lakes Cider and Perry Association. "But what I find much more encouraging is the increase in the number of small craft producers, and that’s somewhere that Michigan really excels. Michigan and the Great Lakes region is really the major cider region in North America. It doesn’t reflect in the volume of sales but is a good representation of the true variety that is being offered. There is a higher density of craft cider producers [here] than in other areas. Michigan residents have much easier day trips to cideries."

As the country’s second- or third-largest apple-producing state (depending on who you ask), Michigan is home to hundreds of different varieties of apples, from the table standards to rare antique and heirloom varietals. We also currently have the largest number of craft cider producers in the country. Many wineries and breweries are getting into the cider game as an alternative to beer and wine, and there are also larger-scale operations focused entirely on hard cider production. Unlike most beer and spirit producers, which are still forced to buy much of their hops and grain from out of state, Michigan ciders are made with Michigan apples picked and pressed by Michigan people running Michigan businesses for Michigan customers. Michigan’s craft ciders are dry, delicate, and above all else wholly Michigan.

Tandem Ciders opened in October 2008 on the Leelanau Peninsula in northern Michigan. As part of the Leelanau Wine Trail, they had a lot of explaining to do that first year of business when people came in looking for Riesling. But all of that is changing, says owner and cider maker Dan Young (who owned Tandem with his wife Nikki Rothwell). "Customer perceptions are changing from, 'What is this?' to 'Hey, this is great to have a cider!'" he says. "We'll ask people, 'Hey, are you tasting wine today?' [and they'll say] 'No, we're here for cider.' It's not just wine drinkers who run into us."

They'll still get confused consumers wandering in wondering if it's "like beer," but they're easily converted. Dan has had customers thank him for making cider and giving them another drinking option ... one that is "like beer" in that it is carbonated (usually--Dan also makes a flat cider available only in the tasting room) but also offers a different flavor profile, is naturally gluten-free and lower in alcohol (unless fortified with brandy--Dan makes one of those too), pairs well with food but can just as easily be enjoyed on its own, and has the complexity of wine and the body of beer while being something different altogether. Plus, it's perfect year-round. "People are realizing this is another drinking option and it's good to have."

And the best part is, it's truly local, utilizing all Michigan fruits. While many other cider makers will incorporate other fruits into their ciders (like raspberry or cranberry), Tandem uses exclusively apples (though they do make a "perry" -- cider made from pears -- in the fall). Dan wants each product to be an expression of the apples he uses, whether traditional cider apples like Sheep's Nose and Fameuse, classic table apples like Northern Spy and Red Delicious, antique apples, even crab and wild apples. Dan notes that there is much more awareness of ciders now, which he attributes to the growing craft beer movement. "20 years ago when microbrews came out it was a hard sell because people had no way to wrap their heads around it," he says. "[Now breweries like Short's and Right Brain are experimenting with different flavored beers] and people see something made from apples and say, 'Oh hey, great!'"

Dan also attributes cider's popularity with Michigan's rich agricultural heritage and Michiganders' inherent connection to the land, with agriculture as Michigan's second-largest industry. "... Michigan is known for its huge manufacturing base. Agriculture has been overshadowed by manufacturing [but is still a huge part of people's lives here]."

Tandem works with several local growers on Leelanau for the many different varieties of apples they use in their ciders. They've recently planted 12 different varieties of traditional hard cider apples and have their growers planting more traditional varieties for them, in addition to the heirloom and heritage varieties they also use. "Cider fruit is interesting -- [the apples] taste horrible when you bite into them; they're very tannic. But once they're fermented it leaves a lot more body and depth behind."

They'll continue making ciders out of popular table varieties too; their hottest seller is the Smackintosh, made predominantly with the same household staple Macintosh apples everyone knows and loves. "People just connect to that and remember their childhood stopping at the cider mill and eating those Macintosh apples."

In addition to the Smackintosh, which has a lot of residual sugar, Tandem makes a variety of different ciders highlighting different flavor profiles from the bone-dry Crabster (made with crab and wild apples) to the moderately dry Farmhouse (classic cider apples) and the semi-sweet and highly complex Early Day (a blend of six cider and table varieties).

Because of the unseasonably warm weather the state experienced in March followed by frost in April, Michigan has reported losses of upwards of 90% of their apple crops for the year (though actual growers say it's more like 75% statewide -- still huge). Up in Leelanau, they still have about 40% of their crop. What does this mean for the cider industry? "It's not going to be a big growth year," Dan says. "We're not going to be making any extra." He adds that last year's crop was so abundant he was able to make enough so that he will still have plenty to sell throughout this year and keep his business going.

"[Sometimes] there's apples coming out of everywhere and we don't have enough boxes to put them in, and some varietals are known for being really biennial. Downstate was hit really hard for fruit but I think we'll be okay," adding that it's the major producers who supply corporate chains like Meijer and McDonald's who are scrambling. Dan at least is resourceful. "Last year we picked a lot of wild apples. We picked some that were incredibly tasty and some that were incredibly tannic and bitter [but made for great cider]. We're already marking wild trees [for this year] and will definitely be doing more of that."

As one of Michigan's largest dedicated hard cider producers, Tandem is still by no means a massive operation and distribution remains limited, but southeast Michiganders can find their products at the Produce Station in Ann Arbor and the MI General Store in Ypsilanti. Many of their products are only available on draft in the Leelanau tasting room, as if you really need another reason to visit northern Michigan this year. (You do. It's this.) And hey, this place is something Mario Batali and I can agree on.