[NEWS BITES] November news from the outer 'burbs

Great Lakes Culinary Center. 

Southfield: The new Great Lakes Culinary Center, a 20,000-square-foot, multi-use facility for restaurant and food service industry professionals and aspiring food entrepreneurs, has officially opened its doors to the public. The center is connected with the Great Lakes Supply Company and provides food service professionals with everything needed to design, build, test, and launch a fully-equipped commercial kitchen. In addition, it is an interactive demonstration classroom, multimedia learning center, and a destination for private parties and special events with indoor/outdoor seating and capacity of up to 150 people.

Milford: Despite a previous press release going on saying that it is open, the new Smoke Street in Milford (in the space previously occupied by Cinco Lagos, previously Five Lakes Grille) is in fact not yet open. But the menu is up, and it looks...like it will be less "destination" BBQ and more serviceable neighborhood "we go because it's there" BBQ.

Plymouth: Plymouth-Canton Patch reports that the 789 building is celebrating its grand opening. The building is home to three new businesses: Cafe Jorge, Aladdin Shawarma Express, and Yummie Yogurt.

Shelby Township: Buddy's Pizza opened their 10th metro Detroit area location in Shelby Township yesterday. "Where is Shelby Township?", you ask? If you have to ask, you don't really need to know. (It's basically the Novi of the northeast but without all the Asians.) This is Buddy's first new location in 15 years.

Troy: Columbus's Piada Italian Street Food is coming to Troy. Here's part of the press release:A new, healthy, made-to-order food concept is coming Michigan thanks to successful Ohio restaurateur Chris Doody. Piada Italian Street Food will premiere its thin crust bread that is hand-rolled with premium ingredients at its newest location on Friday, Nov. 22 at 2038 W. Big Beaver Road in Troy.

Piada Troy is a new genre of fresh fare with Northern Italian roots. It is quickly rising in popularity in the Midwest and hailed as a “Hot Concept” by Nation’s Restaurant News. At the counter of Piada Troy, guests choose the creation of their dish step-by-step. The price of the average meal is $9 and the order is typically completed within 60 seconds.

Guests choose from three entrees:
· The Piada – It begins with a stone-baked Italian crust dough made from organic and natural flours and extra virgin olive oil. Then, it is filled with high-quality ingredients and from-scratch sauces of the guests’ choice
· A custom-created chopped salad
· A personal pasta bowl

Guests customize their entrée selections with items such as steak, Italian sausage or salmon; sauces including Pomodoro, Alfredo and pesto; a selection of sautéed and fresh vegetables; and salad toppings of cheese, pancetta and much more.

So, basically, it's another place for Troy office workers to get a quick lunch.

[Real Detroit] Nick's 22nd Street Steakhouse

This post written by EID Co-Conspirator Stefanie Cobb.

Photo by Stefanie Cobb.

In case anyone hasn't noticed, steakhouses are totally THE thing now. And while it seems as though we can't get enough of them, each one is just as overpriced and gaudy as the next. Nick's 22nd Street Steakhouse in Shelby Township is proud of their originality and knack for standing out amongst their cattle hungry competitors. Nick's Steakhouse is a third generation establishment that has continued to thrive for over two decades.

Owners and brothers Bill, Harry and George Andreopoulous certainly acquired the knowledge of the ins and outs in running a successful restaurant. As a family with a long history of entrepreneurship, they've managed to maintain their passion of buying run-down businesses and transforming them into thriving restaurants. They are also the owners of Catch 22 Bistro in Algonac.

Read more.

[EID Feature] Of Barns and Barbecue: Bad Brad's BBQ

Barbecue: the people's food. All photos by Nicole Rupersburg.

When writing about Detroit, or food, but more specifically food in Detroit, and also Detroit's rebirth et.al., it's almost impossible to imagine the time Before Slows. Now it just feels like The Most Important Barbecue Restaurant in the Country has always been and forever will be; and every upscale BBQ joint to open in its wake is likely to suffer the accusation of "just trying to be Slows."

For the sake of discussion, let's get one thing straight: Slows Bar BQ did not invent BBQ. It didn't even invent upscale BBQ. And it certainly wasn't the first BBQ restaurant in Detroit; it was the first, however, to attract a predominantly suburban crowd. Detroit staples like Uptown BBQ, Nunn's Barbecue and Bert's Market Place all have a few decades on the place but the aesthetics and demographics of these old Detroit BBQ joints are markedly different.

Slows has been written up a million times in a million places and probably people in New York think it's the only restaurant in Detroit (incidentally, I'm told Phil Cooley - who has affectionately(??) been nicknamed "BBQ Jesus" - will be interviewed by Diane Sawyer next week). Now, we can make jokes (like the aforementioned "BBQ Jesus" bit), and we can snark (we LOVE to snark!), but there is simply no denying the impact that Slows has had on the immediate community that surrounds it and also on the image of the city of Detroit as a whole. To paraphrase from the best movie ever The Dark Knight, Phil Cooley might not be the hero Detroit wants but he's the hero Detroit needs. (Plus, Detroiters are never fucking happy. We've very much like New Yorkers in that way.)

Bad Brad's BBQ

It's no doubt that Slows has started a trend. In recent years metro Detroit has seen half a dozen new upscale BBQ restaurants that smoke all their own meats in-house etc. etc. open, all of them insisting that they're not the same as Slows. And you know what? They're not. Because to make that claim would be the same as to argue that all pizzerias are the same and every new pizzeria is just copying off of whichever one came before it. Or all sushi places are the same, or steakhouses, or what-the-hell ever - pick a food genre and accuse them all of copying each other; much like literary plot lines there are really only seven basic restaurant concepts that just get repeated ad infinitum so let's not act like this is some sort of new thing. Plus, each of these BBQ restaurants are as different as the different styles of BBQ across America.

But from all of this, something unexpected happened. For all of the accusations that metro Detroit - and thus, Michigan as a whole - has no "signature" cuisine, at least nothing that national media has previously cared to acknowledge, upscale barbecue has become something of a de facto specialty. Clarkston's Union Woodshop was recently featured in the Food Network's "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives," Chef Alex Young of Zingerman's Roadhouse in Ann Arbor received the prestigious James Beard Award for "Best Chef: Great Lakes" in 2011, and let's not forget the article that arguably started it all, Bon Appetit naming Slows one of the "Top 10 New Barbecue Restaurants" in 2009.

Detroit has always been a meat-and-potatoes kind of town, but lately it seems like it's more meat-and-mac 'n cheese.

So what's the appeal of upscale barbecue? And why all of a sudden now? Well, the short of it is in 2009 the world got pretty fucking awful, people started to really reevaluate their lifestyle spending habits and decided that high-end fine dining wasn't a necessity anymore but they still wanted to go out to eat once in awhile, chefs and restaurateurs had to scramble to identify and address the new demands of the consumer, then we got a fuckton of fancy BBQ joints. Is the short of it.

Really it came down to accessibility in food trends. Low-brow foods that were accessible to wider audiences (the key to that ultimately being affordability) were elevated to the level of gourmet: food trucks, street food, barbecue, classic American comfort food ... your average consumer probably couldn't identify why all of a sudden this was what they cared most about but the truth is these "pedestrian" foods was all anybody could afford. The foodie movement adapted; a major shift in America's culinary landscape occurred.

Brothers Mike and Marc Pollard, owners of Bad Brad's BBQ in New Baltimore and the second soon-to-open Shelby Twp. location, both have extensive culinary backgrounds in fine dining. Both attended culinary school and have worked under some of the best chefs in the country - Mike at Michael Mina in Las Vegas and Tribute in Farmington Hills; Marc under James Beard Award-winning chefs at AAA five-diamond restaurants in Las Vegas (including Julian Serrano's Picasso).

"When we came back here [to Detroit] we knew fine dining wasn't going to cut it here in Michigan," Mike says. They came up with their barbecue concept and readily admit to being inspired by Slows. They traveled throughout the country to research the different BBQ regions of America, then came back and opened rather quietly in a smallish space in New Baltimore in 2010. "We had time to hone everything in the dim lights of New Baltimore rather than the bright lights of Royal Oak," he says. "At this point we're ready and prepared!"

Much like Slows to the south and Union Woodshop to the north, Bad Brad's has a rabidly loyal following and sees hour-long wait times on weekends. And despite early support from both Sylvia Rector and Molly Abraham, there's still a good chance you haven't heard of them. (You people and your east side prejudices, I swear...) "That was the nice thing about the New Baltimore location," Mike says. "It was this quiet little joint. We always felt we opened strong but now we're extremely strong."

Mike says they have an extremely high level of food and take a fine dining approach to this casual cuisine without being "in your face" about it. "We source out the best possible product because it's better," he states. "We use all [USDA] Prime beef, six-year-aged Vermont cheddar, Maytag Bleu cheese ... because it's better. Everything is driven by just being better. But the menu doesn't say [all] that - we're not trying to 'wow' people with these descriptions. We use gastriques but we don't say that because barbecue isn't fancy."

To Mike, the best part about barbecue isn't just its accessibility as a cuisine, but how it appeals to all people. "Barbecue is one of those cuisines that can reach all levels - it crosses all demographics, all races. That's the great thing about barbecue: it's extremely approachable, and that's what makes sense around here. Barbecue, burgers, nachos, pizza - that's what we're serving but it's extremely high-end."

One of Mike's favorite stories to tell is the time he was at the restaurant and he noticed a guy drive up in a Bentley. He parked his car, came inside, sat by himself in a booth and had his lunch. Another guy came in at about the same time on a bike, also sat in a booth by himself and ordered lunch. These two guys, presumably with vastly different backgrounds, had ordered the exact same thing. For Mike, that is the essence of barbecue food in metro Detroit.

The new location exercises the same commitment to sustainability in design as the original, utilizing salvaged barn wood and reclaimed materials for what ends up being a country-meets-industrial motif that just works. As an astute person on Curbed Detroit noted (who, moi?):

The juxtaposition seems to suit the cuisine - barbecue is kind of a get-down-and-dirty food, and it also has a deep history with roots in the American South. Barbecue is cowboys, Everyman and guys named Bubba; if that feeling can be adequately translated into a building, Bad Brad's nails it. It's a little dirty, a little gritty - as the Osmonds might say, it's a little bit country and a little bit rock 'n roll - but also highly polished.

This location is also an evolution for Bad Brad's: in addition to their in-house smoker, they're also adding an in-house wood-burning stone oven for pizzas (the same one used at Cellar 849 in Plymouth, the home of Michigan's first "Certified Neapolitan" pizza) and a temperature- and humidity-controlled dough room. "The dough is the most important thing [for pizza]," Mike says. "If you're going to have some of the best barbecue you have to have good pizzas!" While some might argue that pizza and barbecue don't make natural menu mates, Mike thinks they are closer kindred than they're given credit. "It's all wood-fired," he explains of both how the pizzas and the meats are cooked. He adds, "There's so many things you can do with smoked meats [on a pizza]."

Mike hopes to have the new location opened by May 1 and continue exceeding expectations with their come-one, come-all cuisine. "As long as I can keep waking up every day and be excited about my job, that’s what it’s about."

Want to see more? View the Flickr set here.

Read more on the design of Bad Brad's new Shelby Twp. location on Curbed Detroit here.

Macomb Now: Metropolitan Cafe's Chef Alexis Henslee

"The concept of seasonal foods using locally sourced ingredients may not be news to those living in Ann Arbor, but in Shelby Township, the concept is fresh and new. At Metropolitan Café, Executive Chef Alexis Henslee is able to demonstrate her creative culinary expression as well as satisfy her passion for Michigan’s homegrown foods at this unexpectedly urban, contemporary restaurant.

'Metropolitan Café, a labor of love for owners Gary and Jennifer Barney, has been making big waves recently in the local press for its level of culinary sophistication in an area typically known more for chain restaurants than upscale cosmopolitan dining. Best described as a modern American bistro, it can’t be easily pigeonholed into any one category. The eclectic menu caters to a wide range of palates, offering everything from burgers and fish & chips to fresh seafood specials and an inventive small plates menu with items like chorizo-stuffed dates. The cuisine is truly metropolitan in its cross-cultural sensibilities: think influences of Asian, Mediterranean, and Latin cooking incorporated into a menu that’s a melting pot of contemporary American..."

Read the rest of the article here.

Real Detroit Weekly: Sherwood Brewing Company

"Once upon a time, in the magical kingdom of Shelby Township, lived a captivating couple — Sir Ray and Lady Lisa. Sir Ray was a wizard; his spellbinding potions were called "beer" by the populace. And Lady Lisa possessed a beguiling charm and warmth that all the good people in the kingdom adored. Then, a long, long time ago (but not too long — four years on August 31, to be exact), Sir Ray and Lady Lisa decided to combine their considerable powers in a lovely and enchanting place called "Sherwood," and thus, Sherwood Brewing Company was born.

'Ray had already been brewing for several years and saw brewpubs were scarce in this particular corner of Macomb County. He makes beers that are just one parameter off from the "standard styles," specialty brews that would be considered Frankensteins by "proper beer authorities," but beers his customers love nonetheless — a wheat IPA, a hopped amber. You like hops? So does Ray. The Green River Wheat IPA, on tap now, is a holy hopmonster. Coming soon is the dry-hopped Asylum Amber, as well as the Daily Grind Kona Porter, Entire Buzz Honey Porter and Mistress Jade's Hemp Ale. Their Buxom BlonDDe Ale is one of their most popular beers, on tap year-round and light enough in both color and body to appeal to the quantity-over-quality types of beer consumers, but with enough depth to also appeal to the aficionados as a stellar golden ale..."

Read the rest of the article here.

Hop Aboard! Michigan's Best Breweries on Metromode

"Since the Stroh's Brewery opened in 1850 in Detroit, Michigan has had a booming beer industry. Beer has always had a way of keeping the economy chugging along, as it continues to do even now. Michigan is the sixth-largest state for craft breweries, a local industry that just keeps growing.

'Currently there are nearly 90 craft breweries in the state of Michigan producing hundreds of different styles of handcrafted beer. Michigan's brewing industry contributes more than $24 million in wages and has a total economic impact of over $133 million annually.

'2009 has been a big year for Michigan beers. The winners of the 2009 Great American Beer Festival (the Emmy Awards of beer) were just announced in September, with Great "Beer" State brews sweeping up seven medal competitions. October brought the inaugural Detroit Beer Week, a celebration of local brews with coordinating events held all over Metro Detroit, followed by the first-ever Harvest Beer Festival hosted by the Michigan Brewer's Guild and featuring over 40 Michigan breweries inside Detroit's Eastern Market..."

Read the rest of the article here, and be sure to check out the inaugural Harvest Festival at Eastern Market this Saturday!

The Beer Series, #1: Sherwood Brewing Company

After doing research at several lesser-known metro Detroit breweries for a forthcoming article, I realized that each individual place has its own wholly unique and interesting story to tell. And I really wanted to be the one to tell it. For all four of them. In 1,000 words or less.

Thanks be to blogs, I can still write a somewhat-coherent article (maaaaaybe a little more than 1,000 words) and indulge my desire to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me beer with as many words and as much flowery prose as I so desire.

I've decided to do a little in-depth series for each of the breweries I visited, expanding on what I began in the aforementioned forthcoming article and taking you inside a little deeper to get to know the brewers, the people, the process, the beer. Oh good Lord, the beer. If the soon-to-be-published article is for beginners, consider this your intermediate lesson.

Particularly given the timeliness (currently being in the midst of Detroit Beer Week with the first annual Harvest Beer Festival coming up this Saturday), I think a more in-depth perspective of these award-winning breweries is in order, yes? Good, we're agreed then. Here goes.

First up: Sherwood Brewing Company.

We live in the tri-county area of metro Detroit. What many people seem to forget is that "tri" means "three." There's Wayne County ("oh Detroit, we love you so much, you're so misunderstood, gentrify! wait, no, not gentrify, that's bad") and Oakland County ("Detroit's cool but we prefer our rich, trendy, safe, clean suburbs"...unless you're north of 14 Mile then it's just "mmyessssss"). Then there's Macomb County.

Ah, Macomb County. The red-headed stepchild of metro Detroit. The MC gets no love, no attention. All the rags and mags focus on what's up-and-coming everywhere else but in Macomb County. Many use "The Clem" as a punchline to a certain kind of culture joke (much like they do with "Downriver"), and nowhere in greater Detroit is Macomb County taken seriously by anyone outside of it.

When I sat down with Lisa Sherwood at Sherwood Brewing Company, we talked about how often Macomb gets overlooked. Moreso than probably any other sector of metro Detroit, Macomb's citizens are almost entirely dependent on the auto industry. Even the "wealthy" corners of Macomb (think Moravian or Heidenreich) are still full of people who made their money in cars or construction. It's a blue-collar area with blue-collar sensibilities, and thus has been easily overlooked by its flashier sister counties. What they also then overlook is the great number of people who work had every day to give Macomb County its own unique culture and thoroughly independent vibe.

"There are a lot of small businesses along the M-59 corridor," Lisa states. "The number of retail and restaurant businesses keep growing. It's a high-traffic area that's finally getting some attention." (Though not enough, we agreed.) There are a lot of independently-owned establishments out on the East side, and a WHOLE lot of people to support them. When I ask Lisa why those chose this particular corner on Hayes north of Hall Rd. she says, "because north Macomb County needed a place like this. And because it's close to home." "Home" for some 780,000+ metro Detroiters, too.


What Lisa and her husband (and head brewer) Ray have created is a space that is wholly welcoming, a place for local workers and beer aficionados alike to hang out and feel like they're part of the family. "We're like one big dysfunctional family around here!" Lisa laughs. "Everyone knows everything about everyone else here, including the customers!"

And that's no joke: Sherwood has been named by WDIV three years in a row as the "Best Brewpub in Metro Detroit" for a number of reasons. Yes, they've got great beer, wine, and soda, all made in-house. Their food is some of the best pub grub you'll find anywhere. But they also have an atmosphere so inviting that it makes customers want to come back again and again. Lisa tells me that customers have described the place as being like their living room, only without the kids and they don't have to get their own beer. "We're family-friendly, too. The whole building is non-smoking; we've had people come here to celebrate their anniversaries and their kids' first birthdays. Our demographic is people ages 30+, people with families and careers. This is a safe, casual place for them."

Observing the way Lisa and Ray interact with their guests on a Sunday afternoon, I see immediately what makes this place so popular. Every customer who comes through the door is greeted warmly by Lisa, whose enthusiasm is contagious. Some she knows by name and asks after their wives and kids; others are new, so she immediately takes time to get to know them. An older gentleman came in alone and sat up at the bar. Lisa brought him a few newspapers and started asking who he was, what brought him in, what kind of beer he likes. Over on the other side of the bar, three employees who had the day off work were chatting with each other and the other regulars, spending their free day from work...at work. (And in the service industry, that means A LOT.)

"We have the best staff and the best customers in the world!" Lisa glows, and there's no doubt in my mind she means it. Even if they didn't have great been and incredible food, this would still be the kind of place locals would choose to hang out. Lucky for everyone, the food and beer are just as good as the attitude.


They usually have 8-10 different beer styles on tap with a little something for everyone. They try to appeal to the Bud Light drinkers as much as to the beer connoisseurs. The staff is well-trained to educate customers about the different styles and help transition them from their good ol' American pilsners to more robust craft brews. Here it's about quality over quantity; there are no dollar beer specials or buckets of beer, and as a designated brewpub they do not have a liquor license and can only sell what they make. They also make 4-6 different varieties of wine to appeal to the non-beer-drinkers, including styles of reds, whites, and fruit wines.

They don't bottle their beers (save for around the holidays when small batches are bottled and sold to customers), though their beer is on tap in many area bars. Their best-selling beer is the Buxom BlonDDe Ale, which is a great everyman beer (like Bud but far better). The 1492 IPA is also very popular, with a combination of hops that appeals to a wide audience, and the Production Line Red Ale is a very affable light amber with a slightly roasted (almost tea-like, I thought) character. I'm a sucker for the banana-clove notes of a good Hefeweizen, so Hell Road was a favorite of mine. I'm equally a sucker for Porters and Stouts, so the Honey Porter was a treat though I was devastated to learn that I missed their Smoked Pumpkin Porter (made with real smoked pumpkins!) by only a few weeks. The Green River Wheat IPA was also a real stand-out; fiercely aromatic and unapologetically bitter, this is a beer for hops-lovers--it may be light in color but this is a BIG beer.


As you plow through all these great beers--including seasonal treats like their Oktoberfest Lager and the festival favorite Mistress Jack's Hemp Ale--why not try a bite off their impressive pub menu? "We don't call it bar food, we call it beer food!" Lisa jokes, and it is clear that they take a tremendous amount of pride in their kitchen. "Everything is made fresh from scratch; we keep almost nothing in the freezer. We try to incorporate our beer and wine into as much of the menu as possible. We're very proud of our menu!"

Sherwood is committed to using local products and highlighting Michigan's seasonal foodstuffs. They've even hosted a couple of sold-out Slow Food Detroit dinners over the past few months. Chapter Leader Stacy Curneal Ordakowski even mentioned to me, "Sherwood is fantastic. I love how passionate Lisa Sherwood has gotten about local food." The dinner just held this week featured a Michigan fall harvest theme with buffalo steaks, pumpkin orzo, baby spinach with venison, and homemade pumpkin pie.

Other menu items include honest-to-goodness greasy beer favorites. "Burgatory" is a burger with jalapenos, mild peppers, provolone, and chipotle mayo. The aptly-named "Heartbreaker" has fried chicken strips, beer battered onions, mozzarella, bleu cheese, and 1,000 Island dressing on a soft pretzel roll. But the real winner here is the pizza: choose from three different homemade sauces: classic marinara, bold & spicy beer sauce, and garlic & wine sauce. You have your choice of white or whole wheat crust (for the carb-conscious). Then pile on your favorite toppings for a piping hot pie with wonderfully flavorful crust. I ordered garlic & wine with mozzarella and tomatoes (a makeshift Margherita, as I called it). The sauce was superb: aromatic, light with just the right amount of tanginess and chock FULL o'chopped garlic, JUST how I like it. The crust was soft and chewey (you can tell the dough is fresh), with a beautiful buttery flavor. This instantly made my top 10.

If you've got a sweet tooth, check out one of the homemade ice creams: they are made with Sherwood's house-made beers, wines, and sodas. (And if you've never had a red wine or Porter ice cream, you've been missing out.)

I left Sherwood with a warm and fuzzy feeling, and not just from all the beer. This place is comfortable and comforting, from the food to the company. At one point during my visit, Lisa pointed to a father with his young son and said, "Look how cute this is! You can't have a better job!" Between her passion for people, Ray's passion for beer, and the staff's passion for food, you also can't have a better brewpub.

For more abouut Sherwood's brewing history, check Metromode for the forthcoming article.

I Stole the Name Detoberfest from Someone Else

Originally published in D-Tales here.

Now. Let me preface all of the following by saying: EVERY. BAR. will be having an "Oktoberfest" celebration. All of them. They will serve you seasonal Sam Adams on draft and cheap plastic banners that say "Oktoberfest" strung on the walls and maybe even have their waitresses in fraulein costumes if you're really lucky.

What I care about is beer. I likes to keeps it real, dig?

At nearest count, there are (approximately if not exactly) 74 brewpubs and microbreweries in the Great Lakes State. Yes, 74. Yeah, I figured you didn't know that, that's why I told you.

Now. You can go to your (sound of violent wretching) O'Toole's, or wherever the hell you quasi-trendy people go to celebrate Oktoberfest and St. Patrick's Day and Thanksgiving Eve and New Year's Eve and Boxing Day and Guy Fawkes Day and whatever the hell else you use as an excuse to get shitfaced aside from just the plain 'ole sake of it, OR you could try to be a bit more authentic-like and patron one of these fine pubs with indigineous brews.

(Indigineous means local.)

Moving along.

Oktoberfest is now ("But it's only September?!?" "Yes, I know it's only September, but the Germans are strange and celebrate Oktoberfest in September, whereas Americans celebrate in the last weeks of September through most of October. Thus, it has already begun, regardless of your country."), so it's time you got out there and sipped some fine pumpkin ales and cream porters.

And if I see any of you with a Heineken bottle I will break it over your heads.

Don't judge me because I drink Miller Lite; I'm poor and it's certainly not my preference.

But if you're spending good money on beer, please let it not be on that overpriced imported Austrian swill.

Moving along.

The following list is of brewpubs and microbreweries of interest in the metro Detroit/Ann Arbor area with their Oktoberfest specials. Drink responsibly. Adopt a child.

(Mind you: some well-known establishments are missing because their Oktoberfest celebrations have already passed, they haven't got anything special planned, and/or their website is not updated with current information. I did my best. What I do for you...)

Arbor Brewing Company-Ann Arbor: Oktoberfest Beer Tasting Night, Thursday, October 9
Featuring Marzen and Vienna style lagers as well as an assortment of fall specialty ales and lagers. Tickets $25 advance/$30 day-of.

Atwater Block Brewery-Detroit
The Blocktoberfest seasonal brew is worth the off-season trip to the riverfront. Top that off with the Vanilla Java Porter 'cuz it's good.

Bastone Brewery-Royal Oak: September 29-October 23
Purchase a half-liter limited-edition beer stein for only $9 and get it filled with any brew--including the specially-brewed Oktoberfest Lager--for just $3 all during Oktoberfest. Also try the Jagerschnitzel, Sauerbraten, and Roast Chicken.

Big Rock Brewery-Birmingham
Now serving their seasonal beers: Kölsch, Wit, IPA, Strong Scotch Ale, and Russian Imperial Stout, with Altbier, German Pilsner, and Doppelbock now on tap.

Black Lotus Brewing Company-Clawson: Black Lotus Turns 2, Friday, September 26
Check out their Birthday Brew, a cream ale made with vanilla birthday cake frosting. Also try the Oktoberfest Bier and the Monster Mash Pumpkin Ale. This Friday, celebrate Oktoberfest with beer brats and DJ 2040.

Detroit Beer Company-Detroit: Anniversary Extravaganza, Saturday, October 18
Huge "Detroit-style" BBQ, $2.50 pints and mugs all day, live music 8:00-11:00PM.

Fort Street Brewery-Lincoln Park: Harvest Fest, now-September 27; Beer Fantasy Camp Sunday, October 5
Harvest Fest offers a special menu of Michigan-grown foods and Michigan-inspired menu items including: Duck & Cherry Ravioli, Baked Trout, Squash Bisque, Michigan Salad, Beer Battered Asparagus, Apple Stuffing, and more. A new harvest beer released at 8:00PM every night, Monday-Friday, through Harvest Fest.Beer Fantasy Camp offers six beer tastings with a three-course dinner. Tickets $35.

Grizzly Peak Brewing Company-Ann Arbor: September 29-October 23
Enjoy $5 pints of hand-crafted beer in a take-home limited-edition glass, with refills only $2 during Oktoberfest. Also enjoy authentic German foods such as Chicken Schnitzel and Braised Short Rib Goulash.

Kuhnhenn Brewing Company-Warren: Saturday, October 18
Enjoy traditional German Bier and cuisine, including Eisbein (smoked pork shank), sausages, and all the sides. Food served noon-8:00PM.

Motor City Brewing Works-Detroit
Try the Oktoberfest beer while they have it. Have some pizza, too. It's good.

Rochester Mills Beer Company-Rochester Hills: September 26-27
German-style beer, food, and music under a massive tent. Lots of good clean family fun with carnival games, balloon artists, moonwalks, pony rides, a petting zoo, magicians, clowns, and more. Friday 5:00-11:00PM, Saturday 1:00-11:00PM. Tickets $5, children 16 and under free. Proceeds benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the YMCA North Oakland WAVES Swim Club.

Sherwood Brewing Company-Shelby Twp.: Saturday, October 4
Celebrate Oktoberfest on the release date of their special Fest Bier Oktoberfest. Bier, food, games, music, bier. And beer. And more bier.

And last, but most importantly:

The Dakota Inn Rathskeller-Detroit: Oktoberfest, Fridays and Saturdays September 26-October 4
Now celebrating its 75th anniversary, the Dakota Inn Rathskeller has been bringing authentic German cuisine, the widest selection of imported beers from Germany in the Detroit area (with special Oktoberfest brews flown in from Germany just for this occasion), and the infectious Old-World-style German sing-along tradition to Detroit for our very own slice of Bavaria! It is a historically designated site featuring intricate, hand-carved woodwork created by the current owner's grandfather, as well as trophy animal heads from family hunting trips, family pictures, and waitresses adorned in traditional Bavarian costume.The Rathskeller has been owned by the same family for three generations, and it continues to be Detroit's only authentic German bar. If you want to really experience Oktoberfest but can't afford the flight, look no further than the Dakota Inn. Tickets to all Friday and Saturday night Oktoberfest parties are $3, and are selling out fast. The party runs from 8:00PM-midnight.