[HOT LIST] Dream Cruise avoidance guide

Much like snow in the winter, every year at this exact same time the Dream Cruise happens and every year everyone who isn't an eager cruiser seems equally surprised and annoyed by its existence.

Look, if you live in downtown Royal Oak/Ferndale/Birmingham, it sucks. I get it. And if you live on one side of Woodward and need to get to the other, it sucks. I get it. But for everyone else, even those who live in the middle of it, there are ways for you to find relief. And that is by avoiding it. Entirely. Here's how: pick one side of Woodward and stay on it for the next three days. And here's where to go to do that.

#1 Visit the breweries of Warren
You know what isn't on Woodward? Warren. And for east- and west-siders alike, Warren is pretty easy to get to (696 runs right through it). Spend the weekend on a makeshift local brewery tour of Kuhnhenn Brewing Company, Dragonmead, and Falling Down Beer Company. Try the award-winning beers and meads at Kuhnhenn and Dragonmead (Falling Down is still too new to have those kinds of distinctions), and get some good eats from Detroit BBQ Co. at Kuhnhenn and at Falling Down, where there's a serious chef running the show in the kitchen. And Mo Pop is happening in Sterling Heights which isn't too far from there, and there will be food trucks. I know how much everyone loves food trucks.

The patio at Palate. Photo by Nicole Rupersburg.

#2 Go west - really far west
You know what else isn't on Woodward? Milford. Milford is very, very much not on Woodward. In fact, the whole western Oakland County lakes area is pretty far removed from Woodward. Been meaning to check out the Root in White Lake for dinner? This would be a great weekend to head out that way. Another cool spot to check out is Palate in downtown Milford, with a great beer list and fantastic patio. You can even make a whole day of it by starting with hiking, biking, fishing or kayaking at Kensington Metro Park - there's also a nature center and splash park for the kids.

#3 Really far west
And by that I mean Ann Arbor, which sometimes seems so far it might as well be Chicago. Really it's only 45 minutes and I just like to complain. There's plenty to do and see and eat and drink in the old Ace Deuce - there's the Hudson Mills Metropark and the Dexter-Huron Metropark, both of which offer plenty of opportunities for outdoor recreation including hiking, biking, kayaking/canoeing, fishing, BBQing, and more. Right in downtown Ann Arbor there's the Nichols Arboretum, with more hiking and biking trails. There's the University of Michigan Museum of Art, which is a small but great museum on the U-M campus which is pretty much across the street from Ashley's, one of the top beer bars in the country and a place I recommend heartily for both beer and pizza. Plus the kids are not quite yet back in school which makes doing anything in downtown Ann Arbor during the summer about 100 times better. (Less people = better.) And also Jolly Pumpkin.

#4 Or go north
Take I-75 straight up to hit Clubhouse BFD in Rochester Hills, another one of the best beer bars in the country, Rochester Mills Brewery in downtown Rochester, and the recently-opened 51 North Brewery in Lake Orion. Basically what I'm saying through all of this is go drink beer somewhere not near Woodward.

Houndstooth Craft Hot Dog Co. at Downtown Detroit Days.

#5 Or south
Because the Dream Cruise does not actually happen in Detroit, the entire city of Detroit is safe. Mostly. The Tigers are home so there's that to contend with. And I won't have been the only person to make that realization that the Dream Cruise doesn't happen in Detroit. But Downtown Detroit Days is this weekend, a Dan Gilbert Joint with Tashmoo Biergarten and Alley Wine pop-ups because pop-ups, and also Guns + Butter is happening this weekend in Eastern Market because pop-ups.





Also there's the first-ever Zombie Con in Troy. 

[Metromode] A New Breed of Restaurateur Pt. 2

Bastone. Photo by Nicole Rupersburg. 

The days of metro Detroit's restaurant empires are over. The latest breed of successful restaurateur is anti-corporate and anti-chain. They create unique businesses in unique spaces, care about people and preservation, and even managed to open some of Metro Detroit's most successful restaurants in the midst of the economic downturn.

Read more.

This is part two of a two-part series. This half focuses on Jon Carlson and Greg Lobdell, the development duo behind such popular metro Detroit spots as Bastone and Jolly Pumpkin Brewery and Cafe; and Mindy Lopus, owner of Tallulah and Bella Piatti in Birmingham, who is opening three new concepts in Grosse Pointe Park. Read part one here.

[HOT LIST] A Very Beerie Gift Guide

Detroit neighborhood rocks glasses from City Bird.

Last year I recommended some made in Michigan gift baskets for gift-giving ideas (I'm a big fan of the personalized, thoughtful gift basket). This year I'm going straight beerie.

#1 Clubhouse BFD "Ultimate Beer Bucket"
On Tuesday, December 11 starting at 7 p.m., Clubhouse BFD's "Ultimate Christmas Beer Bucket"goes on sale for $100. Sound pricey? It is. But consider what you get: (1) Founders KBS, (1) Founders Boltcutter, (1) Goose Island Bourbon County Stout, (1) Mikkeller + Three Floyds Boogoop, and (1) $20 "Johnny Cash Clubhouse BFD" Gift Certificate, all packaged nicely in a Clubhouse BFD beer bucket. This is truly the most beeriest of gifts for your most beeriest of friends. No substitutions; very limited quantity. First come, first served; limit one per person. Once they sell out they will release their next bucket (there will be 3-4 more beer bucket packages leading up to the holidays).


#2 Jolly Pumpkin Cafe Rare Beer Charity Auction
Also on December 11, also at 7 p.m. (so I recommend you find yourself a beerie partner and split your time accordingly): the rare beer charity auction at the Jolly Pumpkin Cafe in Ann Arbor benefitting the Peace Neighborhood Center. We're talking aged, cellared, secret stash kind of stuff. For the hardcore sour beer nerds in your life (hi), this is the most beerie gift of all. Plus all proceeds benefit charity, and we all like to feel good about our reckless spending benefitting charity around the holidays.

#3 Assorted gifts from Hugh
The newly-opened Hugh inside of the Auburn Building in Midtown has everything you need to honor the classic bachelor pad style of the 1960s, and that includes all of your essential barware, stainless steel cocktail shakers, vintage ice buckets, and also vintage Playboys. (The store's name is Hugh, guys.) Detroit's original pop-up(TM) and first-ever winner of Hatch Detroit, Hugh brings a whole different design dimension to Detroit retail. And that design dimension just so happens to be very beerie. (And bourbon-y and martini-y.) Gifts are available in a wide range of price points, from full glassware sets to smaller items like whiskey stones (throw them in the freezer and they'll keep your whiskey appropriately chilled without watering it down ... pro tip from Hugh owner Joe Posch: wash them a few times before using), and this handy "Drinking Man's Diet" (only $4.95).

#4 VIP tickets to Baconfest Michigan 2013
Remember Baconfest? Remember how much fun that was? Well, we're bringing it back on June 1, 2013 at the Royal Oak Farmers Market, and VIP tickets are now on sale. Please note: as of this blog post, VIP tickets are 75% sold out -- they probably won't last through the weekend. VIP ("Very Important Piggy") tickets include early entry, an expanded V.I.P. section with an exclusive bar, six drink tickets (and plenty of Michigan beer, including Jolly Pumpkin), a VIP-only badge and bag, and a signed and numbered limited edition Baconfest Michigan 2013 poster suitable for framing. This Christmas, give the gift of bacon!

#5 Detroit-themed rocks glasses from City Bird
Across the street and around the corner from Hugh is the Detroit-centric boutique City Bird, fully stocked with a wide variety of items ranging from jewelry and soaps made by local artisans, prints from local photographers, books from local authors, and clothing highlighting local sights and events designed and produced in their on-site studio. Also buttons and posters and prints and greeting cards ... you get the idea. You'll also find this collection of Detroit Neighborhood Glassware. These rocks glasses are $20 each (buy them in sets and they get progressively cheaper, up to eight for $120) and are etched with the names of over 55 different Detroit neighborhoods: sure, there's the popular ones like Corktown and Midtown, but there's also Hubbard Farms, Highland Park, Belle Isle, Warrendale, Rosedale Park and many, many more. Decanters are $60, and custom engraving is also available. Rocks glasses from City Bird + whiskey stones from Hugh = ready-made party (just add whiskey).

Holiday bonus round:

Beer baskets from 8 Degrees Plato Beer Company
You pick the theme and name your price range or even hand-select each individual beer and they'll put it all together beautifully in an ice bucket for you! They also have a range of snack items, many locally-made, so you can make a party picnic bucket, or go the more gift item route and pick out some beer-scented soaps, beer bottle jewelry and beer books.

St. Bernardus Christmas Dinner at One-Eyed Betty's
Granted, this is happening before Christmas, but would make a great early gift for beerie friends (or just a fun night out for you and yours). This Wednesday, December 12, OEB will pair six St. Bernardus beers (some of the best beer in the world) with six appropriately opulent holiday courses including escargot, duck fat goose confit, and figgy bread pudding. 7 p.m., $65 per person.

A trip to Grand Rapids, Beer City USA 
Grand Rapids takes their newfound (albeit shared) title of "Beer City USA" very seriously. Now through December 30, the Grand Rapids Public Museum is hosting the "Thank you, BEER!" exhibit that celebrates "beer, brewing and the meaning of life." Also check out the newly-reopened Grand Rapids Brewing Company, Michigan's first certified organic brewery and a revival of the historic old GRBC that first opened in 1893. And of course, while you're there: HopCat (one of the best beer bars in the country), Founders (one of the top-ranked craft breweries in the country and makers of one of the world's best beers), and Brewery Vivant (producers of one of the top beers of 2012 along with Founders). Need more info? I got you, boo. Here and here.

[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.

944 Detroit: Taking on Tree Town

So yeah, wow, I just figured out how to be able to link to the actual articles on 944 instead of the flipbook. A year later. So I'm going to start posting all these articles from the past year here (except for the first one I did, a nice little piece on al fresco dining, which is the only one without a link). Cool? Cool. Okay. Here 'ya go.

Photograph by Scott Spellman for 944 Detroit.

"Ann Arbor could easily be considered the culinary hub of Southeastern Michigan. The sheer quantity of dining options alone makes for a promising epicurean adventure. High-end provincial French cuisine? Check. After-hours pizzeria serving up big, greasy slices to inebriated college students? Check. Dining establishments boasting a steadfast commitment to sustainable cuisine or vegetarian and vegan-friendly menus? That too. Indian, Middle Eastern, Korean and Mexican foods? Ann Arbor’s got it all. 944 compiled a list of some of Ann Arbor’s best new places to explore (all within walking distance of the Ann Arbor Art Fair)..."

Read the rest of the article here.