[HOT LIST] Wings

Sweetwater Tavern. All photos from EID.

I have but one rule when it comes to chicken wings: NEVER order wings to go. It is a crime against food tantamount to microwaved pizza and mayonnaise (which, as you all should know by now, is disgusting). The whole enjoyment of your wing-eating experience hinges upon the crispiness of said wing. You know what happens when you throw a freshly-fried chicken wing in a styrofoam container and let it sit in there steaming in its own little hotbox for 20 minutes until you get it home? It becomes soggy and disgusting. This is no way to eat a wing.

A good wing starts with the chicken: plump and juicy, not tiny like some embarrassing little pigeon wing. If fried, they should be crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. If other (smoked, oven-roasted) they should have a clean, smokey flavor without char. Some of the best wings really don't need a sauce to dress them up, but the sauce itself can make or break a wing (so to speak). These places get it all, or at least most of it enough for it to count, right. Oh, I should also mention, blue cheese and ranch dressing are for pussies. Skip that shit; you're ruining your wings.

#1 City Wings (New Center)
14 different flavors of meaty Amish chicken wings fried fresh to order in one of the most immaculate dining environments you could ever hope to stumble across. Seriously, it smells like fried chicken and clean inside. There are hospitals that could aspire to their level of cleanliness. And I appreciate that: it shows respect to your business and to your customers. So, okay, maybe not everyone will be as impressed by this as I am, so let's get back to important stuff: these are the best wings you will find anywhere in metro Detroit right now. Everything is fried up fresh to order in their open kitchen (so CLEAN!) and the wings are perfectly crispy, just that right amount of crunch at the edges without being burnt, with juicy meat inside with none of that nasty ridge of fat under the skin and fantastic sauces to boot. (Try the parmesan garlic or the lemon pepper if you can't take the heat.)

#2 Sweetwater Tavern (Detroit)
Ladies and gentleman, in a massive upset Sweetwater comes in second! Yes, that's right, what are usually voted as Detroit's best wings are coming in second to City Wings, which has only been open for a little over a year. And why? Sweetwater has been resting on its laurels for awhile. They too serve plump, juicy Amish chicken wings that they get daily from Eastern Market and rub in their own secret blend of spices, fry up crispy fresh to order in their own dedicated fryer and in oil that they say is changed daily, and douse in their signature sauce which is both slightly sweet and slightly tangy ("hot" isn't really the right word, but the flavor of the spices certainly comes through). These are stellar wings, no doubt, and sometimes you just can't (and shouldn't) mess with a classic. It's also a full bar that is open for lunch and late-night with a full menu of other options to choose from as well; City Wings has food only. So why City Wings over Sweetwater? YOU GUYS, IT'S REALLY REALLY CLEAN. Also when speaking strictly about the wings themselves, the quality is directly comparable which means variety wins out.

#3 Your Mother's (Mt. Clemens)
There is not much fancy or special about Your Mother's in the Clem. It's a sports bar, and not a particularly snazzy one at that. But good GOD they have good wings. 17 different flavors of house-made sauces includes five different kinds of hot sauces, which in turn include my personal favorite spicy garlic (they call it "hot garlic" - tomahto) and the they're-not-kidding bright-ass-red "I Dare You." (And seriously, I do. Shit is HOT.) Big big big meaty wings roasted, fried in oil and sautéed in sauce with each order. It's a veritable rainbow of flavors both on the palate and as a palette (you know, like when you order a whole bunch of different flavors and set them next to each other and it looks like a rainbow). If you're hardcore about wings, this place is well worth checking out.

#4 Seoul Street (Ann Arbor)
First, it's impossible to find. Don't even bother with your GPS because it won't be able to find it. There's a really good chance that you'll end up at Seoul Garden, which is in fact the wrong place but the helpful woman who works there will kindly tell you that this happens all the time when after you spend a solid 10 minutes flipping through the menu you finally ask her, "Uh, someone told me you had wings?" When you finally approach your destination, you will not see a sign for it in front of the massive strip mall complex it resides in. Instead you must know that when you see the signage for Panera Bread and Great Plains Burger Co. that you must turn into that parking lot and drive to the far corner. And there it is. Tiny. Nondescript. About 8 seats in the whole house. And real, genuine, bonafide KFC - Korean fried chicken. They describe their sauces as "glazes" and that seems pretty appropriate as they look almost glassy - the wings are fried up crispy and then "glazed" in a soy-based sauce (choose from "hot and spicy" or soy garlic - I recommend trying both) and served with pickled radish or corn salad. And yes, they have other Korean dishes too (kimchee, bibimbop, etc.).

#5 Cass Cafe (Midtown)
A place best known for their vegetarian cuisine has some of the best wings in town? You betcha. Their Asian Sriracha Wings are the bomb-diggity: deep-fried wings glazed in honey and sriracha, served with peanut sauce (which quite frankly you won't even need ... unless you're a pussy). This might actually be the best thing on their whole menu (with apologies to vegetarian friends who might beg to differ). Plus they usually have really awesome broke college student/artist/hipster drink specials, which is always nice.

Bubbling under Nikola's (Southfield), Tipsy McStagger's (Warren), Anita's Kitchen (Ferndale), Slows BAR BQ (Corktown), Union Street (Midtown), Bookies Bar and Grill (Detroit)

Honorable mention Detroit's Turkey Grill, while not serving "wings" in the traditional sense of it being chicken, still deserves a mention for their massive barbarian-sized turkey leg drumstick (suggestion: skip the fried legs and go with the smoked version rubbed in herbs and spices).

[HOT LIST] Prohibition bars

Two Way Inn. Photo by Nicole Rupersburg.

There is a certain amount of Prohibition-era romanticization happening lately with all the new craft cocktail bars around town looking to be throwbacks to the era. (The Sugar House and the Oakland even take their names from the notorious Purple Gang, the biggest Prohibition bootleggers in the country that were based right here in Detroit.) As much as we love these new bars (and for the love of bourbon and bitters we really truly do), we also love an honest-to-God-and-guns dive bar. These places are the real deal: century-old bars tucked away in residential neighborhoods (each grandfathered in as zoning laws were introduced) that operated as bonafide blind pigs during the days of Prohibition and are still slinging drinks to this day.

#1 Two Way Inn (Detroit)
Many bars claim to be the "oldest bar in Detroit," and probably many of them can fairly lay claim to the title when you factor in shades of difference such as "oldest continuously-operated bar" and "oldest family-owned bar." The Two Way Inn, open since 1876, is one of those bars. Over the course of its lifetime it has been a hotel, brothel, jail, general store, blind pig and bar. Now it's just a damn cool place to hang out. The family that owns it live upstairs and it has exactly that kind of family-atmosphere: stopping in is like dropping by your aunt's house and hanging with your cousins. They have parties and host BBQs and pub crawls, but even if there's no special event going on, the Two Way is the kind of place you can always stop in for a beer (they have Zywiec, aka Polish PBR) and end up doing shots of Jerzy (Polish Jaeger) with the new friends you just made. There's a velvet painting on John Wayne on the wall and they have WiFi (hel-lo new office!). Things to note: you have to be buzzed in through the front door (which is just cool) and it's cash only. Oh, and also, it's haunted.

Photo from Hour Detroit.

#2 East Side Tavern (Mount Clemens)
Located in the basement of an old farmhouse on the outskirts of Mt. Clemens (one of metro Detroit's oldest cities), East Side Tavern feels the most like the century-old bar (and former blind pig) that it is. This place is practically a living room, just with a bar instead of a couch. In fact, it's about the size of one, and the ceiling is so low that even at 5'6'' I felt the need to duck. They like to say, “You’re only a stranger here once," and plenty of would-be “friendly neighborhood joints” claim the same, but this is the kind of place where it’s absolutely true. The bartender knows everyone by name, and if she doesn’t know you, you’ll get introduced into the conversation pretty quickly. (Owner Frank DeBruyn, a 76-year-old who jokes about having a bar in his basement, is usually hanging out too.) Once you get past the novelty of this tiny place in this unexpected location, this is simply a great dive bar chill spot where you can go shoot the shit with the natives and eat (no joke) one of the best burgers you've ever had in your life.

#3 Ye Olde Tap Room (Detroit)
Built in the 1800s as a trolley repair station and operating as a bar since 1912, the Tap Room is a Detroit favorite both for the vibe and for the beer and whiskey - 285 beer labels all total (and some really cool stuff too, both American craft and imports) and an extensive selection of single malt scotches and whiskeys. This is a beer and shot place, but fancy beer and fancy shots (though they do sell plenty of Jameson shots with PBR backs). Despite the impressive selection, there's nothing snooty or pompous about this place. The bartenders are some of the coolest and the customers are a good mix of area locals and workers, Detroit scenesters and hipsters, and beeries from near and far. They also just celebrated their annual Prohibition Party (which, admittedly, was the impetus for this list), and were known as one of the Purple Gang's haunts (the basement was a speakeasy). And they have darts, some cool live bands, and an awesome patio in the summer.

#4 The Gold Star (Wyandotte)
Established in 1923, the Gold Star (in Wyandotte's Polish center) is in an old farmhouse smack-dab in the middle of the neighborhood. To give some perspective here, Wyandotte was once in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the most churches and bars per square mile of any city in the world (blame the predominant Polish-Catholic roots for their love of God and beer). The Gold Star hearkens back to the day when bars were part of the neighborhood and people could walk to them, and is still very much a local neighborhood hangout. It still has the dirt wall basement that was a speakeasy during Prohibition, and is said to be haunted after a tragic fire that killed four children (it was also the family home). The Bozymowski family, who were the original owners and ran the place for decades, no longer own the bar but you can still stop in and say hi to Val, granddaughter of the original owners who still runs the show. Plus they've got $1 drafts and $5 pitchers all day every day and free pool on Sundays. (Cash only.)

#5 Whiskey in the Jar (Hamtramck)
Whiskey is kind of an infamous Hamtramck hangout that attracts the die-hard bar flies, Hamtramck crust punks, old Poles and Detroit drunks in equal quantities. Everyone knows to go here every time there is a drinking high holiday held in Hamtramck (and there's one pretty much every month), but even in downtime this place is great dive bar hangout. Once a speakeasy, it's now part of the Blowout circuit and is easily one of Hamtramck's most popular bars (and there are many). Sidle up to the bar for some socializing with strangers, and if it's your first time in you have to do a shot of Jerzy. (Seriously. They make you.)

Bubbling under Stonehouse Bar (Detroit), Abick's Bar (Detroit), Tom's Tavern (Detroit), Jacoby's German Biergarten (Detroit), Kovacs Bar (Southwest Detroit), Nancy Whiskey (Detroit), New Dodge Lounge (Hamtramck)

Note: Places like Cliff Bell's, Foran's Grand Trunk Pub, and the Dakota Inn Rathskeller, while all old themselves, did not open as bars until after the end of Prohibition (1933, 1933 and 1935, respectively).

[Metromode] Great Neighborhood Bars

The burger at East Side Tavern. 

What defines a "neighborhood bar"? Is it that sense of belonging? The desire to go to a place "where everybody knows your name"? Is it a bar unique to its time and place in history, or is it defined by its patrons and surroundings? Is it a bar you can easily stumble home from or a place that reflects the unique identity of the neighborhood itself?

A neighborhood bar is any and all of those things. It isn't the assembly line sports bar with 50 flat screen TVs and enough flashing lights to induce an epileptic seizure. Nor is it a glammed-up joint with "see-and-be-seen" people in black flashing duck faces for Facebook photos. A neighborhood bar tends to avoids trends, is perhaps a bit off the beaten path, swarming with locals, and above all else comfortable and welcoming. There is a certain level of dive bar je ne sais pas quoi appeal. These places can be over 100 years old or barely opened a year. What defines a neighborhood bar is not the number of people who have reviewed it on Yelp but the crowd of local regulars that keep it vibrant, making it their second living room.

Neighborhood bars in the truest sense proliferate throughout Detroit. These are the bars located in predominantly residential neighborhoods, bars that existed before there was such a thing as zoning, bars that are located in houses right next to the very same houses where its patrons live.

Read more.

[Real Detroit Weekly] Orleans Billiards Cafe

All photos by Nicole Rupersburg.

"Downtown Mount Clemens has seen plenty of change over the last two decades. Before it was the charming, somewhat quaint brick-paved hub of independently-owned businesses and outdoor art installations that it is now, it was ... well, NOT that. When Orleans Billiards Café opened 15 years ago, it was right at the beginning of downtown Mt. Clemens' transformation, and the place is still evolving.

''We have to keep it fresh,' says Paul Boone, who owns Orleans with his brother Mark. 'We have to do something new every year. I want people coming back asking, "what's he done now?"

'His latest change will be a revamping of the menu. Wait, what? What's that you say: Menu? They serve food in a pool hall?

'First off, DON'T call it a pool hall! Yes, there are six pool tables. There are also three shuffleboard tables, three dartboards, 27 plasma TVs (32''-63''), 10 LCD TVs, Keeno, Quizzo, even beer pong on Tuesdays (and starting in August, Thursdays too). There's also a nice outdoor patio. So it's not a pool hall. It is the watering hole equivalent of an everything bagel..."

Read the rest of the story here.

Want to see more? Check out the Flickr set here.

[Real Detroit Weekly] The Emerald Theatre

(Photo by Nicole Rupersburg)

"Different bars all have their own unique music vibe. If you want indie prog-rock, you go to the Majestic. If you want techno, you go to Bleu, Oslo or the Works. But if you want ROCK – we're talking true Eastside, devil horn-flashing, head-banging, mosh-pitting, "SLAYER!!!"-screaming ROCK – you go to the Emerald Theatre.

'The Emerald is a live concert venue and nightclub that's been offering the best live entertainment in Macomb County for 10 years now. On Fridays they host "Orion," a top 40 club night with DJ Paul Martindale where they've got a LED wall with changing patterns and videos on display and a variety of eccentric performers every week – think fire dancers and fire eaters. Wednesdays in their Rock Room are Whip Cream Wednesdays, an 18+ top 40 club night with go-go dancers, whip cream drink specials and body shots.

'But let's get back to the ROCK.."

Read the rest of the article here.

Want to see more? Check out the Flickr set.