The Week We Ate (The EID Week in Review)

Coming in April! 

ICYMI:
~This week's Young Gun is Brennan Calnin of Imperial. He has worked for Takashi and loves butter, liver, champagne, and pirates. Read his thoughts on Michigan's culinary scene and his lifelong call to the kitchen here. [EID]
~This week's Green Grocer series for Model D took me to Detroit's west side, where supermarkets are going through extensive remodels and adding energy-efficient equipment along with fresh food and low prices. [Model D]
~Here's your November news from the outer 'burbs: Great Lakes Culinary Center is now open, Buddy's Pizza has opened its first new location in 15 years in the Novi of the northeast, Troy is getting another "places for area office workers to go for a fast take-out lunch" place, and Smoke Street looks like it will be…serviceable. [EID]
~Did you miss the full episode of America's Best Bites on the Cooking Channel earlier this year when they featured Chef James Rigato of The Root Restaurant and Bar in White Lake? Fret not; the whole thing is now available to watch in four segments on YouTube and here they are. [EID]
~Speaking of James Rigato on TV, did you catch last night's episode of On the Rocks on the Food Network featuring Chef James of The Root? In this episode the team hit up The Oxford Inn of Royal Oak and re-vamped their back bar and private dining room into Lock + Key, a "speakeasy"-style bar with classic cocktails, all Kuhnhenn Brewing Co. beers on draft, and a small plates menu that Rigato helped design. The space has comfortable leather seating, its own patio for the warm months, and a cozy fireplace. Here's some photos I took there a few months ago; take a look! [EID Flickr]
~The Pursuit of Pappy: updated. [EID]
~Update: Bagger Dave's in Greektown is now open. [EID]
~EVENTS! [EID]

Are these the best (erp, "coolest") restaurants in (metro) Detroit? Well? (EID's answer: if this list was from 2010, yes.) [Thrillist]

Metro Times Detroit has been running this great series of old-school Detroit restaurant recipes, a "treasure trove" found in a Hamtramck attic (one must wonder just how many Hamtramck attics hold such treasure troves...probably most of them). Very cool stuff here from Schweizer’s Restaurant, the original Joe Muer Seafood, and the recently shuttered Caucus Club. [Metro Times]

One Starbucks closes and another opens...just a few years ago one street-level downtown Starbucks closed, only for a new location to open just blocks away. The coffee-consuming market has changed drastically since 2009, with a whole lot more independent coffee houses all throughout the city and a whole lot more people (in the CBD especially) to spend money at them. Here's a great look at how the market has evolved in that time (though it should also be noted that there is another Starbucks that just opened downtown inside the Crowne Plaza, which realistically will really only ever serve hotel guests, but still. It's there.) [Detroit News]

New bar in Eastern Market-ish area, Thomas Magee's Sporting House Whiskey Bar. [TMSHWB FB]

The Atlantic Cities caught wind of the fight to save Hamtown Farms. Also read more about Hamtown Farms founder Michael Davis here. [Atlantic Cities / UIX]

The Great Lakes Culinary Center in Southfield officially opened. It is a 20,000 square foot culinary center with a huge commercial test kitchen and indoor/outdoor event space that can be rented out for events as well as for aspiring food entrepreneurs that need access to a commercial kitchen in order to make and sell their products. It will also be used for cooking classes and demonstrations. Here's more details. [D Business / FB 101]

More on the 8,000-square-foot Mega Buddy's in the Mega 'Burbs. [Freep]

Royal Oak could potentially lose a bookstore in favor of gaining another bar. Which just speaks volumes. [Royal Oak Patch]

Wicked Donuts has officially launched inside Treat Dreams. [TD FB]

In the ongoing Matt Prentice Restaurant Group saga (once upon a time he owned a bunch of restaurants and was one of the area's top restaurant groups), a huge lawsuit was awarded against him by his former business partner. And that appears to be the end of that, as they say. [Crain's]

Crain's Detroit Business looks at La Feria Detroit by the numbers with a bit of musing on the growing culinary competition in the city. "At one point in time, not too long ago, it was good enough just to be open in Detroit." I feel like we're not *quite* past that point yet, but eventually there will come a point when we're not all Detroit-obligated to like everything that opens. (That's not to say anything bad of La Feria, just my own musing.) Also, h/t to Ben at Detroit Institute of Bagels for introducing me to the phrase "Detroit-obligated," which I am going to use excessively from now on. [Crain's]

The Root Restaurant and Bar will no longer be moving forward with plans to open a second location in Howell. This isn't a reflection on their business or lack of desire to expand; owner Ed Mamou has recently had some significant growth opportunities with his recycling business and is focusing his time and energy on that. Chef James Rigato, in the meantime, will continue to make the Root his focus with more Young Guns and other theme dinners, cooking classes, and work with nonprofits. [Livingston Daily]

Bigalora Ann Arbor opens today! For those keeping score, this is Ann Arbor's bajillionth pizzeria, but one of very few in this elevated Neapolitan style (MANI Osteria + Bar being the only real comparison). [Freep]

The Oakland gets a shout-out from Liquor.com for their selection of rare spirits. [Liquor.com]

What's it like for someone from LA to move to Detroit? Shinola's Daniel Caudill shares some of this favorite spots in his new home city with Sight Unseen. Eastern Market Corporation, art, architecture, the whole nine. [Sight Unseen]

After a fire shut down the popular JBaldwins Restaurant-Catering in Clinton Twp. earlier this year, renovation work is moving along steadily and the restaurant will be even better than it was before once it's all done. Check out some renderings here. [J Baldwins Official]

Detroit SOUP's efforts at expanding into neighborhoods gets some coverage in the Detroit News. [Detroit News]

And Ann Arbor SOUP is now also a thing. [A2 SOUP]

MenuTest.com, a local tech startup developed at Grand Circus in downtown Detroit, will help restaurants train and test their staff more efficiently. [Model D]

The Daily Meal reminds us that Traverse City is awesome. [The Daily Meal]

U MAD, CHICAGO? [The Daily Show]

Interesting look at not just foods but also food processes that are banned in the United States. One must also wonder why Massachusetts, New York, and New Mexico choose to specifically single out Flamin' Hot Cheetos and not their nuclear orange sibling, regular Cheetos. RAYCESS. [Thrillist]

Beerie
~Why is branded glassware in bars such a big deal? Crain's Detroit Business has the full report (and, as is the case regarding any kind of alcohol legislation in the state of Michigan, it's...complicated). [Crain's]

~First look: Bell's Brewery, Inc. (Official) Oberon and Two Hearted can designs - coming in April. Best Brown, Winter White, and Smitten to follow. [Bell's Official]

~Drink beer? There's an app for that! [Apppicker]

The Week We Ate (The EID Week in Review)

Detroit Bike and BBQ City. [USA Today Travel]

Oh wait, but no, Slows hasn't quite yet managed to save the city according to this OUTSIDER PERSON. [The Atlantic Cities]

Maybe Zingerman's could save the city though ... [Food and Wine]

OMP FTW. Again. [NY Mag]

Traverse City YOLO! [MLive]

And circle gets the square: the old Squares in Ann Arbor will now be home to a third location of Royal Oak's What Crepe? [AnnArbor.com]

Tickets to the Metro Times Detroit / Michigan Brewers Guild 4th Annual Detroit Fall Beer Festival Happy Happy Fun Beerie Fun Time Party Fest(TM) are now on sale, plus Detroit BBQ Co. will be there and trying to claim their title as King of Beer Fest. [MBG FB]

Pure Detroit thinks Pie-Sci are the next pizza pioneers. [Pure Detroit]

Detroit Restaurant Week is back for round 7. [DRW FB]

If a pop-up pops up in the woods, does it make a sound? Detroit Pop-Up City Redux. (And here. And here.) [Metro Times / Schnack FB / Bottom Line FB]

There is a lot more happening in Detroit than hipsters hosting pop-ups. Here is a probing look at the city's treatment of ethnic-immigrant citizens. [The Atlantic Cities]

Congratulations to Malik Yakini of the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network and D-Town Farms, winner of the 2012 James Beard Foundation's Leadership Award for his work growing food, community, and justice with such organizations as the DBCFS and The Detroit Food Policy Council. [JBF]

Fantastic story on a fantastic project. Detroit SOUP is the recipient of an $80,000 Knight Foundation grant, and are also trying to raise funds to transform the historic Jam Handy building into a shared community space to host their events and provided low-cost rental space to other community organizations, projects and artists. [Freep / Indiegogo]

Convicted felon La-Van Hawkins' Detroit Cheesecake Bistro opened last week. Yeah, seriously, it did. [EID FB]

The Avenue of Fashion is poised for a comeback! This is a really great stretch of Livernois by UDM that would be a natural fit for independent businesses to thrive. 1917 American Bistro is one of them. [Detroit News]

Motor City Meaty. Motor City Wine will now host monthly meat-ups. [MCW FB]

LIES ALL LIES. [Slate]

Well, we tried. Rock City Pies was bested by La Feria in this year's Hatch Detroit, which will make it purportedly Midtown's first "authentic" Spanish tapas + wine bar because apparently Great Lakes Coffee what with their wines and tapas doesn't count. [Model D]

Thrillist takes a look inside TAP inside MGM Grand Detroit; finds burgers, beer. [Thrillist]

My Detroit Soup (Extended Version from Real Detroit Weekly)

Photo by Vanessa Miller, reprinted with permission in Real Detroit Weekly; click on photo to see original article

As a city dweller and socializer closely linked to “The Scene,” I’ve been seeing increasingly more self-congratulatory glommers-on types popping up all over the Detroit Interwebs and it has been disheartening (when not absolutely infuriating). I've been feeling that the very things that made Detroit great are now being commodified for mass consumption, and NOT by outside media, no – by our very own people.

"You've been really down on the city lately," my friend said to me after we left the last Detroit Soup gathering on Sunday, October 3. And it's true: between the self-serving sycophants and shameless opportunists hoping to capitalize on the nation's newfound fascination with Detroit, I feel like the true DIY underdog spirit of Detroit has been lost and replaced by people ready to do backflips for the chance to get their names in the papers or their faces on camera. Detroit, for me, had lost its sincerity.

Kate Daughdrill, along with her friend Jessica Hernandez, is responsible for launching Detroit Soup, a once-monthly social gathering which raises money to fund micro-grants for community-oriented projects voted on by the attendees. The event is set up as a dinner party in the loft space above Mexicantown Bakery, which is owned by Hernandez’s family. It is held the first Sunday of every month (November 7 will be the next gathering).

“It started as a gathering experiment just to see what would happen once these conversations started,” Daughdrill says. The intention behind Soup is to engage people from the community in dialogue about how to support each other in a practical way, and then do so. Every project proposal submitted for the month is presented and voted on by those who donated their $5 at the door, and can be anything from traditional art projects to socially-engaged projects, from regional photography to community park renovations to hoop house builds. “We tried to really open it up so it can be anyone from artists to builders,” she explains.

When Daughdrill and Hernandez initiated Soup in February – facilitated with a whole network of friends and community members, each one of them volunteering their time and efforts – it started with about 20 people. Now it has grown to over 150, with the largest crowd yet attending the October gathering. Daughdrill worries about the growing size and admits they may need to start limiting their audience: “For people to actually have these conversations it is important to the experience that it feel intimate and not overwhelming.”

One way it can continue to grow in a sustainable way is for other Soup projects to branch off from this one. Already a second Soup – Soup at Spaulding, which is held every Thursday – has grown from this, and Daughdrill hopes there will be more. “We’re interested in being a hub to launch other Soups, and connecting informally as friends. I want people to feel free to make it their own,” she says. “We’re all talking so much about sustainability now; whatever we do that is going to be sustainable has to be enjoyable too.”

Which is why Soup is organized as a dinner party, with hearty, healthful organic soups, salads and sweets made by volunteers and breads donated from Avalon. “The idea is for Soup to be a spot for some serious dialogue but also a casual connection with people,” explains Daughdrill. “And we also hope it’s really pleasurable and really fun; we want to show we can engage citizens in a way that is pleasure-based.”

Daughdrill, an artist and graduate student at Cranbrook who originally hails from New Orleans – a kindred soul city to Detroit if ever there was one – is most interested in the intersection between art and community; the political and social life of a city. “It’s interesting to see how we develop these little independent hubs alongside the infrastructure and institutions of the city.” A model like Soup is community-driven and democratic; it allows for the people to decide how they want the money they’ve donated spent and encourages conversation about how to do that. It is a microeconomy, an independent cultural infrastructure, which makes it more sustainable than projects tied to nonprofit regulations or corporate interests. It is, in a word, pure.

Media folks just LOVE to make the Detroit-New Orleans comparison, but the truth is there are no two other cities that were once so almighty who have suffered the same cataclysmic declines, at least not in the last century (and really, NOLA had a lot better go at rebuilding post-natural disaster than we have post-economic, political and social collapse). "It's a very fierce spirit," says Daughdrill of Detroit, "something very raw but it's also a great American city [with a lot of history]." She compares the current national focus on Detroit -- the coast-to-coast *gasp* now-whatever-will-they-do? and *gasp* gee-wow!-successful-businesses-in-Detroit! trivializing treatment we've received in endless waves over the past year or so -- to the influx of people from across the country that descended on New Orleans after Katrina. "New Orleans maintained a lot of its spirit even after other people came in to rebuild it." She postulates that all the interest from the outside created connections between the new energies that were coming in and the city's very old indentity and traditions, enabling it to shape and grow in a new way.

With all eyes on Detroit, there is indeed a lot of shallow opportunism. But there is also a lot of opportunity. Change is possible in an unprecedented way as we continue to be viewed as animals confined in cages made to look like our natural habit, on display for all the world to watch and critique but not interfere. Right now we have a unique platform from which to identify and address the needs of the community and make it happen in a sincere way that has long-term sustainability (and those needs do NOT include another set of self-promoting pseudo-cheerleaders).

“I think that a lot of issues in terms of arts or infrastructure are pretty urgent,” Daughdrill further explains. “There’s a need for this sort of process of how we support each other.” It is about how to learn and grow together, how to engage in important and timely dialogues, and creating true democratic experiences where people hash things out through dialogue. It’s not simply a matter of micro-grant funding; it is a whole new concept of community organization.

My initial instinct is to snark on everything. But after witnessing Soup myself I could find nothing about it to snark on. So often Detroit feels like a self-appointed Tribal Council, but this was like being amongst the tribe itself. This is the future. As I sit in my corner reveling in my sardonic wit, the next crop of energetic, idealistic, hopeful youths are out there actually making a tangible impact in the community, a hell of a lot more than just linking to articles that say "DETROIT!" on Facebook. The group is utterly genuine and sincere in their efforts in a way that is refreshing ... even inspiring. After my experience at Soup and my 30-minute conversation with Daughdrill (during which we micro-machined our way through about 90 minutes' worth of discourse), I felt my Grinchy heart grow three sizes that day.

To everyone involved with making Detroit Soup happen, I thank you. Detroit needed this. I needed this.