The Week We Ate (The EID Week in Review)

As we've seen so many of our beloved junk food favorites come back into vogue in the guise of upscale approachable comfort food, it seems like it was only a matter of time until nachos had their moment of glory. First We Feast predicts the time is now. Looking around at some of the offerings in metro Detroit and Grand Rapids - the Super Bowl nacho specials at Imperial (will they make their way to the regular menu?), the phenomenal plantain nachos at Frita Batidos, the duck confit nachos at Brewery Vivant - it seems like nachos just may be the poutine of 2013. Stay tuned as this story develops and I chart the emergence of this new trend. [FWF / EID]

Paczki Day is next Tuesday. The whole of metro Detroit will celebrate accordingly. Here. And here. Also here. Here too. And here. Aaaaand here. [Zingerman's FB / Tour de Troit / Pure Detroit / Small's / Avalon / Whiskey in the Jar]

So Big Buck Brewery and Steakhouse bought a bump shop in Ann Arbor and may or may not plan on bumping the bump shop to open a brewpub. Which would be great news for craft beer fans (not so much car repair fans though) if Big Buck didn't have such a terrible track record and if Ann Arbor didn't already have some many vastly better breweries anyway. And it seems like they're not exactly building a positive rapport with the community with this move. [AnnArbor.com]

Looks like Chef Paul Grosz of Cuisine in New Center will be taking over the old Zazio's space in Birmingham with a group of partners! No other details have been released yet, but this certainly bodes well for Boringham. [Crain's]

Detroit's OHH (Original Hip Hood) is about to come full-circle and be the NEW hip hood once again. Hamtramck: It's gonna be A Thing. Again. Mark it, Dude. [BLAC]

New York-based blog Grub Street names the EXTREME ghost pepper pizza at Detroit's very own all-Halal pizzeria Amar (on Conant, in Hamtown, which is going to be A Thing: Redux) one of "101 Awesome American Pies (and Slices)." Oh, and of course, Buddy's gets tapped, because duh. [Grub Street]

Madison Heights is Little Vietnam. Pho real. [Hour Detroit] (*ahem* FIRST circa 2010 - Metromode)

Want to know more about Chef Brian Polcyn's new line of stuffed burgers and charcuterie in partnership with Garden Fresh Salsa? They're going to be called the Great Stuffed Burger Co. and Charcuterie by Brian Polcyn, respectively. Crain's Detroit Business has the scoop on this and the goings-ons at Forest Grill. [Crain's]

For their five-year anniversary, Mudgie's is throwing itself the biggest birthday party in the history of sandwich shops. [Mudgie's FB]

This is why you love B. Nektar. (And save the date for Spring Mead Fest on April 20.) [B. Nektar FB]

Konbini Delivery and Hippie's Pizza are just two metro Detroit businesses that offer alternative and enhanced delivery options for customers. [Detroit News]

The Germans are taking over Ann Arbor! *crickets* Here's more on the reopening of the Old German (*cough*FIRST*couch*) and the old Metzger's, which is still old. [AnnArbor.com]

Who's got America's best chocolate chip cookie? According to Food + Wine, Zingerman's Delicatessen has one of them. [F+W]

Ethel's Edibles gluten-free baking company has a new home in St. Clair Shores. [EE FB]

It IS a food desert! It ISN'T a food desert. It IS a food desert! It ISN'T a food desert. Well, according to a recent study conducted by WDET 101.9FM of 240 SNAP retailers in the city, by certain working definitions of what is meant by "food desert," it is. [WDET]

Women, drop your panties. [Hey Girl, Detroit]

Beerie
~Odd Side Ales will start bottling this spring. [Odd Side FB]

~Short's released another XTREME beer. [Short's]

~New New Belgium Brewing Lips of Faith Series sour coming out, Transatlantique Kriek. #sourpower

The Week We Ate (The EID Week in Review)

HOPPY HOPPY NANO BEER. Batch Brewery is set to open in the new Brooklyn/Noah's Artisanal Ark of Corktown next year. To wit, Corktown will now have one of each artisanal everything. [Model D]

Deadline Detroit has the scoop on Detroit's only kosher eatery, a self-serve, cafeteria-style, all-you-can-eat, vegetarian restaurant at the Ghafari Residence Hall off Anthony Wayne Drive that's open to the public (it has a street entrance for those who don't live in the dorm). Also an insightful look at the multiculturalism of Wayne State University's student population. [Deadline]

Grandmont/Rosedale got its own coffee shop pop-up called Always Brewing Detroit (through December 23). For those keeping score, that's three pop-up coffee shops that have opened in Detroit this fall, which is to say nothing of all of the permanent cafes that have opened/will be opening in MidCorkDown Village-Bridge in the last and next year. #detroitisthenewseattle [MLive]

New Mexican restaurant called Carnival Fresh Mex opens inside the Penobscot Building this week! It will cater to the downtown business crowd, open 7am-6pm weekdays and for events only on weekends with a goal of serving food in 5 minutes or less. House-made salsa and chips will also be available to purchase in the coming weeks. [Freep]

Just as Buffalo Wild Wings gets ready to open on Shitshow Corridor, franchisee owners have announced they'll be opening an outlet of their local brand Bagger Dave's Legendary Burger Tavern next door! (Which won't be nearly as shitshowy, and the one in Novi is actually pretty good. Like a way nicer Five Guys Burgers and Fries with Michigan beer.) Then Deadline got all commentary meta. [Crain's / Curbed / Deadline]

MidCorkDown Village-Bridge will be getting an online grocery service starting in January called Harvest Express. We're putting on our big city pants! Jared Saverino of Holiday Market is also involved. [Deadline]

Here is more information about the businesses opening up over the next year in West Village (Nate Skid speaks with each of the owners) as well as a little bit more on the new restaurants coming to the Broderick Tower. [Crain's]

Chef Marc is the best. [Crain's]

Zagat names Buddy's Pizzeria a "destination pizza" (apparently worth the cost of a plane ticket to Detroit?), yet only a week after naming Supino Pizzeria the best restaurant in all of metro Detroit (who wasn't on that list? Buddy's.). Behold, the fickle finger of fate in food writing. (And also the proof in the pudding as to why you should never take these things all that seriously.) [Zagat]

This is a great example. Here is a totally random round-up of metro Detroit's food diversity. [Yahoo]

The links alone in this story overwhelm me. Here is everything that is currently happening in Detroit that deals with food justice, policy and security. #triplebottomlineFTW [Model D]

Noel Night: bigger, bolder, and with more shit to buy than ever. Is it just me, or did it feel less like an arts event and more like Black Friday at the mall? [MLive]

Rodin in Midtown opened its doors for Noel Night; the official opening date is 12/12/12. [EID FB]

The Cass Corridor: from topless bars to tapas bars! (Alas not my pithy turn of phrase.) La Feria looks to be making progress, and if you happened to stumble over to the Model D house this past Noel Night you were lucky enough to get an early taste. [Curbed Detroit / Model D FB]

Also: Mercury Burger Bar now serves breakfast (the definition of "serve"still being rather loose); Awrey's bakery is laying off people right before the holidays which hardly bodes well for its future. [Freep / WXYZ]

Wondering what happened to the old Mind, Body and Spirit space after they closed last year? Meeting House in Rochester will open this Tuesday, featuring Roberts Restaurant Group alumn from Beverly Hills Grill at the helm. Neapolitan-style pizzas, burgers, small plates ... sounds promising, and certainly in keeping with current food trends. [Freep]

Birmingham is beefy. [DetNews]

Healthy kids and a healthy local economy: Dino's Lounge in Ferndale is expanding, offering full catering and event services and a banquet hall while also rolling out a new healthy lunch program to area charter schools. And all of this came about over the last few years just so owner Dean "Dino" Bach could keep people working. [Metromode]

Jolly Pumpkin's La Roja and Founder's Bolt Cutter were named by Wine Enthusiast among the top 25 beers of 2012. Also, I love how WE struggles to define and then defend their selections as they try (admirably, though maybe not entirely effectively) to wrap their winey heads around this whole craft beer thing. It's kind of adorable, really. [MLive]

Left Foot Charley Wine gets some more much-deserved mad props, this time at the Jefferson Cup Invitational (it's kind of a big deal). [Promote Michigan]

Tickets to the Michigan Brewers Guild Winter Beer Festival went on sale and then subsequently sold out on Saturday. And now people are trying to scalp tickets on Craigslist. Because people are fucking awful. [MBG FB]

Incidentally, VIP tickets for the 2013 Baconfest Michigan went on sale this morning and are halfway gone already. Remember how sad piggy you were last year when you missed out? Remember how I warned you? [EID FB]

If Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti overwhelm you with their many options and your own lack of familiarity, these are some good places to start. [AnnArbor.com]

And in more Ann Arbor food news, Zingerman's Delicatessen (Next Door) has one of the best hot chocolates in the U.S. according to Food and Wine. [F+W]

Soul food and live jazz at an Elks Lodge? Yes. The Elks Lodge in Ann Arbor hosts the "Elks Neighborhood Kitchen Soul Food and Live Jazz" every Thursday through Saturday (these events are open to the public and are exactly what they sound like). [AnnArbor.com]

Mario Batali is a one-man Michigan PR machine. With all due respect to the lovely people at the Pure Michigan and Traverse City, Michigan CVBs. You just can't buy or beg for this kind of press. [Vanity Fair]

Eat It GR 
~The much-anticipated Grand Rapids Brewing Company starts serving beer to the public this Wednesday, and is also the first certified organic brewery in Michigan. [GR Business Journal / GRBC FB]

The Week We Ate (The EID Week in Review)

Gathering supplies for nuclear holocaust. 

It pays to be a high-quality, organic bakery and these places are raking in the dough. The carbohydrate empires of Zingerman's to the west and Avalon to the east are both embarking on multi-million-dollar expansions. [Crain's]

Also expanding: Rub Pub BBQ, this time into Ann Arbor. And what most people won't know is that this is actually a third location for the company. The second is in Warren on the east side. You know, that geographically imprecise sprawling land mass east of John R. [AnnArbor.com]

And let's not forget where you first heard news of Pizzeria Biga's expansion into A2 and the Root's second location in Howell. [EID]

Now open: Santorini Estiatorio in Greektown. Almost open: Acme Food Company in Hamtramck and the Buffalo Wild Wings in the Shitshow Corridor. [EID FB]

Also almost open in that geographically imprecise sprawling land mass east of John R: the Michigan By The Bottle tasting room, a partnership of six Michigan wineries that will be open for on-site tastings and events as well as retail sales. [MBTB FB]

Kowality, Kowalski, kaput. Kowalski Sausage Companies is closing up their four retail operations across metro Detroit and focusing solely on production and distribution. [Freep]

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! [Detroit Princess Riverboat FB]

Which of course means ... shopping! -_- [Hudson Cafe FB]

And drinking. [Holiday Cheer Garden Official]

Clarkston should just be renamed to "Union." Union, Michigan. This is the only way having three businesses with the word "Union" in the name in a town of only 900 people will make sense to me. So anyway, one of them has one of the 50 best cupcakes in the country. [The Daily Meal]

And in more arbitrary ranking lists, Supino Pizzeria ranks #1 for food in metro Detroit according to Zagat. Not to steal Dave Mancini's thunder but for what it's worth, these rankings are derived from user-generated survey reviews similar to Yelp or Urbanspoon. So before you question the other 9 on this list, and you will, ^that. [Freep]

In keeping with this pattern, the Sugar House's Heart of Darkness punch is featured in Tasting Table as one of the best cocktails of 2012. Get ready for a LOT of "best-of" lists, both local and national. In the words of Mortal Kombat's Shang Tsung, it has begun. [Tasting Table]

The Food Network filmed at Roma Cafe last week for a special about the oldest family-run Italian restaurants in America (Roma is Michigan's oldest). [EID FB]

Nate Skid talks to the OTHER Cooley brother about striking gold a second time in Corktown with Gold Cash Gold, a restaurant so far away from opening that you will have forgotten about this story entirely by then and will be happy to read about it all over again. [Crain's]

Ypsi's hippie tea beer Unity Vibration Living Kombucha Tea LLC is looking to expand and are trying to raise $60k via crowd-funding to get the equipment and space they need to increase production (this would include a cellar for barrel aging and a tasting room). Because it's just like, totally un-unity to get a $60,000 business loan. [AnnArbor.com]

I've gathered from Facebook that people don't really have a firm grasp as to just how many things the FDA actually regulates, what their purpose as a federal agency actually is, and why it is in fact completely insane that energy drinks are not also regulated by them. I say this as someone who for the most part is against the all-encompassing reach of federal helicopter agencies as well as someone who really just doesn't feel 13 deaths are significant and also understands that there is probably a complete failure to prove a direct causality in any of these deaths which were most likely caused by pre-existing conditions merely exacerbated by the energy drinks. So, you know, wrap your head around THAT. [Deadline]

Metro Detroiters are a bunch of fucking savages. Fat savages, at that. [DetNews]

In Beerie news, Founders will release four new beers in 2013 (maybe not NEW new though) and John Hall has stepped down as the CEO of Goose Island, which means craft beer drinkers are wringing their hands even harder than ever at AB InBev's buyout of the brand. [Beer Pulse / Chicagoist]

~And in Eat It GR, construction on the city's 130,000 square foot year-round indoor Downtown Market is well underway. This $30 million project is expected to draw about 500,000 visitors annually. Then the NY Times gets all, "OMG you guys, Grand Rapids is, like, awesome," because it totally is. [NY Times]