[EID Feature] Chef Paul Grosz takes a Stand

Photo by Nicole Rupersburg.

The Stand in Birmingham officially opens for business today. The hotly-anticipated restaurant taking over the former Zazio's space - a concept that rather majestically flamed out for any number of reasons up to and including a cumbersome, poorly-planned space draped in seizure-inducing swirls of neon and food that quite simply wasn't that good (even by Birmingham's notoriously mediocre standards) - is a partnership between Chef Paul Grosz of Cuisine and fine dining industry vet John Kelly with Greenleaf Trust/Catalyst Development, owners of the building, as the investors.

Chef Paul is the Executive Chef of this new concept, and he'll also continue overseeing Cuisine in New Center, running back and forth between both. I've know Chef Paul for a few years - he was one of the first chefs I really established a personal rapport with back during my early days as a scrappy blogger - and, knowing him as well as knowing the difficulty of taking on such a massive space and making enough money on it for the business to stay open, my first question to him was: are you insane?

The answer is yes but in a way that makes sense in the long term. Paul has a 10-year plan. Part of that 10-year plan includes positioning himself for retirement and being able to put his mark on something other than Cuisine - a restaurant he is very proud of and happy with, but one that is also very much events-driven given its somewhat isolated location in New Center across from the Fisher Building.

Paul is also considering the natural trajectory of the chef's career. As he is currently filling in for Mr. Charcuterie Chef Brian Polcyn at Schoolcraft, teaching Polcyn's charcuterie class while Polcyn is busy working on his latest endeavors, Paul is thinking more and more of following in Polcyn's footsteps and transitioning into the role of instructor. He'd like to teach more at Schoolcraft - not Polcyn's class, but possibly a new class on seafood, which receives little attention as part of the school's culinary instruction, and maybe even vegetarian and vegan cuisine. (Paul is big on seafood, and also on veggies, as you'll find on the menu at the Stand). He'd also like to mentor up-and-coming chefs and eventually get out of the kitchen entirely.

Chef Paul in the kitchen. 

But that's all part of the 10-year plan. For now, Paul is going to be in BOTH kitchens, overseeing all operations and doing the cooking himself along with the help of his culinary team.

The menu at the Stand is decidedly small and carefully-managed. Items include a lobster fried egg - a brioche-breaded soft-boiled egg with lobster and asparagus - duck confit cassoulet, rabbit, and waygu beef, with a purposeful emphasis on sea food. (Again, this is Paul's thing.) There is a charcuterie room in which they will cure and dry their own meats (which will also be supplied to Cuisine) that should be fully operational in the next month. And while that all sounds like a very protein-centric menu, vegetarians and vegans can take heart: YOU HAVE YOUR OWN MENU. Eight entirely-vegan items are highlighted on their own menu, so you don't just have to order whatever lame-o salad or soup made vegan as an afterthought.

The bar area comes with its own menu and includes things like veal sweetbreads, foie gras burgers, duck sliders, and daily oysters. And desserts will be just as special as the rest of the menu: Pastry Chef Kevin Kearney, who has worked with Paul at Cuisine for years, is now at the Stand making his unique creations like goat cheese cheesecake and funky ice cream flavors (he did it before it was cool). He is one of the finest pastry chefs in the area, so do be sure not to skip dessert.

The beverage program is just as thoughtful, with a small but solid selection of Michigan craft beers and an entire craft cocktail program designed by none other than Travis Fourmont.

The Hall of Culinary Fun.

Those of you who remember Zazio's Wizard of Oz-on-acid color scheme (an image surely burned into your brain if you ever stepped foot in the place), all I can say is...wow. The space is transformed. And by that I mean they COMPLETELY gutted it - like, everything. Like, they kept nothing. They scrapped everything short of actually bulldozing the building. The entrance is now on Peabody and diners will be greeting in the "lobby" before heading down what Paul calls the Hall of Culinary Fun. To the right, you will see the open kitchen with a 10-seat bar where they will host two degustation menu seatings per night (in lieu of actually having a "chef's table" in the kitchen). To the left is the separate bar area with comfy booths and a community table. Further down is the main dining room and three private dining rooms.

Hand-blown glass gourds from Epiphany Glass.

As you walk around the massive space, take note to pay attention to the design details. Wood for the bars, ceilings, the communal tables and booth backsplashes is all reclaimed wood sourced through the WARM Training Center in Detroit, much of it from deconstructed homes in Detroit and Hamtramck. Eric Gorges of Voodoo Choppers made custom metal art pieces, including a copper "replica" of the Mackinaw Bridge over the communal table in the bar. In the main dining room, a series of four hand-blown glass sculptures made by April Wagner of Epiphany Glass represent the four seasons of food - leeks in the spring, shellfish in the summer, squash in the fall, and ice wine in the winter. Janelle Songer made the ceramic pieces throughout the restaurant. It was very important to both Paul and John to make this a space that is a reflection of the community, using local artists and salvaged materials with roots in metro Detroit. They want this to be a place that appeals to everyone, to have construction workers sitting next to bankers and everyone be comfortable. Like at a lemonade stand, where everyone has the same experience regardless of who and what they are - hence the name.

In regards to my question of how they were going to break up this 10,000-square-foot space to maximize marketability and monetization (something else Zazio's struggled with), the three private dining rooms are the answer. The 14-seat communal table inside the wine cellar is one, perfect for private celebrations. The 10-seat Paul W. Smith room is intended for celebrities and high-ranking executives, and even has its own private entrance. The third is a 40-seat conference room wired for all AV equipment with a large TV for teleconferences, and this is the space with the most potential to bring in a steady stream of business business.

Part of Paul's 10-year plan includes possibly opening more Stands in other areas in metro Detroit, or working with John on another concept in Birmingham - seafood, perhaps? But he's got 10 years to figure that out. For now, he's focused on getting the Stand open, which quite possibly stands to be the best restaurant in Birmingham.

The Stand has already been operating for a few weeks, hosting private events and seminars. It opens to the public officially at 5 p.m. today and will be open 5-10 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 5-11 Fridays and Saturdays (closed Sundays). Eventually they will also be open for lunch.

Want to see more? View the Flickr set here. 

[Model D] Rubbed European-style sandwich shop to open in Corktown later this year

Corktown will soon have a new sandwich shop, but don't expect it to be anything like Mudgie's Deli. 

Partners Jason Frenkel and Abbey Markell have worked in the restaurant industry together for the past 10 years and have been planning their own concept for the past four. Frenkel spent a few years traveling for work, then decided to move back from San Francisco this past February to work on Rubbed restaurant and deli with Markell.

Read more.

[Model D] MotorCity Wine moving to Corktown this fall

Detroit's MotorCity Wine, currently at 608 Woodward Avenue on the second floor above Foran's Grand Trunk Pub and Foran's Deluxe Diner in downtown Detroit, is relocating this fall to the space currently inhabited by the Express Bar in Corktown. The new address will be 1949 Michigan Avenue.

Read more.

[EID Feature] Brian Polcyn, Chef and Patriarch

Being a chef is terrible. Unless you love being a chef.

Think about it: 16 hour work days on your feet in a sweltering kitchen in which the daily number of opportunities for personal injury are on pace with that of a war zone, working all nights and weekends and holidays, sacrificing your social life and your family life and really any other kind of life you might have hoped to have had, plus the pay sucks until you finally own your own restaurant and then the pay is even worse ... bottom line, you'd better really fucking love to cook if this is the life you're going to choose.

Brian Polcyn chose that life, and he has made the most of it.

Earlier this week Polcyn made the decision to close Cinco Lagos, the rebranded casual Latin version of his renowned Five Lakes Grill in downtown Milford. The decision was not made lightly.

"I put a lot of my life into that space," says Polcyn. "But there comes a time in your career when you know you need to move on. It was a really tough decision for me; that was my baby! I built that place from zero, from nothing, to become a nationally-named restaurant." Five Lakes received coverage in The Atlantic, Wine Spectator, the New York Times, Bon Appetit, and even earned Polcyn a James Beard nomination for Best Chef Midwest in 2006.

At the time Polcyn opened Five Lakes Grill, downtown Milford wasn't exactly the most obvious choice for such a prestigious restaurant. (It still isn't.) But Polcyn is a family man, and he chose that location because he had a wife and five children to raise and he wanted to be close to home so he could balance being a chef with being a dad. "You know what it's like to be a chef," he says to me. "And to be a father. In order to be successful at either one you have to put a lot of time in."

He certainly didn't suffer for it; he racked up a list of a accolades and was still "able to achieve chef development."

He spent 18 years in that location. But now, his kids are all grown up. And his baby has grown too ... not quite in the way he had envisioned, but in a way that was necessary (he transitioned Five Lakes into the fresh-Mex Cinco Lagos in 2009, when the recession was landing its most severe blows on local businesses).

He also opened Forest Grill in Birmingham in 2008, a concept with the same soul as Five Lakes but in a much more agreeable location. Suddenly the customers that would drive all the way from Birmingham and the Bloomfields to visit Five Lakes now had one of their own; they stopped coming. Then the recession hit, and Five Lakes was over. (Polcyn says now the decision to change Five Lakes over to Cinco Lagos was harder than his more recent decision to close.)

But Polcyn understands the necessity of this decision. Much like being a father and being a chef, he realizes owning two restaurants is also a balancing act. Add to that teaching full time at Schoolcraft College, launching a national charcuterie line with Garden Fresh Salsa (coming later this year), and being a best-selling author currently working on his third book (a more in-depth, detailed version of what he introduced in Charcuterie and Salumi). "The thing is, I'm just really busy," he says. "It takes a lot of time and effort in Milford and I can't spend the time there anymore to make it successful."

After 37 years in the business, Polcyn is past the point of sweating away in a kitchen every day. In the natural stages of a chef's evolution, he has transitioned into more of a teacher/mentor role, and continues to develop his own brand outside of the dining room. "I'm perfectly happy with the direction I'm going in. I'm still developing as a business man."

As a full time instructor at Schoolcraft College, Polcyn has been training the next generation of chefs in his own image. Now house-made charcuterie platters are widely available in restaurants throughout metro Detroit (10 years ago most people had never even heard the word). You'd be hard-pressed to find a chef working in a metro Detroit kitchen who hasn't in some way been influenced by him (if not directly trained under him).

And now, Polcyn will be mentoring a new Chef de Cuisine at Forest Grill.

Previous Chef de Cuisine David Gilbert left late last year in order to open his own restaurant in Grosse Pointe Park (opening sometime this spring). Things at the Grill have been unstable since his departure, but now Polcyn has hired on Grosse Pointe native Nick Janutol, who has been working at Michelin-starred restaurants in Chicago.

Polcyn was introduced to Janutol through their mutual friend James Rigato, Executive Chef at the Root Restaurant in White Lake. "James kept on me relentlessly, 'You gotta get this guy, you gotta get this guy.'" When Polcyn was in Chicago on a book tour he met with Janutol ... and they talked nonstop for an hour and a half. "I'm really confident," says Polcyn. "He really buys into the [Forest Grill] concept and sees what my vision is."

Polcyn remembers when he was first starting out all the chefs around here were European because at the time a chef in Europe had to wait for a chef to die just to get a position. "I want to make room for the next generation guys ... these guys are established, they have the base skills. Now they need a place to develop. It's like developing your craft as an actor. You need a good role to go through that journey of self-discovery. I'm a good teacher and I know how to spot talent."

And for Polcyn, being a teacher is also about being a mentor and setting a positive professional example. "The restaurant business can breed the wrong element with late nights, parties ... these guys need an example. I've been married to the same woman for 30 years and have five kids. We are professionals and should conduct ourselves as professionals." In other words, he's no Bourdain.

Janutol, for his part, is on the same page. At 27 years old he realizes that this is a young man's game. "Your knees will only work for so long," he says. "Work as hard as you can as young as you can so that by the time you're in your 40s and 50s you can focus more on management and teaching." Much like Polcyn himself.

Janutol is leaving his post as "Second in Command" (his official title, their way of poking fun at how generously the title "Sous Chef" is doled out) at the Michelin-starred L2O in Chicago. Previously he had worked at the Michelin-starred RIA in Chicago and the Michelin-starred Eleven Madison Park in Manhattan, and studied at the Culinary Institute of America at Hyde Park. While this is the most high-profile position he's yet had, he certainly has the pedigree to succeed. (He officially joins the team next Tuesday.)

Polcyn says the Forest Grill will be a continuation of his philosophy and what he feels food should be. "A lot of people use phrases -- 'farm to table,' 'local food' -- I've been doing that my whole career! You buy what's in season because it's the best quality but also because it is in abundance and at the best prices." The Forest Grill will continue to do whole animal nose-to-tail butchery and foster relationships with farmers, and down the line may also introduce whole animal menus. Janutol is hoping to also bring more of a focus on foul and fish.

With Polcyn able to put more focus on the restaurant and Janutol as the eager new chef, Forest Grill is now primed to become "the restaurant everyone always wanted it to be" (in the words of Chef Rigato). "Nick's going to bring a different style and it's going to be cool," says Polcyn. "It's like having a kid. You don't know how they'll turn out but [if you raise them right and teach them all the right values] they'll blossom into their own personality."

 

[HOT LIST] Neapolitan pizza

Mani Osteria. All photos by Nicole Rupersburg.

There has been a growing trend in metro Detroit recently, and one that has been happening relatively quietly. No, it's not upscale BBQ or upscale comfort food -- those trends have been anything but quiet. But while we have continued to bow at the altar of the almighty mac and cheese, coal- and wood-fired pizzerias are increasing in number (not to mention overall quality), and more specifically, Neapolitan-style pizzas are quickly nipping at the heels of their Sicilian-born Detroit-style deep dish brethren.

Pizza gets a bad rep. Typically thought of as the garbage pail gut-bomb it has been bastardized into courtesy of America (USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!), when people think of "pizza" they think of grease-soaked dense pan-cooked crust gobbed with dripping piles of cheap cheese and piled over with a zoo's worth of animal flesh. While I have a certain passion for such pedestrian pizzas like the fat Midwesterner that I am, not all pizza is so offensive to refined tastes. Neapolitan-style pizza is defined by high-quality, fresh, simple and healthy ingredients -- unbleached flour, fresh mozzarella, exceptional produce, extra virgin olive oil. In its truest Neapolitan form, pizza is actually quite healthy.

There is a very specific set of criteria that qualifies a pizza as "Neapolitan," but there are only two pizzerias in metro Detroit that are officially certified as such. For the purposes of this Hot List, I'm looking at places that are Neapolitan in spirit if not 100% in practice. Taken into consideration is size, shape and flavor of the dough; the quality and caliber of ingredients (prosciutto, yes; Canadian bacon, no); whether the pizza ovens are coal- or wood-fired; and, as is the case with any Hot List, whether or not I like it.*

The Margherita pizza at Antica Pizzeria Fellini.

#1 Antica Pizzeria Fellini (Royal Oak)
For more about the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, scroll down to #4. Got it? 'k. So this place is metro Detroit's other VPN-recognized Neapolitan pizzeria, and it's the real deal. This place is the most like an actual restaurant in Italy out of any of the faux-Italian eateries I’ve ever been in – it’s just a space, a simple space they obviously made some effort to make it look nice but otherwise a room in a building, nothing more. The owner is ever-present, presiding over the restaurant from his post in the very open kitchen, making all the food himself and personally checking in with all the customers. (For a little added authenticity, he even has an Italian accent). There was once a time when Il Posto was the most "Italian" place in Detroit, reminiscent of the highly-orchestrated fussy fine dining at Michelin-rated restaurants in touristy Toscana. Antica is countryside Italian, a small family-owned spot that exists solely to serve good food to their "extended" family, the customers. This is hands-down the best Neapolitan pizza I’ve ever had in Michigan. The dough tastes like flour, salt and yeast with a bit of wood smoke – in other words, exactly what it is, a mere canvas for the superior tomato sauce and creamy mozzarella. Their house-baked bread used for their bruschetta would also make excellent fettunta, and I wouldn't be surprised if they would in fact make it for you if you asked.

#2 Pizzeria Biga (Royal Oak, Southfield)
The custom-built brick oven chef-proprietor Luciano del Signore had flown in from Italy is pretty much the Ferrari of pizza ovens. Actually I think I said it best when I said, "The showpiece of the place is the 6,000-pound Ferrari-red wood-burning oven hand-made in Naples, Italy by Stefano Ferrara who is (channeling Cher Horowitz), like, a totally important designer. (Of ovens.)" Also, I am apparently fond of the Ferrari comparison. Real talk: this is not the best Neapolitan-style pizza of the bunch; several others on this list and listed as "bubbling under" are better. But do any of those other places have 24 international craft beers on tap and a beer store in their basement? No they do not. Extra bonus for the use of their own house-made charcuterie like duck prosciutto, which if you HAVE to pollute your pizza with animal carcass then this would be the place to do it.

The Margherita pizza at Tony Sacco's.

#3 Tony Sacco's Coal Oven Pizza (Novi, Ann Arbor coming soon)
It's a casual joint that manages to strike the perfect balance between pedestrian pizza gluttony and European refinement. You can read more about their $50,000 custom-built oven that burns extremely expensive clean-burning coal here; see also all fresh ingredients and everything made from scratch with no freezers, no microwaves and no fryers anywhere in the building. For a place that feels like such a casual sit-down pizza place, their commitment to quality is unmatched. The pizzas themselves toe that line of excessive American meatiness, but their Margherita is the real deal and the Bianco is bang-on. And also also also also the garlic rolls.

#4 Cellar 849 (Plymouth)
As Michigan's first certified Neapolitan pizza recognized by the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (VPN) -- the "pizza polizia" -- of Naples, Italy, Cellar 849 adheres to the strict regulations that respect the tradition of true Neapolitan pizza, including a custom wood-burning oven, hand-rolled dough, and fresh, all-natural ingredients. They use some of the highest-quality imported ingredients available, including Fior di Latte mozzarella, Denominazione di Origine Protteta (DOP -- the produce polizia) San Marzano tomatoes, Italian extra virgin olive oil, prosciutto di Parma and Caputo flour. Their Italian-built wood-burning oven is the same as those used at the flashier Pizzeria Biga joints, and the remainder of the menu is just as delightfully Italian, including the (somewhat predictable) wine and beer lists. Yes, I just plagiarized myself here.

#5 Crispelli's Bakery + Pizza (Berkley)
Make no mistake, this place is a clusterfuck. It is so much of a clusterfuck that I'm not even sure why anyone would even make the attempt to go there on a Friday night. Don't go on a Friday night. All the traffic controllers and little metal signs with numbers on them designating your assigned seats in the open-seating cafeteria-style restaurant cannot make this any less of an exercise in tedium, nor does it make up for the fact that you have to wait in six different lines just to cobble together a single meal and if you don't stand in the middle of the register area with all of the other blank-looking meat bags you'll have no way of knowing when your food is ready. Pizza? That's one line. Salad? That's another. Drinks? Look, don't make this complicated: go on an off day at an off time and order one of their "Authentic Italian" thin crust pizzas. Despite all of the MANY inconveniences of ordering, their pizza is worth the hassle. (Just not on a Friday night.) Another thing I like: the self-serve structure means your $10 pizza really is $10 -- none of the added charges of sitting down in a restaurant with a server, ordering drinks, having to tip, so on and so forth until your $10 pizza becomes a $25 pizza. If you want to stuff your face on the quick without the fuss but still have high standards, this is the place to go.

Bubbling under Terra Cotta Pizzeria (Windsor), Tomatoes Apizza (Farmington Hills, Novi), Spago Trattoria E Pizzeria (Windsor), Vito's Olde Walkerville Pizzeria (Windsor), Mani Osteria (Ann Arbor), Fresco Wood Oven Pizzeria (Rochester Hills)

*Gas ovens have been excluded. Supino uses a gas oven. Is that a bad thing? Certainly not. The best pizza I ever had in my life was made in a gas oven. But that is not for this list. I have to draw the line somewhere, and I drew that line at coal. Because...I did. Because I can. So there. Still more places not listed here -- Vinsetta Garage, Union Woodshop, Bad Brad's BBQ Shelby Twp., J. Baldwin's, Motor City Brewing Works -- use wood-fired pizza ovens (as I said, this is becoming quite the trend), but their pizzas didn't quite meet my very loosely-defined Neapolitan-ish criteria. 

[Curbed Detroit] Pizzeria Biga Makes Royal Oak Look, Taste Good

Photo by Nicole Rupersburg.

Who ever said that Royal Oak had no architectural taste? ... On Main Street just south of all the downtown chaos (but still within eyeshot of that awesome 526 signage ... because everything is within eyeshot of that 526 signage) is the old St. Clair Addison Power Station. The original building was constructed in 1907 and still stands (with its 1955 addition) to this day. And now it will be a pizzeria and beer store!

Michael Chetcuti - industrial designer and CEO of Quality Metalcraft Inc. and owner of the former power station building - and Luciano Del Signore, James Beard-nominated chef and proprietor of Bacco Ristorante and Pizzeria Biga - have partnered to bring a second Pizzeria Biga location to Royal Oak. The original Southfield location is known for serving hand-crafted Neapolitan pizzas with house-made charcuterie; Royal Oak will offer more of the same (also adding a handmade pasta station and a few roasted entree selections), but in a vastly more architecturally interesting setting.

Read more.

[Metromix] Tallulah Wine Bar and Bistro

Photo by VATO for Metromix.

Mindy VanHellemont opened Tallulah Wine Bar and Bistro in Birmingham in February 2010 – not exactly the most reassuring time in recent memory for a first-time restaurateur to be opening a brand-new business.

“It was a rough time to open,” she agrees. “But I really wasn’t terrified because I really felt I had something that was unique enough and special enough that people would want to come.” Tallulah is finally the restaurant she had always envisioned it to be. “I wasn’t worried about failing so much as I was worried about getting it right,” she says. “That took a year and a half and now it’s really becoming the program I wanted to see.”

Read more.

Note: Be sure to click through the image gallery for the full descriptions of each dish.

[Metromix] Torino Espresso + Bar

Photo by VATO for Metromix.

There aren’t many places in metro Detroit where you can get a shot of illy® espresso at 6 a.m., then end your night with shots of limoncello at 2 a.m. Torino Espresso + Bar in Ferndale is in a class by itself there. Childhood friends Noah Dorfman, Samer Abdallah and Jim Culliton wanted Torino to be the kind of coffee bar-meets-BAR bar hangout popular all over Europe but rare to find in the States (and almost unheard of in metro Detroit).

“We wanted to be able to showcase this European experience that metro Detroit really doesn’t have,” says Dorfman. “It’s been really nice [to be able to do that]. Some people come in here with their laptop and order a martini; you can’t do that at Starbucks.”

Read more.

944 Detroit: The Art of Charcuterie

This appeared in the November 2010 Food Issue. The photograph in the link is skewed so I didn't copy it here.

"Charcuterie is a very old culinary art that has been brought back into vogue in a big way, thanks in large part to Detroit’s own Brian Polcyn, chef/owner of the Forest Grill in Birmingham and Cinco Lagos in Milford.

''The whole idea of preserving food before refrigeration, I did not invent that,' Polcyn says. But thanks to his seminal book on the subject, Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking and Curing, Polcyn has been credited with almost single-handedly re-popularizing the forgotten art.

'The term 'charcuterie' refers to the processes of preserving various meat products sans refrigeration..."

Read the rest of the article here.

Real Detroit Weekly Extended Cut: Roast

Michael Symon’s Roast
1128 Washington Boulevard, Detroit
(313) 961-2500, www.roastdetroit.com
Hours: Monday through Thursday 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday 5 p.m. to 11 p.m., Sunday 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Bar opens daily at 4 p.m.

The word is out on Michael Symon’s Roast: this place is operating on a level that other area restaurants don’t even come CLOSE to touching. For the “Best Restaurant” category, there simply was no other competition. (No offense, everywhere else.)

Most *good* restaurants excel in one or two areas, more if they’re exceptional. Roast is the exceptionally rare place that absolutely NAILS it on all counts. There is not a single detail, not a single nuance of product, service or experience that is overlooked at this juggernaut of Detroit-area restaurants. This place is a well-oiled machine with a solid team behind it making sure it keeps firing on all cylinders.

First, the food: yes, they have a lot of meat. The hanger steak, smoked pork chops and roast beast of the day (which slow-cooks on a spit visible to the main dining room) are all favorites. The lamb ragu with paparadelle pasta is a sleeper hit, particularly because the tender homemade pasta is just as much the star of the dish as the juicy lamb itself. But some of the most noteworthy items on the menu are found under the appetizer section. The house-made charcuterie platter – which refers to the art of curing, smoking and preserving meats, a Symon specialty and one of the current culinary crazes in metro Detroit – is a rotating selection of pancetta, terrines, rilettes and sausages prepared for two. The beef cheek pierogi is once again an accomplishment of not only succulent meat but also the delicate dumpling dough. With the crispy veal sweetbreads, eat first and ask questions later. And the roasted marrow, drenched in oil and served on a sawed-off bone, has made it to the bucket list of mandatory Detroit dining alongside Slows’ mac & cheese and Buddy’s pizza. It may not appeal to all palates – it’s a bit gelatinous – but a necessary experience nonetheless.

Second, beverages: they have the best of all things you will find at any bar anywhere. Best beer list? Check, heavy on Michigan-made craft brews and fun, funky French and Belgian imports. The list itself is as precise in flavor profiling as the best wine lists. Best wine list? That may be more difficult to quantify but the list is extensive, runs the full gamut of price points, offers a wide selection of international and domestic labels, and is partial to lesser-known names. Best cocktails? You haven’t even HAD a cocktail until you’ve had one of theirs. The art of the classic hand-crafted cocktail – another current local craze – is demonstrated expertly here. High-quality gins, bourbons, rye whiskeys and vermouths dominate this menu of classic and classically-inspired hand-crafted cocktails, and be sure to ask about their current barrel-aged selections.

Other restaurants only dream of having a staff as knowledgeable, friendly and welcoming as the seasoned staff at Roast. Behind the bar, Travis Fourmont and Brian Vollmer (the “cocktail nerds” behind that majestic menu) are less “mixologists” and more your friendly neighborhood barkeeps plucked straight out of an 1800s saloon who make Corpse Revivers not because they’re trendy but because they are complex and delicious. Saddle up to the bar and you’ll feel right at home.

The atmosphere is posh while still being comfortable. The prices are surprisingly low – most steaks and entrees are under $30 – but the best thing about Roast, that final touch that makes them wholly untouchable, is the cocktail hour. From 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, enjoy $3 bites, $4 select beer and wine and $5 pours. Those “bites” include the ineffable Roast Burger: a 5-oz. burger topped with bacon, cheddar and fried egg served on a toasted English muffin. This creation has forever destroyed the burger bell curve; not all burgers are created equal but this one isn’t even fair. During cocktail hour(s) you can enjoy all the best of what Roast has to offer and spend only $15. It’s where Detroiters go to be bougie on a budget.

Read the print version here.

Real Detroit: Pizzeria Biga (Extended Cut)

Pizzeria Biga
29110 Franklin Rd., Southfield
248-750-BIGA (2442), www.pizzeriabiga.com
Hours: Sunday through Thursday11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Satuday 11 a.m. to midnight

What does James Beard Award-nominated chef and restaurateur Luciano del Signore do when he’s not creating exquisite nouveau-Italian dishes at Bacco Ristorante? He makes pizza, naturally! “It was pure selfishness,” Luciano says of his latest venture, Pizzeria Biga in Southfield. “[I opened Pizzeria Biga] due to the fact that there isn’t a true hand-crafted Neapolitan pizza in metro Detroit. I couldn’t just go out and buy it so we decided to create it!” And as luck would have it, it turned out to be the right kind of business for the current economy.

The dough has exactly three ingredients: milled wheat flour, purified water and a touch of sea salt, with no commercial yeast, which makes it much easier for your body to digest and thus healthier (Luciano also just perfected their new wheat crust, which is even healthier). The majority of their 57 toppings sound like items you would find at il mercato di Campo de’ Fiori rather than in a pizza joint in Southfield, Michigan. The name refers to an ancient form of leavening called biga used in Italian breads such as ciabatta. The pre-fermenting process is laborious but the long process pays off; the dough is light and airy and can cook very quickly. At Biga the 100% wood-fired brick ovens are fired at 900 degrees and they have perfected the 90-second bake time for their pizzas. This is the way Italians have made pizza for centuries. “Why mess with perfection?” Luciano posits.


They take the time to make things other places just don’t offer. Prosciutto di Parma, besaola, speck, lardo, grana (aka charcuterie and imported cheese) … charcuterie that isn’t imported is made in-house, like the duck prosciutto and bresaola, and many of their items are also prepped in the oven before going on a pizza -- oven-roasted tomatoes, roasted fingerling potatoes, etc.

The same is true of their house made gelato, which is made fresh daily as it is in Italy (freezing affects the flavors so today’s gelato was made today, tomorrow’s will be made tomorrow, and so forth). They use all natural milk (hormone- and antibiotic-free) from local Guernsey Farms Dairy blended with fine Belgian chocolate, their own macerated fruits and Italian espresso to flavor their rotating selections of gelato and sorbetto.

Whet your appetite with a charcuterie plate of house-made duck prosciutto and creamy caprino (Italian goat’s milk cheese). Then try the wood-roasted beets salad with olive pesto, walnuts, arugula, onion, balsamic, olive oil, parsley, goat cheese and a variety of the woefully underappreciated slightly-sweet beet. Follow that with the prosciutto pizza with arugula and grana (hard cheese) on their wonderfully delicate, chewy crust and finish it all off with luscious crema gelato. All you’re missing is the warm al fresco Mediterranean dining!

Hand-crafted products and gourmand-friendly toppings aren’t the only things that set Pizzeria Biga apart. They offer carry-out and delivery -- pretty standard, really -- but they do it with a little more panache. Curbside pick-up allows you to order online or from your iPhone app (yes, there’s an app for that), park in the designated pick-up spots and call the phone number posted on the sign at the space to tell them you’re there, and they then bring your pizza right to your car with a hand-held credit processor so you never have to leave your car.

Once you get your pizza home -- which you can order to-go in 12’’ OR 18’, though only 12’’ is served in the restaurant because it is the ideal size to enjoy it -- you will find an uncut pizza with instructions to rebake and cut along with your very own Pizzeria Biga pizza cutter (if you’re a first-time customer). They do this because it allows you a better at-home pizza experience, allowing the crust’s natural moisture to stay balanced until you’re ready to enjoy it. They also deliver within a four-mile radius and get this: beer and wine is also available for carry-out and delivery at LESS THAN retail cost, cheaper than you would find in any store because you’re not paying for any overhead. They also focus on small-batch, hand-crafted wines and beers to be consistent with the theme of their menu.

If you’re dining in, enjoy a free soup or salad and soft drink with your pizza or pasta during the Biga Lunch Break Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Glass pours and draft beers are half off during happy hour Monday through Friday 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the bar, and Sunday through Thursday after 8 p.m. the house pizza is only $2 with your drink purchase.

AND: they’re open Christmas Day. I KNOW. Luciano decided when they opened in June that they would be open every single day of the year for their first year, including Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s. Thanksgiving was pretty quiet but Christmas promises to be a little more lively, as the area has many non-Christian residents. New Year’s Eve also promises to be a more low-key affair than your usual high-ticket “swanky” events (which almost always disappoint, am I wrong?).

Fans of the AAA four-diamond Il Posto, which formerly inhabited this space, won’t even recognize it. When Luciano acquired the building, he had it taken down to the studs. The only thing salvaged was the common brick wall which creates archways around the dining area. But if what you liked most about Il Posto was the authenticity, you won’t be disappointed -- the whole identity of this place has been re-imagined from stuffy old-world formal Italian to breezy, casual, stylish yet equally refined nouveau Italian. It’s pizza … but it’s not “PIZZA,” at least not how we understand the pepperoni-grease-soaked with gobs of melty mozzarella (NOT THAT THERE’S ANYTHING WRONG WITH THAT) pizza here in ‘Merica. Pizzeria Biga offers a true taste of how the Italians do it, and this is why everything in Italy is better. (Except the narrow city streets common to ancient European cities that made those silly-looking dinky little cars popular. Of course for every Fiat there's a Ferrari, Maserati, and Alfa Romeo -- oh yeah, and Lamborghini -- soooooo ... everything in Italy is still better. Including but not excluded to pizza and sports cars.)

Read the article as it originally printed here.