[Model D] Detroit Institute of Bagels now open in Corktown

After a long (yet worthwhile) wait, Detroit Institute of Bagels is finally open in Corktown, putting an end to Detroit's days as a bagel desert and bringing with it some much-needed breakfast bagel sandwiches, bagels and lox, and free Wi-Fi in a beautifully designed historic building on Michigan Avenue.

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[EID Preview] A Boy and His Bagel Shop: Detroit Institute of Bagels

All photos by Nicole Rupersburg.

It's two days before Detroit Institute of Bagels officially opens to the public. Owner and chief bagel-maker Ben Newman looks tired. Scratch that: he's straight-up exhausted, wearing the expression of a man who has spent countless hours and sleepless days working on getting his business ready to open and now is finally ready to do it. It's a face I've seen before.

Ben has spent nearly three years and $500,000 to make his bagel dream into a bagel reality, and on Thanksgiving Day, Detroit Institute of Bagels will welcome its first official customers. Why Thanksgiving Day? Because there's plenty going on around downtown, like the Thanksgiving Day Parade – that's over a quarter of a million people right there. There's also the Lions game. But more than anything, after nearly three years of planning, nearly two years after acquiring the building at 1236 Michigan Avenue, and nearly a year since full-on construction started (they were delayed while waiting on Rehabilitation Tax Credits), Ben just needs to get the shop open. It's a story I've heard before.

It's been about two and a half years since Ben and I first sat down inside his Corktown flat and chatted about Detroit's emerging food start-up scene. Back then, Ben was a starry-eyed bagel maker, figuring things out as he went along but excited about the prospect of bringing fresh homemade bagels to Detroit's bagel desert. But it wasn't just that – bagels are and always were a means to and end, never the end in themselves. Ben is an urban planner by trade; his goal was always to take a vacant property and make it an active space, a place that would employ people in a city where jobs are still desperately needed. "Once there was traction behind bagels I knew they could be a vehicle to do those things I was passionate about," Ben says. "Now my thing is for [my employees] to be successful, and the bagels are their avenue to be successful."

In the time since Ben and I first talked, Detroit Institute of Bagels has gained a tremendous local following. Their clever branding endeared them to Detroiters, with wink-wink jokes of Detroit as a "bagel desert" and artwork that played up their name as an homage to the Detroit Institute of Arts (which Senator Carl Levin also winked at yesterday). They successfully funded a $10,000 Kickstarter campaign. They were a semifinalist in the first-ever Hatch Detroit competition, and lost as gracefully as anyone could possibly lose. Now, as of yesterday, DIB was officially announced as a recipient of a $50,000 grant from the Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy – a grant 18 months in the making, and a sort of coming full circle from their early days as a Hatch semifinalist. It seems that everyone in Detroit is rooting for their success.

But timing is everything. A lot has changed in these last two and a half years. Detroit has changed, and dramatically so. Which isn't to say that every new business that opens isn't still greeted with a whole lot of fanfare – they still are – but the time will inevitably come that every new restaurant that opens in the city of Detroit isn't treated as the second coming of Slows. It's not a bad thing; when we eventually get to a point where there are so many people and so much activity that the singular hive-minded enthusiasm for each and every new place peters out and a new business opening is just business as usual, well, Detroit will really feel like a REAL city, Geppetto. That being said, Ben is relieved he started this when he did. "Everything happened at a fortunate time," he says. "I'm glad we started this project two years ago because so much has changed since then. It just happened at the right time to get the support we needed."

Now the Michigan Avenue commercial stretch in Corktown has not only the Slows/Sugar House/Astro Coffee corner, but there's a whole lot more going on – Two James Spirits (another Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy grant recipient), Brooklyn Street Local, MotorCity Wine, Ottava Via, Bucharest Grill, Rubbed, and Batch Brewery have all opened recently or are opening soon. If Ben tried to buy this vacant building now, the asking price might have been a lot higher, perhaps prohibitively so.

But things have worked out for Ben and DIB so far, and just getting to the point of opening is a pretty big deal. The historic building, which sat vacant for about 40 years prior to Ben purchasing it, was completely gutted. Original brick walls, archways, and wooden ceiling beams were exposed and preserved, now a design highlight of this, the "best-designed bagel shop in the world" (a comment Ben once made in jest and then sort of became a thing). Windows were knocked out to let in natural light. A second building was added for bagel production. Wood that once covered the ceiling was repurposed for the interior. The floors were re-done with reclaimed wood from an old gymnasium. Bars and tables were made with reclaimed wood from old bleachers. Industrial restaurant equipment was reclaimed from restaurant supply stores throughout the city, which stock used equipment from restaurants that have gone out of business or upgraded their equipment. The entire space is a testament to sustainability and reclaimed urban environments, truly the very heart of Ben's personal ethos and a shining reflection of Detroit's culture of revival, of reclaiming what is old and forgotten and making something new and thoughtful out of it. Out of the ashes, and all of that.

There is also a pocket park out front, with windows that look into the kitchen at specific points in the bagel-making process. Again, from an urban planning perspective, the park was an important addition for Ben. "Taking the context of Campus Martius downtown and Roosevelt Park across from Slows, both less than a mile away [in opposite directions], there aren't really any good points in between where a pedestrian can relax," says Ben. "A three-quarter-mile walk elsewhere, no one would think twice about that, but here [you have to walk over a freeway]." He plans on programming the space in the warmer months with movie nights and other activities.

As a brand-new business owner, Ben is still figuring things out as he goes along. As any home brewer-turned-professional brewer will tell you, transitioning from home equipment to high-volume commercial equipment isn't as easy as doubling the recipe. Things like payroll, insurance, point of sales and credit cards, inventory expenses, finding distributors for every food item, and dozens of other details are all part of business pre-planning – things you don't necessarily consider when first starting out as a start-up – and more things pop up every day. Now Ben has people – about 25 altogether – depending on him for a paycheck; another of his urban investment goals that he can now make good on. After the New Year, Ben plans on making bagels for wholesale, which will undoubtedly be a huge boon for his business. But for now, Ben just needs to get open – and a good night's sleep, but that's probably a few weeks off still.

Detroit Institute of Bagels will be open 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day and 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day thereafter, seven days a week. They'll have seven standard daily bagel flavors as well as rotating "small batch" bagel flavors and over a dozen house-made cream cheeses and spreads. They have a full menu of breakfast and lunch bagel sandwiches – including a lox sandwich – and soup made fresh daily. There's free WiFi available with purchase for those who want to grab a bagel and coffee and hunker down to get some work done. The window behind the main counter is an operable service window that can potentially be used for late-night service and special events in the future. And Detroit's days as a bagel desert are finally over.

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.

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[EID Feature] Crunch in! Two Detroiters open Chip 'n Wich inside Midland Mall

This post was originally published on May 6, 2013*

Barbecue chicken sandwich from Chip 'n Wich. All photos by Nicole Rupersburg.

Have you ever put potato chips on your sandwich before? Of course you have. Because it's awesome.

Chip 'n Wich is built on the idea that potato chips are even better on sandwiches than just relegated to the side of them. Partners Jonathan Neely and Craig Jones both love to put chips on their sandwiches – and are themselves huge proponents of the art of 'wiching (Joey Tribbiani would approve).

They began developing the concept for Chip 'n Wich about three years ago, working on branding and menus while looking for a space suited for their particular style of sandwiches. Now, this Tuesday, they are celebrating a soft opening of Chip 'n Wich inside the Midland Mall. Which, okay, Midland – it's smack-dab in the middle of Michigan, which is every bit exactly what it sounds like. But an opportunity presented itself that these Detroit boys couldn't pass up, and they couldn't be more thrilled about it. "It's a dream come true," Jonathan says with a huge smile, and I absolutely believe him.

Chip 'n Wich isn't just any old sandwich shop, and not just because they put chips on them. Jonathan and Craig are both professionally-trained chefs with years of industry experience. They are passionate about supporting the local foods movement and local farmers – of which there are plenty out there in the Michiganian Heartland, including a great farmers market open Wednesdays and Saturdays through the end of October right there in downtown Midland.

Each sandwich is paired with its own potato chip flavor (there are five sandwiches for this initial run, with eight planned once they open permanently). The chips are all fried fresh in their kitchen, then tossed in their house-made seasonings. Jonathan and Craig create all of the different potato chip flavors themselves, and plan on offering a whole variety to customers – you can get the chips they selected to pair with their sandwiches, are you can go rogue and mix-and-match your own flavors, which might include peanut butter…or bacon…or peanut butter AND bacon. You'll also find more "traditional" potato chip flavors, like their twist on sour cream and onion, and all of the flavors are made with fresh herbs from local farmers.

Almost everything on the sandwiches at Chip 'n Wich is made in-house, including their own aioli (oh yes, these are the kinds of sandwiches that have aioli – not mayo) and Craig's own signature BBQ sauce, Craig's Jones'en Barbecue. At a test-run held on Sunday, they served barbecue chicken sandwiches dressed in this sauce topped with caramelized onions, bacon, cilantro ranchero chipotle chips, and also bacon, on two thick pieces of Texas toast slathered in butter and grilled up nice and toasty. Along with this, they served Faygo Red Pop floats – the ubiquitous soda with a color for a flavor. It's a Detroit thing, y'all.

See, you can take the boys out of Detroit but you can never take Detroit out of the boys: in addition to offering several different sandwiches, they'll also be offering ice cream floats made with century-old iconic Detroit brands Faygo and Vernor's, and using Ray's Ice Cream, one of metro Detroit's favorite locally-made premium ice creams.

The boys in front of their soon-to-be new home inside the Midland Mall.

This Tuesday, you can either "crunch in" or "crunch out" – meaning you can either opt for the more adventurous chips inside the sandwich, or ease into the concept by getting the chips on the side. No judgment. "At the end of the day, it's just good, fun food," Jonathan says. "It's something you can be interacting with."

After sitting in for their test run and having the chance to talk to Jonathan and Craig about their concept and respective culinary backgrounds, I have to say: I'm all crunched in.

If you're out in Midland on Tuesday, be sure to check these guys out. If not, keep an eye out for them – once a permanent location is secured, it's only a matter of time before Chip 'n Wich becomes one of Michigan's favorite sandwiches and before we start seeing Chip 'n Wich brand potato chips and Craig's Jones'en Barbecue on store shelves McClure's-style.

*So yeah, this was written as part of my appearance on an episode of the Food Network's Food Court Wars which originally aired on Sunday, July 28 at 8:00 p.m. which was a secret. TEE-HEE-HEE, FOOLED YOU!!! Aaaaand that's why I was in Midland a couple of months ago. And, of course, Nikki's Boys won, as should be expected.

[Model D] Avalon's new production bakery set to open, will relocate flagship location this summer

The Avalon International Breads long-awaited expansion -- which has been in the works at various stages since 2008 -- is finally coming to fruition.

The nearly 50,000-square-foot Avalon City Ovens production bake house located in an old warehouse at 4731 Bellevue on Detroit’s East Side is celebrating its grand opening this Friday, Feb. 22 with an opening party with food, music, and tours of the facility. This event is free and open to the public.

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[HOT LIST] Corned beef

Corned beef hash at Farmers Restaurant. Covert cell phone photography by Nicole Rupersburg.

On July 5, 2011, EID ran a "Corned beef sandwiches" Hot List. It was our third-ever Hot List and a lot of you hadn't heard of us yet. This week, in honor of Detroit's Irish culture and our proud corned beef heritage, we're re-visiting and expanding this list. These Hot Lists are meant to be infinitely revisitable as new places open, others close, or we just decide we've changed our minds. Bloggers privilege! 

Detroit is corned beef country. From Sy Ginsberg to Wigley's to Grobbel's, from the Dinty Moore to the Reuben, you want corned beef – the brined brisket of the gods – you got it, kid. There are many places to buy it and plenty of ways to eat it; we fancy it piled between two slices of hearty homemade bread or fried up with potatoes, onions and lots of butter (a glorious thing called "hash").

#1 Hygrade Deli Detroit

Kick it way old school at this V-is-for-very-and-vintage Michigan Avenue coffee shop, located just around the way from the United plant, home of the Sy Ginsberg label. (Sy Ginsberg corned beef is, of course, served.) Get the "meal" sandwich – corned beef, swiss, coleslaw and dressing - on an onion roll. The pickles come from Detroit's own Topor's, also in the 'hood. 

#2 Louie's Ham and Corned Beef Eastern Market

Where do you get corned beef in Eastern Market, home to Wigley's and Grobbel's? You get it everydamnwhere. Or so it seems. And while we're inclined to be creatures of habit and run straight for Russell Street Deli, lately it's Louie's, out on the topside of the 'hood, that's calling our names.

#3 Stage Deli West Bloomfield
A legacy that began in Oak Park fifty or so years ago lives on in this OaCo staple, where you can order wines by the glass with your big ass platters and sandwiches. This place feels like like those famous New York delis, complete with luck-of-the-draw service, but much cleaner. Also, fewer European tourists.

#4 Mudgie's Deli Corktown

It's almost all sandwiches, almost all the time at this chill Metro Times' two-time "Best Deli in Wayne County" winner located in a sleepy corner of Corktown. Dig the Barrett sandwich – meat (Sy Ginsberg in the hizzouse), house made coleslaw, Swiss and thousand island on an onion roll, served warm. Will it snag the coveted "Best Deli" title for the third year in a row? With their current tour of the United States of Sandwiches (a new state's signature sandwich is featured every week), they definitely have our vote for innovation. 

#5 Farmers Restaurant Eastern Market 
Here's an insider's tip (and this goes for everywhere in Eastern Market): don't go on Saturday. Farmers is super-small (don't let that mirror running along the whole side of one wall fool you: that's a WALL) and very old-school. As in, go at about 2:00 on a random weekday afternoon and find yourself in the company of nothing but old men speaking Polish. It's fabulously drab but the food is fresh, all high-quality diner classics with HUGE portions. There are endless permutations of corned beef on the menu, but get the corned beef hash - a heaping mound of shredded corned beef and perfectly crispy fried potatoes served with two eggs on top AND a side of toast. Easily three full meals, all for $6.75. Eastern Market is just the BEST.

Bubbling under Woodbridge Pub (Detroit), Jimmy Dee's (Clinton Twp.), Russell Street Deli (Eastern Market), Avalon Bakery (Detroit), Onion Roll (Royal Oak), Lou's (Detroit, Southfield), Steve's (Bloomfield Hills), Foran's Grand Trunk Pub (Detroit), Bread Basket (Livonia), Zingerman's Deli (Ann Arbor), Star Deli (Southfield), PJ's Lager House (Corktown)

[HOT LIST] Grilled cheese

A build-your-own grilled cheese (sourdough, cheddar, bacon) from Mae's in Pleasant Ridge. Covert phone photography by Nicole Rupersburg.

Take some cheese, stick it between two slices of bread slathered in butter, grill it until the cheese is all melty-bubbly, then eat it. So simple a child can do it, which is probably why we all almost universally have fond memories of it from childhood - memories so fond that we seek to recreate them as adults, only with a certain grown-up twist. No longer is it American cheese and Wonderbread; now it's artisan sourdough with aged white cheddar, heirloom tomatoes and arugula. Grilled cheese is the ultimate comfort food, not to mention something of an art (and a growing national food trend). These places take their grilled cheese seriously, and almost every single one of them adopts the mantra that everything is better with bacon.

But first, a caveat: the grilled cheese at Cafe Muse in Royal Oak has been featured in Esquire, Reader's Digest and the Oprah Winfrey Show as one of the best grilled cheese sandwiches in America. Made with havarti, fontina, mozzarella, basil and tomatoes on organic bread with just a hint of honey, this delicate, refined presentation of what is often a gloppy mess may or may not be one of the best in the country, but it is hands-down the best in metro Detroit. (It is "the Grilled Cheese that Launched a Thousand Yelp Reviews," as I've noted previously.) That being said, in fairness to its subordinates, Cafe Muse stands alone here, and is not included in the top 5 rankings.

Woodbridge Pub.

#1 Woodbridge Pub (Detroit)
It resisted the "gastro pub" label when it first opened by serving good old down-home country cookin' - spare the butter, spoil the child; that sort of thing. Now, while no one would really call it a "gasto pub" nowadays - the shaggy artschool hipster crowd, college students, and neighborhood residents really don't comprise the clientele one imagines at a "gastro pub" - the Converse sneaker would certainly fit. The menu at Woodbridge has become increasingly health-conscious and sustainable over the last couple of years, though a commitment to sourcing locally has always been their raison d'être. Their original "Cheese to the Seventh Power" (with seven different kinds of cheese and lots of butter) was one of the Best Sandwiches I've Ever Had(TM); alas they ditched the gluttony in favor of gourmet, but it's still one of the best damned grilled cheese sammies in town. Pinconning cheddar, Michigan fontina, goat cheese and tomato on Avalon rustic Italian bread - flavors, textures and proportions are nailed for sublime chewy, melty grilled cheese goodness.

#2 Majestic Cafe (Detroit)
Speaking of going gastro, the Majestic Cafe underwent an overhaul in the kitchen last year, and now their focus is on classic American comfort foods with a modern, sustainable spin. They use high-quality, local, seasonal ingredients (including produce grown in their own organic community farming plot). Their grilled cheese has havarti, tomato and arugula on whole wheat and is served with soup (a timeless combination like beer and cigarettes peanut butter and jelly). Or you can take that and LOBSTERIZE it: their Lobster Grilled Cheese is their regular grilled cheese plus succulent lobster meat. Another option in the grilled cheese family is the Bacon and Apple Melt with sliced apple, Dearborn bacon, arugula, white cheddar, and Dijon mustard on whole wheat.

#3 Torino Espresso + Bar (Ferndale)
I really, really love this place. Not for any one particular thing, but for everything. It may seem banal to say that it's the kind of place where everyone feels comfortable, but after half a dozen visits over the last month  (from weekday mornings to weekend nights) and observing the crowd dynamic at all days and times, I can definitively say: it's true. They recently introduced a rotating weekly specials board so there's always something new to try, or you can stick to their standard Euro-style bistro menu which includes a grilled cheese panini. Muenster, Swiss and Irish white cheddar on Zingerman's ciabatta, and you can add pancetta for $1. And you should add pancetta for $1. This is the closest thing you'll get to a true Italian panini on this side of the Detroit River.

#4 Avalon International Breads (Detroit)
Pick two cheeses (provolone and mozzarella is a good combination, especially for fans of Avalon's old Inside Old Grilled Cheese), two add-ons (can't go wrong with tomato and basil) and your choice of their Farnsworth Family Farm or Wheaty Wheat Bread, and you've got yourself a perfectly-grilled ooey-gooey Grown Up Grilled Cheese. Parking, seating, etcetera etcetera, I can't help you with, but it certainly doesn't seem like that's stopped anyone before.

#5 Bagger Dave's (various locations)
A Michigan-owned chain with half a dozen locations including Berkley and Novi, Bagger Dave's Legendary Burgers Tavern emphasizes Michigan-made products and local/regional sourcing, and also has a handsome selection of Michigan craft beers. The burgers are decent, but the Michigan Meltdown is a star. Swiss, mozzarella, and Great Lakes mild cheddar melted together with sliced tomato, onions, and fresh basil on sourdough; once again, you can add applewood-smoked bacon for$1 and once again, you should.

Honorable mention One-Eyed Betty's (Ferndale)
It just opened two days ago but this craft beer and comfort food bar is an instant favorite. With 47 beers on tap and over 100 by the bottle, this place has huge potential to make one of those "America's Best Beer Bars" lists in the future. For now, enjoy the stripped-down atmosphere, the sizable selection of whiskey and bourbon, and the fantastic food. The menu is comprised of beer-friendly dishes like cheese and charcuterie boards, oysters (served a variety of ways), and a Ridiculously Good Grilled Cheese. (It is.) Build your own beer flight, and don't miss the Beer Cheese Soup Au Gratin.

Bubbling under Cass Cafe (Detroit), The Lunch Cafe (Berkley), Royal Oak Brewery (Royal Oak), Mudgie's Deli (Detroit), TRIA (Dearborn), Toast (Birmingham, Ferndale), Mae's (Pleasant Ridge), Detroit Beer Company (Detroit), Mosaic (Detroit), the Panini Press (Berkley)

[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.”

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Real Detroit Weekly: Phat Sammich

Calories? Pshaw. I laugh in the face of calories.

"If you ask proprietor Jeff McArthur why he named his newest restaurant Phat Sammich, he’ll give you a simple answer: 'Because the sandwiches are so good they’re sammiches, and because they’re phat!'

'The sandwiches at Phat Sammich are so big they topple over. To properly eat them, you have to crush them down. Goodbye, polite nibbling: I dove right in, my hands and face a mess of sauce as Jeff and I talked shop. Jeff is the kind of guy who grins ear-to-ear when he starts talking about food. This exuberance is reflected in the youth-influenced menu: ingredients include Doritos, Funyuns and grilled cheese. Yeah, the Heart Attack, which is an eight-ounce burger loaded up with bacon, Funyuns, lettuce and tomato, is smushed between two Grilled Cheese Sammiches. Believe it..."

Read the rest of the article here.