The Week We Ate (The EID Week in Review)

This sums it all up nicely. 

ICYMI:
~You know, I thought it was going to be Bourdain who blew up the Internet this week. But no: it was me. [EID]
~Another week, another Young Gun. This week it's Nikita Santches of Rock City Eatery. Check out what he has to say about Michigan's culinary scene, the people who have most inspired him, and how he wants people to step outside of their culinary comfort zones. [EID]
~It's a long walk for a short drink of water, but this is what all the Pappy Van Winkle's Family Reserve fuss is about, and here's where you can get some in metro Detroit. [EID]
~Over on Detroit's East Side, these are the go-to neighborhood grocery stores. And not that I'm trying to be partial or anything, but Mike's Fresh Market is particularly impressive. [Model D]
~La Feria is now open for both lunch AND dinner, and celebrated a grand opening with Melt last week. [Model D]
~New beginnings are on the horizon for Rodin and previous Exec Chef Kate Williams. [EID]
~Treat Dreams launched Wicked Donuts on November 16, and have already started giving away free donuts to their Facebook fans. [EID / TD FB]
~EVENTS! [EID]

...man, I kind of killed it this week didn't I? *pats own back*

Eastern Market Corporation is in the news with yet another massive grant that will bring even more improvements and amenities to the ongoing Shed 5 renovation. [Freep]

And take a listen to Eastern Market Corporation President Dan Carmody on The Craig Fahle Show talking about the latest announcements of renovations taking place in and around Shed 5. [WDET]

Like or not (notnotnotnotnot), it's time to start thinking about the holidays. And presents! Mitten Crate is kind of like a CSA of artisan food producers from all over the state, and the monthly subscription box service brings together items from different companies every single month. Might be a good gift for the jaded "foodie" who has eaten (and Instagramed) everything. [Crain's]

Bagger Dave's Burger Tavern in Greektown delayed opening, originally slated for last Sunday. [MLive]

Revolver co-owner Tunde Wey muses on things. He is very good at musing on things. [Model D]

You may have seen some vague posts over the last day or so exclaiming "Save Hamtown Farms!" In Detroit it seems like we're always trying to save something and it does get to be a whole lot of white noise after awhile because really, who can keep up. So here's what's really going on with the property that Hamtown Farms inhabits and why people are trying to save it. [Eclecta]

Awhile back some blog somewhere listed the top sandwiches for each state after another blog about a year or so before had put together a list of the United States of Sandwich, naming the signature sandwich of each state (and on which a full year of sandwich specials at Mudgie's was based). So now Business Insider is taking a stab at it with their own version. For Michigan they picked Zingerman's Delicatessen's corned beef, the only super-specific "this exact sandwich from this exact place" selection on the list. Probably just corned beef would have sufficed, but also probably this is a better pick than the pasty previously named by the previous copycat blog. [Business Insider]

Red Crown launched a new bar menu last week. Cocktails and bar snacks? Sounds good to me. [Red Crown FB]

Another new place in Birmingham called Market North End opened and it sounds pretty interesting. [Detroit News]

After the news got out that legendary Chicago chef Charlie Trotter died last week after being found unconscious in his home, the culinary world expressed their sorrow...and speculation began. Verbiage was vague - vague enough to imply drugs, maybe suicide. Morbid and callous yes, but we're all guilty of it. Jeff Ruby of Chicago magazine wrote this editorial that manages to be both a heartfelt eulogy without being saccharine or sensational, while also addressing the unavoidably ugly parts of humanity - both Trotter's and our own. [Chicago Mag]

Beerie
~If someone were to ask you what Michigan does better than any other state, the answer is beer. And someone made a movie about it. And the Freep premiered it last Thursday. This is a story about all of those things. [Freep]

~Who put food in my beer? Turns out, a BUNCH of Michigan breweries (like Right Brain Brewery, Dark Horse Brewing Co., and Short's Brewing Company). Fun story about food in beer from DRAFT Magazine. [DRAFT]

~Pray for us sinners. Or just drink beer. [NPR]

~According to Travel + Leisure, Arcadia Ales is one of America's coolest breweries. [T+L]

~WIGGS! (From Dark Horse, yo.) [Freep]

[NEWS BITES] Chef Kate Williams leaving Rodin for new pursuits

Dance party at Rodin.

Chef Kate Williams is leaving Rodin to pursue some new ventures, which are still on the DL but one of them is going to be SO AWESOME YOU GUYS I CAN'T WAIT TO TELL YOU.

Kate and Rodin owner Torya Schoeniger wanted to go in different directions with the restaurant/bar. As a French-trained chef, Kate understandably wanted to focus more on the dining end of the business, but with a tiny kitchen she was limited and both she and Torya said she couldn't do what she really wanted to do there, which was basically to have a full restaurant. The parting of ways is wholly amicable and you can expect to see some changes at Rodin soon - different food and more music being the biggies.

Rodin first opened its doors for Noel Night last year on December 1, with a grand opening on 12/12/12. After nearly a year in business, Torya and her team have had time to settle into the Midtown nightlife market and see what their clientele most demands and best responds to. Torya wants to transition the nighttime hotspot to have a greater emphasis on live music. And with a one-year anniversary coming up, you can bet there's going to be one hell of a party.

Rodin will still serve food, but the food will be less preparation-intensive and more along the lines of heavy snacks - think cured meats, cheese boards, pickled vegetables, and raw seafood, similar to this. They'll still have all the great cocktails, unique wines, and craft beer you love, and the sexy mid-century Parisian cafe-meets-urban industrial chic atmosphere that makes it such a delightfully unique space in Detroit.

Kate is officially done at Rodin this week. I'll have more details on some of her upcoming projects soon but SERIOUSLY YOU GUYS THIS ONE THING IN PARTICULAR THAT I KNOW ABOUT IS GOING TO BE AWESOME. And keep an eye out for Rodin's one-year anniversary party; I'll be sure to remind you!

[NEWS BITES] Dine. Drink. Detroit.

Wine at Great Lakes Coffee. Photo by Nicole Rupersburg.

Detroit Restaurant Week is coming up September 20-29. (This year is kind of a big deal with the addition of the already sold-out Guns + Butter pop-up.) Now, we've all been through this before, and I'm not talking about the three-course $30 prix fixe dinner menus. I'm talking about the race for reservations. The disappointment when your restaurant of choice is booked for the evening you're free. Having to settle for your seventh choice. Trying to wrangle together groups of friends who all have different availability and want to go different places. Trying to have a normal dinner at one of these places during these 10 days, forgetting exactly what 10 days they actually are, and finding them unable to accommodate you. Yes, for all the fun there is to be had, it can also be a bit stressful. Especially for those of us (hi) who are loathe to ever plan anything in advance.

Fear not! For now there is Dine. Drink. Detroit. #DineDrinkDetroit brings together 13 slightly-less-than fine dining establishments offering a combination of food and drink for $15 - no reservations, just a special offering available at each of these locally- and independently-owned establishments.

The first-ever #DineDrinkDetroit will be held October 10-16. More details for this event will be forthcoming but for now, mark your calendars for an extra special week of celebrating all that which is dining and drinking in Detroit!

#DineDrinkDetroit is the brainchild of Scott Rutterbush from Great Lakes Coffee and Kate Williams of Rodin. 

The Week(s) We Ate (The EID Week in Review Double-Header pt. 1)

I had to take some time for myself that week so this week is a double-header highlight reel.

ICYMI:
~Rubbed is opening in Corktown serving fancy European meats and sammiches. [Model D]
~All of the Hatch-ness. Here. Then here. [Model D x2]
~Hey, if we can take something and make it a MOTHERFUCKING THING, then damnit that's what we're going to fucking do. So now single-item food festivals are a thing. [EID]

And more about Hatch contestants Batch here. [Crain's]

Detroit is a kinder, gentler Brooklyn. [Crain's]

Mark Wahlberg was in town. [EID FB]

Speaking of single-item food fests, One-Eyed Betty's won the second-annual Burger Brawl. [Freep]

Midtown has a lot going on. So does downtown. [Crain's / Freep]

Check it out, a Detroit restaurant not in MidCorkDown. [Freep]

A Greek news outlet reports Greektown is doing well. Seems super-reliable. [Greek Reporter]

WE REALLY LOVE POP-UPS, FOR REAL. (And here.) [Crain's / Freep]

Ottava Via might not suck after all. [Thrillist]

St. Cece's has a rad new patio. [St. Cece's FB]

And Rodin has a pretty cool happy hour. [Rodin FB]

FoodJunky: for all your no-pants-wearing delivery needs. [Model D]

Metro Detroiters reserve the enthusiasm that the opening of a new Wal-Mart anywhere in the South is typically met with for places like IKEA, Whole Foods and the Cheesecake Factory. I suppose that puts us somewhere ahead. But really I'm not sure. (Also here. And just take a looky-loo at the opening day line here.) [My Fox News / Crain's / EID]

Bees: we need them. You can raise them. [Model D]

Another plus one for Lafayette (while American got snubbed). [Daily Meal]

Vice took meta hipster bullshit to whole new levels. [Vice]

But despite all the snarkery, Whole Foods in Midtown is doing pretty damn well. [MLive]

Plus Coolist says we're a city on the rise and picked seven businesses to highlight that, so there's that. [The Coolist]

Another Detroit bartender wins the best something at a national competition for something. [Hell Yeah Detroit]

The Whitney is donating 9 percent of its a la carte proceeds back to retired DPD policemen and firefighters for the month of August. Which, if they're lucky, 9 percent of their pensions is what they'll be left with once this bankruptcy is over. [Detroit 2020]

Vegan news: The Lunch Room in Kerrytown is now open. [AnnArbor.com]

Moo Cluck Moo is playing the David v. Goliath hand well. [Daily Meal]

News from Grosse Pointe: the City Kitchen expansion is almost complete and Marais is getting close to opening. [Metromode]

Souptastik: where the Soup Nazi might eat if the Soup Nazi were Russian. [Detroit News]

YAY northern Michigan! [Tampa Bay]

Just when you thought Taco Bell had nowhere else they could go, they went to the waffacle. [Death + Taxes]

Some people find the presence of children more offensive than the presence of dogs in restaurants. [Death + Taxes]

Beerie
~Is the craft beer bubble about to burst? Or have brewers just run out of things to talk about despite the constant demand for more stories about the uber-hot industry? [MLive]

~Badass Beer is back. [Detroit News]

~Atwater has that Deeeeeee-troit pride. [BuzzFeed]

~More on the new Upper Hand Brewery from Bell's. And how you can't have any. [ABC 10]

~And Wal-Mart is trying once again to control everything. [Business Week]

~Oh hey, people grow hops in Michigan now, it's sort of a thing. [Bloomberg]

The Week We Ate (The EID Week in Review)

Not the same thing.

Thank you, once again, for the overwhelming outpouring of unsolicited support via personal emails, Facebook posts and messages, and texts. This fall I plan on being a Nine Inch Nails groupie and follow them around on the festival circuit while also pursuing my dream of not being home for pretty much all of July through October. Which I think is explanation enough, but if not, this once again. [EID]

So I posted this:

OFFS. Another terrible national "breastaurant" chain is franchising throughout metro Detroit. Victor Ansara, who owns 22 Red Robin locations in MI and OH as well as two 2Booli locations and Portofino in Wyandotte, and his 4 sons (2 of which founded Burgerz, now working on their third location) have set up "Motor City Peaks LLC" and will operate 6 new Twin Peaks location. The first one could be open as early as next summer.

The press release also contained this gem: “Michigan is new territory for Twin Peaks and there’s a huge demand for this kind of concept in the Detroit area,” said Ansara. “We have a huge number of loyal sports fans here and they want a fresh, new restaurant experience and that means more televisions, great food and a fun atmosphere – that’s exactly what Twin Peaks provides.”

Well, nothing says "fresh" and "new" like a sports bar drowning in the glare of its own flatscreens tended by co-eds in micro-shorts! 

Also, fuck you for ruining Twin Peaks for me. Fuck you so hard.

And this is what happened from there.

No legal booze was bad news for Cheesecake Bistro, turns out. [Crain's]

In case you missed it:
~Craft cocktails have gone from a niche corner of the bar market to the new expectation for all discerning drinkers and drunks. Roast, The Oakland, and The Sugar House led the way, but now the local artisan distilling industry has made huge gains and a new crop of craft cocktail bars is rising up including Red Crown, The Sardine Room, Pizzeria Biga - Royal Oak, The Last Word and more. What a difference two years make, eh? [EID]

~The Crowne Plaza Detroit Downtown-Convention Center opens next month, and with it The Jefferson House and Urban Cellars. Here is the very first look inside at the space and some of the menu items. Will this be the new Detroit hot spot? With a 40-seat outdoor patio (not pictured) and plans to reopen the Top of the Pontch, it most certainly could be. [EID]

~The Downtown Detroit Farmer's Market is held every Thursday from 11am-6pm in Lafayette Greens with vendors like Brother Nature Produce, Brooklyn Street Local, Detroit Bulk Company, and more. [Model D]

~Kitchen Connect, a partnership between FoodLab Detroit and Eastern Market Corporation, will soon start accepting applications for their community kitchen/business incubator partners in Osborn and SW Detroit. [Model D]

~Bike rides and barbecues and boats, blah blah blah. Here are 10 things to do this summer that aren't the same-old parks + rec round-up. (Complete with both Shakespeare and HST references.) [Metromode]

~A very sincere thank you to everyone at The Detroit Bus Company, Traffic Jam + Snug, St. Cece's Pub, El Taco Veloz, and Corridor Sausage Co. for a fantastic inaugural Eat It Detroit/DBC tour and a great Saturday afternoon, and thanks to everyone who came out! [EID FB]

The wonderful James sisters now have a permanent Detroit storefront presence with their DROUGHT juice inside the new Shinola store in Midtown, which just opened to the public on Friday. Here is an interview with co-owner Julie James. [Shinola]

The Markets of Cadillac Square started Friday, which now means we have Campus Martius Park Beach, the weekday food vendors in Campus Martius, the Downtown Farmer's Market Detroit on Thursdays and now this. Downtown Detroit is turning into a sour Skittle-colored bazaar! [Crain's]

Rodin is now open for lunch. [Rodin]

A new late-night menu starts at Imperial on July 5. Which now effectively eliminates my need for the recently-reopened Taco Bell on Woodward just north of 8 Mile. [Imperial]

Great Lakes Midtown just turned one years old. [GLC FB]

Mike Illitch continues making the dough. [MLive]

The Foodtruck Cafe is now open, for those who want all the fun of food trucks without having to deal with the the pesky impracticalities of mobile dining. Also known as a "restaurant." [Royal Oak Patch]

Looks like Bistro Joe's, located above Papa Joe's Gourmet Market in Birmingham, is also now open. Based on this lone Yelp review, it at least sounds promising. [Yelp]

Here is another story about MSU's Artisan Distilling Program with a nod to Detroit City Distillery. [Lansing State Journal]

The Sugar House got a fancy new sign. (Yes, this is news.) [EID FB]

Marcus Market in Midtown (next to the Bronx Bar) also got a fancy new sign, and this is really news because the Marcus Market is definitely not known for being fancy. Which is a nice way of saying it is known for bums hanging out in the parking lot. One EID reader implied that this is part of "the Shinola Effect." Which is sort of like the Whole Foods Effect, but more focused on aesthetics. [EID FB]

Here is an excellent story about Jim Geary and Woodbridge Pub, also known to some as a home away from home, or "third place." [Model D / Metromode]

If you missed German Park this weekend, you have two more chances to make it this summer: July 27 and August 31. [AnnArbor.com]

World's largest urban farm, Hantz Woodlands, is shaping up on the east side. [MLive]

The Fourth of July is upon us (and the Detroit fireworks have, blessedly, come and gone). Here is a guide to MOAR mortar in metro Detroit. [Daily Tribune]

Etc.
Should tipping be outlawed? As a Detroit resident, I'm not entirely convinced of the "no tips means servers won't do their jobs" counter-argument (first in the comments). Because. Um. Have you been to a lot of Detroit bars and restaurants? I rest my case. [Esquire]

I don't know what I'm more surprised about: the lengthy defense of the website people most love to hate (Yelp), or the fact that Buzzfeed ran something that wasn't a list with animated GIFs. [Buzzfeed]

Beerie
~Another day in Detroit, another pop-up biergarten. [AIA Detroit]

~I very much look forward to spending at least part of the fall in the U.P. again this year. And now someone even made a handy guidebook for me! All of the breweries + The Fitz = DONE. (Though, sadly, Upper Hand Brewery won't open until 2014. Darn it all, guess I'll have to go back again next year.) [UP Second Wave]

~Traverse City Ale Trail? Why, don't mind if I do! (Though I'd also like to see beer bars like 7 Monks Taproom and Brew Traverse City on there, as they also significantly help promote the local beer culture.) And check out the list of "soon-to-be-opened establishments:" TC will be nearly doubling its number of breweries with these! Brewery Terra Firma, Beggars Brewery, The Workshop Brewing Company, Bravo Zulu Brewing and Rare Bird Brewery and Taproom. [The Ticker]