Flavor Flav's Chicken + Ribs: Stellar Service, No Nervous Chickens

When America's beloved TV personality and hip-hop mogul, the one and only Flavor Flav, chose metro Detroit for his third attempt at restaurant ownership (the third time's the charm!), it invoked a media frenzy that even got picked up by Eater National. At the very least, it had everyone saying, "Yeeeeeeeaaaaah boyeeeeeeeee!"

Eat It Detroit would be remiss to not feature this truly monumental moment in metro Detroit's culinary history and give it the full respect it deserves. We asked ourselves why, in a metropolitan area where a handful of news outlets routinely run the exact same story about the exact same hot new restaurant a dozen different times with the words in different order and a new would-be food blogger emerges at the same rate that a Detroit politician tells a lie, why has no one properly reviewed this place?

It's okay, guys. We got this.

Here follows the full analysis of EID intrepid correspondent Stefanie Cobb's experience at Flavor Flav's Chicken + Ribs, including her conversation with the man (the myth!) himself:

Photo from EID friends the Rogue Estate

Journeying east on 15 Mile Rd. in Sterling Heights, a suburb of Detroit, I can sense when I'm getting close as the scent of deep-fried barnyard fowl intensifies and teases my nostrils. There is no denying my arrival after spotting Flav’s welcoming grill plastered on the sign out front.

My initial thought after pulling into the parking lot was of the consideration put into adding a drive-thru window for clientele on the go.

The young lady behind the counter appeared to be pleasantly delighted as I wandered through the front door. I think I was their first customer of the day, but appreciated the warm welcome regardless. She waited patiently as I scanned the menu board, finding what most would expect to at an establishment such as this—chicken, ribs and an array of comfort foods to accompany an entrée.

I opted for the already-"famous" fried chicken knowing all of the poultry used in the restaurant is endorsed by the AHA, meaning the chicks were free-range and come steroid- and antibiotic-free. I know, right?

In a follow-up interview with the media mogul himself, Flav claims, “There is a certain kind of LOVE put into my chicken you can’t find anywhere else. You ain’t eating any nervous chickens here.” Rest assured guys: no nervous chickens at Flavor Flav’s Chicken + Ribs.

Pining to take full advantage of my experience, I chose to order a side of the mac and cheese, mashed potatoes and gravy, coleslaw and a biscuit. Jumbo-sized fountain drink in hand, I made myself at home in one of the several vacant booths and took in the ambiance while waiting for my food.

To be quite frank, the atmosphere was a bit modest for what I was anticipating. Let’s just say I was more or less expecting T.G.I. Friday’s on crack. I imagined there to be giant clocks everywhere, gaudy colors, and Flav’s gold-plaited Cheshire grin plastered from floor to ceiling. Much to my dismay, aside from the giant pop art mural of Flav and a couple Viking hat ceiling lamps, the place lacked some much-needed décor. Also, I really hoped there’d be booze on the menu, perhaps something zany such as a drink called the Brigitte Bellini. Purple drank, even. But booze really isn’t something readily attainable at fast-food joints, so I’m not going to hold that against them.

I don’t believe this place normally offers tableside service, but the courteous cashier brought the food right to my table (again, probably because I was the only one in there). Seeing as I came on an empty stomach, I made no hesitation to start gnawing on a drumstick. Although the fried and roasted chicken recipes are Flavor Flav originals, Flav and co-owners Salvatore Ditoni and Gino Harmon worked with culinary professionals to create the rest of the menu. All of the sides are prepared, Flav claims, “in-house.”

Fried chicken almost always wins me over and though it was good, it did lack a little FLAV. The mashed potatoes were, you know, mashed potatoes. The biscuits were comparable to what I’d imagine a deep-fried sponge to taste like, but fairly edible after being smothered in butter and honey. I found no grievances with the mac and cheese; it was certainly the superstar of my soul food spread. Shell noodles rich in cheese and cream. I approve.

EID friends from the Rogue Estate - after

The staff was on top of their game as more customers rolled in. They all seemed genuinely enthusiastic about their jobs, keeping the dining room clean and remaining attentive to the needs of their guests.

The eats were mediocre and there was a shortcoming of some much needed oomph. I was kind of expecting to leave with a complimentary pair of faux gold grillz. And where were all the clocks, Flav? Where were all the clocks?

Despite all that, my first visit at Flavor Flav’s Chicken + Ribs was amusing overall and the hefty portions succeeded in forcing me to loosen my belt. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that third time’s indeed a charm in Flav’s case, as this is his third endeavor in opening a successful restaurant. (His other two closed in less than a year.)

As I’m sure most are wondering, why Detroit? (And by "Detroit," I am of course referring to Sterling Heights.) Believe it or not, Detroit inhabits a large part of Flav’s heart. “Detroit was the first city I rode a plane to when Public Enemy opened for the Beastie Boys at Joe Louis—Detroit gives Flav a lot of love!” So there's that.

“My boys sellin’ G in the Motor City. It is the only place that lets me stand by the water and see a foreign country on the other side.” True dat, Flav. True dat.

Editor's note:
In a previous interview with the Macomb Daily, Flav suggested he might use this new restaurant as a shooting location for a TV show, the "black version of Happy Days." Well spank our asses, it's happening! The Emmy-winning L.A.-based entertainment company William Morris Endeavor will be in town next week to scout and discuss casting (if you want to catch the clock-adorned icon himself, he'll be here March 23), and the "sizzle reel" (industry-speak for "demo") will be shot April 12-14. You heard it here first! Detroit (aka Sterling Heights), get yer grillz ready for your close-up!

[Real Detroit Weekly] Rosie O'Grady's (Sterling Heights)

Photo by Nicole Rupersburg.

You can tell immediately upon walking inside the door that Rosie O'Grady's in Sterling Heights is the kind of neighborhood bar that people go to because they feel welcomed. Owner Rick Mickhail personally greets customers by name, asks about their families and swaps stories about parenthood. The staff has a clear camaraderie and there's a friendly vibe throughout that sets this place apart from your typical bar.

"This is dad's legacy," Mickhail says by way of explaining their commitment to quality service and making their customers feel welcome.

Read more.

[HOT LIST] Pancakes

Red Velvet Pancakes from Hudson Cafe. Photo by Alyse Hinton.

Today is National Pancake Day! So it seems only fitting for a Pancake Hot List. For most people pancakes might come out of a box with instructions reading "just add water," but these pancake places make everything from scratch using fresh butter, cream and fruit ... and they also get a bit creative in their toppings. From the griddle to your gullet, here are the places that treat pancakes as more than just a simple starch.

The Dutch Treat. Photo by Eat 

#1 Original Pancake House (Birmingham, Grosse Pointe Woods, Southfield)
Any place with that kind of name simply has to top any good "best pancake" list, lest it fail to live up to its own moniker. That smell you smell? It's the smell of baking eggs. Despite having over 100 franchised locations of this very traditional pancake house throughout the country, this third-generation family-owned chain is still just as committed to using the highest-quality ingredients and making everything from scratch in each kitchen - no dry mixes, nothing frozen. The Original House of Pancakes is known for their signature baked pancakes - the Apple Pancake (baked with Granny Smith apple slices and cinnamon glaze), the German Pancake, the Dutch Baby (a smaller version of the bowl-shaped German pancake), and specialities like the Dutch Treat - a Dutch Baby filled with macerated strawberries and sliced bananas. They also serve a variety of other forms of pancake, from Swedish to buckwheat to sourdough.

#2 Cafe Muse (Royal Oak)
First things first: THEY SERVE DINNER. And have, for like two years now. You should totally check it out sometime, it's all the reasons you love their breakfast/lunch only better because it's dinner and there's wine and a more diverse selection of tasty animals. That being said, not a whole lot has changed on the breakfast menu over the past several years (going back to the time when it was located in half of the space What Crepe now resides in), and it hasn't needed to. These are certainly "fancy pancakes," but they're also some of the best. The Wholewheat Pancakes topped with house-made granola are terrif, but it's the Ricotta and Lemon Pancakes with house-made blueberry maple syrup that's the real knock-out.

Coffee Cake Pancakes at Mae's. Photo by Eat It Detroit.

#3 Mae's (Pleasant Ridge)
The place is as adorable as the couple that owns it, but a top-notch breakfast joint can't be all curb appeal. Mae's backs up its pinch-its-cheekiness with killer (no but seriously, pretty much every dish has a stick of butter in it) breakfast and lunch items made from scratch every single day in their tiny kitchen. Wife-owner Jessica McCarthy is particularly hardcore about her buttermilk pancake batter (she's hardcore about all of her food, but even more especially the pancake batter): made daily from scratch, her batter is thick like cement. (Once one of her cooks tried to thin it out and she made him throw it away and start over.) The result? Thick, fluffy, hearty, flavorful pancakes that don't even qualify as being in the same food group as the wibbly-wobbly rubbery discs you get at a coney island.

#4 Hudson Cafe (Detroit)
Still the new kid on the breakfast block, the Hudson Cafe on Woodward in downtown Detroit made a fast name for itself with their Red Velvet Pancakes - a huge stack of fluffy, ruby red pancakes flavored with rich cocoa and then drizzled with absolutely decadent cream cheese icing. They make everything from scratch and the in-house bakery always has some tasty temptation in the display case at the grab-and-go coffee bar (liiiiiiike Red Velvet Cupcakes), but for those of you who prefer the savory over the sweet they have a fantastic selection of Variations on a Theme by Eggs Benedict (that incorporate things like smoked ham, pulled pork and chorizo).

#5 The Pantry (Sterling Heights)
The Pantry is a long-time breakfast staple of the East Side. Like so many other favorite breakfast haunts, this place will have a line out the door on weekends of people anxiously awaiting one of their massive cream cheese-stuffed and fruit-covered crepes (the Apple Crepe is one of their most popular items, but they also serve Sour Cream Crepes and Cheesecake Crepes), or one of 12 different varieties of pancake which includes Potato, Buckwheat and Buttermilk, but also Sweet Potato and Fresh Georgia Pecan. They also serve house specialties like the German Pancake and the Banana Nut Surprise (a baked pancake stuffed with sautéed bananas and pecan pieces caramelized with brown sugar).

Bubbling under The Breakfast Club (Farmington), Clawson Grill (Clawson), Toast (Ferndale, Birmingham), The Breakfast Club (Madison Heights - no affiliation with Farmington), Gramma's House of Pancakes (Eastpointe), Whistle Stop Restaurant (Birmigham), Recipes (Troy), D'Amato's (Royal Oak), Star Diner (Allen Park)

[Macomb Now] Chef Ray Hollingsworth at Loon River Cafe

Chef Ray Hollingsworth. Photo by Garrett MacLean for Macomb Now.

Executive Chef Ray Hollingsworth first started his culinary career people said he was crazy. This was before the days of Food Network and before the cult followings of celebrity chefs, back when saying “I want to be a chef when I grow up,” was akin to saying, “I want to be a famous painter like Picasso.”

“I started cooking when I was 15,” Hollingsworth says. “Oakland Community College was the only school that had any kind of culinary program at the time; they were ahead of everybody.” He went through their program then spent three years training under American Culinary Federation (ACF) Certified Master Chef Jeffrey Gabriel at the Grosse Pointe Yacht Club. “Most of the chefs in the metro area were of European descent — like Master Chef Milos Cihelka of the Golden Mushroom. They were hardcore chefs; it was a harsh upbringing for awhile!” he laughs.

And then came Food Network and, with it, “foodie” culture. The average restaurant patron is much more savvy and educated when it comes to food now, and that knows no boundaries — unless, of course, you’re talking about the invisible line along I-75 that divides the culinary illuminati of Oakland County from the perceived plebian tastes of Macomb. That very same line also prevents the self-proclaimed “foodies” of Oakland County from stepping into eastern territory, convinced that there is no worthwhile culinary landscape to explore here.

At the Loon River Café inside the Best Western of Sterling Heights, a Michigan-themed lodge with emphasis on Michigan products, Hollingsworth tries to educate the eating public by using only the highest-quality ingredients and top talent. “In the early days we put a lot of emphasis in the quality of the product and employees; we hire local culinary students and ACF-certified chefs,” he explains. “We still do to this day, even with budget cuts. We’re not substituting for lower quality ingredients.”

Read the rest of the article here.

[Metromode] Little Baghdad in Sterling Heights

"For over a century, metro Detroit has been a hub for immigrants to settle (largely because of the work opportunities available to them through the auto industry). But despite the shifts in the economy over the last two decades, southeast Michigan has continued to be a metropolis for ex-pats looking to build families and careers in the States.

'Immigrant families from the same countries tend to cluster, forming pockets of cultural heritage, whole neighborhoods that might have been plucked straight from their native countries and dropped into unassuming corners of metro Detroit. To identify these pockets of ethnic diversity, one must simply look for the signs ... the storefront signs, that is. Little Vietnam in Madison Heights is easily identified by the disproportionately large number of Vietnamese restaurants, markets, video stores and salons with signboards written in both English and Vietnamese (if English is used at all).

'According to the Arab American Institute, as of 2008 Michigan was second only to California in its population of Middle Eastern Americans. With nearly 300,000 estimated to be living in the state today, Metro Detroit accounts for nearly 80 percent of that demographic (many of whom are Lebanese, but also Palestinian, Yemeni, Egyptian, and Iranian). Dearborn boasts the highest percentage, with nearly a third of its 93,000 residents being Arab American.

'Driving down Warren Ave. through East Dearborn, there are countless Arab-owned restaurants, bakeries, pizzerias, clothing stores, doctors' offices, law firms and general services. The signs are almost entirely in Arabic; restaurants and markets announce in bold neon that they are 'halal,' which means 'lawful' in accordance with Islamic law (similar to Jewish 'kosher' in that it refers to specific methods of animal slaughtering and the forbidden consumption of certain products). In addition to these businesses, there are also several mosques for community worship as well as cultural institutions upholding Arab and Muslim heritage like the Arab American National Museum.

'But Dearborn's Little Beirut isn't the only corner of metro Detroit that has a large Arab American population, even though it certainly gets the most attention. Over in Macomb County, Sterling Heights in particular, a Little Baghdad is forming in sleepy strip malls, and a strong show of Chaldean culture is making itself known. In fact, of cities with populations of 100,000 or more, Sterling Heights tops the list, with nearly 4 percent of its population being of Middle Eastern descent. (Warren follows close behind with nearly 3 percent)..."

Read the rest of the article here.

[Real Detroit Weekly] Pancho Villa's

(All photos by Nicole Rupersburg)

"Pancho Villa's has been the home of the flaming fajita for 12 years now, but they can also lay claim to being the home of something else: the Margorona.

'"It all started with a customer who ordered a margarita with a Corona and said, "This is gonna sound weird but can you dump the beer bottle upside-down inside it?'" explains co-owner Nick Hartigre. This customer had recently been down South and a popular way of serving frozen margaritas was with bottles of beer upside-down inside of them. The density of the ice keeps the bottle from emptying out and overflowing, essentially refilling the drink AS you drink it. Genius, no?"...

Read the rest of the story here.

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