[Real Detroit Weekly] Sangria Tapas Cafe and Sky Club

Photo by Nicole Rupersburg.

"Owner Luigi Cutraro remembers when he first opened the doors to Sangria 12 years ago. At that time, Royal Oak was a hub for locally – and independently – owned businesses, defined by its countercultural ethos and its growing visibility as a vibrant downtown destination. Now, Royal Oak is becoming more 'corporate,' he notes – as Ferndale becomes the new champion of the quirky and independent, long-time Royal Oak mainstays like Sangria struggle to differentiate themselves from the increasingly homogenized look of Main Street.

'Luckily for Sangria (and Luigi), its long history and continued popularity place it far ahead of its other competition. First, as a salsa club: Salsa Wednesdays and Latin Thursdays with DJ Cisco in the Sky Club are just as popular as ever, particularly with metro Detroit's large salsero community. But we already know about the salsa, and there isn't anything new that can really be said about it. Except that in the past 12 years since Sangria opened, there have been 27 salsa clubs that have opened and then closed. Sangria was the first and is the only one still left. And also that DJ Cisco has been the resident DJ here for the past 12 years since they opened, an almost unheard-of length of time for any DJ to have a residency in one place (if for no other reason than that most clubs don't survive that long)..."

Read the rest of the story here.

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

[Metromix] Lucky Dragon Cafe

Photo by VATO for Metromix.

"Every home needs a go-to Chinese carry-out restaurant; it is an American necessity, like late-night pizza delivery joints and neighborhood watering holes within stumbling distance. Most of the Chinese restaurants you’ll find in the city of Detroit are small, tucked away in the corner of a strip mall with sparse seating, doing most of their business in carry-outs and deliveries. Lucky Dragon is one of those kinds of places.

'Lucky Dragon Café is located near Downtown Detroit, on Jefferson Avenue just east of Chene. Owners Dan Harnphanich and Yin Hon Chan opened Lucky Dragon in 1998, and have been involved in some form of Chinese eateries since 1982 with their first venture in the Renaissance Center. Hon Chan is the chef of the operation; he cooked in Hong Kong before coming to the States, then worked in Chinese restaurants all over the country before ending up here in Detroit. The food at Lucky Dragon is in the Cantonese and Szechuan style, but catered to American palates (as much Chinese restaurants in this area are)..."

Read the rest of the article here.

[Real Detroit Weekly] Red Sauce

Photo by Nicole Rupersburg.

"We all know the big restaurant names inside the MGM Grand Detroit: the Wolfgang Puck Grille, Bourbon Steak, SaltWater, even Palette Dining Studio (the fancy buffet). But there's also Breeze Dining Court, and to assume that a "food court" is akin to high-volume/low-quality fast food joints would be a serious mistake: at Breeze, Chef Chris Sokolowski and his team certainly oversee a high-volume operation but do so with the same commitment to from-scratch items using quality products as you see throughout the rest of the property. Just, you know, wa-wa-wah-wayyyyy cheaper (for those of us whose champagne dreams and caviar fantasies don't come true after a night at the slots).

'Red Sauce is one of five restaurants inside Breeze that cater to a wide range of craveable flavors, from stir-fry to classic American grill (dressed up with Black Angus Beef and specialty relishes) to housemade desserts. While the name itself isn't new, the concept is: previously an Italian-themed restaurant, it was re-conceptualized as a Mexican eatery featuring a build-your-own burrito, nacho and taco bar in July..."

Read the rest of the article here.

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

[Real Detroit Weekly] Red Ox Tavern

Photo by Nicole Rupersburg.

"Red Ox Tavern defines itself as an 'upscale sports bar,' and that's probably the only way to really describe it. A massive building on Walton just north of Squirrel Rd., in what is formally listed as 'Auburn Hills' though others insist it's Rochester (we'll just say it's 'on the edge' of both), Red Ox is a large, impressive space with quite the eye-catching waterfall behind the bar and a large outdoor patio with a firepit.

'As far as 'sports bars' go, this is the kind of place where you can go to watch sports in an atmosphere that still feels like a casual-upscale restaurant – in other words, you won't find the walls plastered with vinyl Budweiser banners or fat dudes named 'Tiny' with their faces painted the colors of their fave team. The clientele here is mostly business types from the nearby Chrysler headquarters, as well as students from Oakland University (which is right across the street). Suits and newly-legal seniors may make strange drinking buddies, but the mix works well here. (Weekends, obviously, are a different beast altogether.)..."

Read the rest of the story here.

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

[Real Detroit Weekly] Orleans Billiards Cafe

All photos by Nicole Rupersburg.

"Downtown Mount Clemens has seen plenty of change over the last two decades. Before it was the charming, somewhat quaint brick-paved hub of independently-owned businesses and outdoor art installations that it is now, it was ... well, NOT that. When Orleans Billiards Café opened 15 years ago, it was right at the beginning of downtown Mt. Clemens' transformation, and the place is still evolving.

''We have to keep it fresh,' says Paul Boone, who owns Orleans with his brother Mark. 'We have to do something new every year. I want people coming back asking, "what's he done now?"

'His latest change will be a revamping of the menu. Wait, what? What's that you say: Menu? They serve food in a pool hall?

'First off, DON'T call it a pool hall! Yes, there are six pool tables. There are also three shuffleboard tables, three dartboards, 27 plasma TVs (32''-63''), 10 LCD TVs, Keeno, Quizzo, even beer pong on Tuesdays (and starting in August, Thursdays too). There's also a nice outdoor patio. So it's not a pool hall. It is the watering hole equivalent of an everything bagel..."

Read the rest of the story here.

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

[Real Detroit Weekly] Wolfgang Puck Grille

Sauteed Alaskan Halibut. Photo by Nicole Rupersburg.

There is no doubt that "foodie culture" has gripped the nation with the kind of obsessive, feverish madness reminiscent of family fallout shelters in the '60s and the Great Bottled Water Rush of Y2K. This has led to the rise of the Food Network and the celebrity chef (an exquisite irony for most of these so-called "celebs," who started their careers when the idea of being an American chef in America was a joke – much like looking classy while smoking, it was something only Europeans could really pull off). Any major city you visit now – Chicago, New York, Las Vegas, L.A. – is populated by an ever-increasing number of celebrity chef ventures.

Chicago has Rick Bayless, Grant Achatz and Charlie Trotter (and a few DOZEN others). In Detroit, we have Michael Symon, Michael Mina and Wolfgang Puck.

But the real celebrity at the Wolfgang Puck Grille inside the MGM Grand Detroit is not Mr. Puck himself. It's Executive Chef Marc Djozlija, who has worked for Puck for nearly two decades and has opened all of the eponymous Grilles. Lucky for us, Djozlija has stuck around for awhile, and the Detroit dining scene is all the better for it.

Read the rest of the article here.

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

[Real Detroit Weekly] Steve's Backroom

Photo by Nicole Rupersburg.

"Steve's Backroom started as a back room in Harper Woods: in the early '80s Steve Khalil opened a bakery and deli on Kelly Rd. then decided to open a little restaurant in the – you guessed it – back room. The St. Clair Shores location is their second location, owned by Steve's cousin Charlie Raffoul.

'The general concept is essentially the same, but this restaurant and deli serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, has a full bar and is also about to expand with a brand-new upscale 50-seat bar and dining area. This renovation and expansion will also include an earthstone oven in which they'll bake their own pita bread, which means that now everything will be made from scratch in-house..."

Read the rest of the article here.

Want to see more? Check out the Flickr set 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.

[Real Detroit Weekly] Berkley Front

(Photo by Nicole Rupersburg)

"The year was 1994. Through the fog of flannel-shirted grunge there was still a glimmer of raw punk ethos and rockabilly pompadours in the likes of Social Distortion and Detroit's own Suicide Machines. It was also the year that the Berkley Front opened. One has nothing to do with the other, but the Front certainly looks like the kind of place Mike Ness and Jason Navarro could be spotted grabbing a beer together, with its stamped tin ceiling and old school jukebox filled with the Morrissey, Wilco, etc.

'For 17 years running, this place has been a beer bar. It has always been a beer bar, and it will always be a beer bar. They were here before being a beer bar was cool. It's pretty much the protopunk of metro Detroit beer bars..."

Read the rest of the story here.

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

[Real Detroit Weekly] Tom's Oyster Bar

(All photos by Nicole Rupersburg)

"So, who is Tom? Well, Tom is a recent retiree enjoying his golden years in Charlevoix, Michigan. But his legacy continues on at his namesake Tom's Oyster Bar in Royal Oak.


'Tom's has been a Royal Oak staple for as long as anyone can seem to remember – back when you could still smoke in coffeehouses, anyway. Back before there was a Starbucks there, even. While this city offers no shortage of lively nightlife, it is the old-school style of service at Tom's that makes this place one of the favorites amongst the locals.


RDW: 'So why is this such a popular spot for the locals?'

Customer at bar, overhearing the question: 'Because we love the bartenders!'"...

Read the rest of the story here.

Want to see more? View the Flickr gallery here.

[Real Detroit Weekly] Brownie's on the Lake

(Photo by Nicole Rupersburg)

"Earlier this year when the Andiamo Restaurant Group announced they would be re-opening the iconic Joe Muer's seafood restaurant in downtown Detroit, the positive response and excitement over the resurrection of this Detroit staple was so overwhelming that the Vicari brothers decided to try their hand at another metro Detroit institution: Brownie's on the Lake.

'Brownie's was formerly located where the Beach Grille is now but was shut down after 40 years of business when a devastating fire destroyed it. When Jack's Waterfront Restaurant on the Nautical Mile in St. Clair Shores closed earlier this year, the Vicaris secured the rights to the old Brownie's concept from the previous owners and even brought in Brownie's long-time (and now retired) chef Sam Giardano.

''We brought him out, picked his brain, reinvented some of the things Brownies was famous for,' explains Andiamo's Corporate Executive Chef James Oppat. 'The heritage is very much the same as Andiamo: everything made fresh, prepared from scratch daily, with an emphasis on quality ingredients and methods of preparation...'"

Read the rest of the article here.

Want to see more? Check out the Flickr set.

Real Detroit Weekly: Penny Black

"In light of the Slows phenomenon, metro Detroit is giving Mizzourah a run for its slow-smoked, dry-rubbed money. The newest addition to this upscale BBQ trend is Penny Black in Rochester.

'See, that was a great intro. But I ALSO could have said: in light of the upscale Mexican phenomenon, metro Detroit is giving chi-chi Mayan Riviera all-inclusive resort restaurants a run for their dinero (and incidentally, their dinners). The newest addition to this trend is Penny Black in Rochester.

'Because Penny Black is not just BBQ. And it is not just Mexican. The best way to describe it is coast-to-coast Southern cooking – BBQ, Tex-Mex, Southwest, Mexican, Cajun, Creole, deep South. It's the kind of restaurant you'd find in a place like Galveston, Texas, where the food is directly influenced by the surrounding cuisines of Texas, Mexico and Louisiana..."

Read the rest of the article here.

Real Detroit Weekly: Tipsy McStaggers

"Simpsons fans will recognize the name of the rival bar that tried to buy the secret ingredient to the "Flaming Moe" for $1,000,000. Tipsy McStaggers is now a reality in Warren, and they've got a cartoonishly oversized burger to match the cartoon-inspired name.

'Open for almost a year now, Tipsy McStaggers is an Irish pub for the A.D.D. generation. They've got all the Michigan lottery games and Keno, seven plasma TVs for all the sporting events and karaoke five nights a week. There are enough flashing lights, spinning wheels and oversized foods to keep the attention of even the most easily distracted adult child.

'During the day, they are a restaurant. All food is homemade. There is no frozen dough, no frozen fries, no frozen anything. The fries are fresh-cut. The chicken wings are huge, fat, meaty wings that look like they came from an actual chicken (instead of the pigeon wings you get at most places). They make their own pizza dough and bread.

'Then there is the Tipsy Tower..."

Read the rest of the article here.

Real Detroit Weekly: Buddy's Pizzeria

"You know that delicious, mouth-watering, heavenly, orgasmic style of square deep dish pizza with the thick, oil-soaked crust baked to crispy, crunchy perfection, where the cheese is slightly browned and all bubbly and the crusty edge crunches in your mouth with just the slightest bit of chewy elasticity keeping it all together as the cheese stretches and you have to grab it between both fingers and drop it in your mouth in a wholly undignified display of gluttony as some of the spicy red sauce gobs down your chin?

'OMG, can I get some napkins over here?

'[Pant]

'That right there's a Detroit thing, and Buddy's Pizzeria at the original location on the corner of E. McNichols and Conant started it all. Now celebrating their 65th anniversary, Buddy's is still serving up the consistently-ranked top deep dish pizzas in Detroit, creating the standard by which all other Detroit-style deep dishes are judged – often imitated, never duplicated..."

Read the rest of the article here.

Real Detroit Weekly: The Avenue Sports Grille

"Watching the playoff games on your own 42'' HD flatscreen TV at home is one thing. Watching the playoff games on one of 14 HD plasma screens AND 4 giant HD projector screens is quite another. At the Avenue Sports Grille in Wayne, every seat in the house is center ice.

'As a sports bar, they don't mess around. Nearly every square inch of wall space is covered in screen. It is a sports bar. You come here to watch sports. It's that simple.

'But sports fans also like to eat, and they've got you covered there too. The concept of the Avenue is to be a 'gourmet' sports grille, with everything on the menu made from scratch and actual chefs working in the kitchen. They've been open for one year now and they are already known for having one of the best burgers in town – and not just their town. WDFN 'the Fan' rated the Ave's top-secret burger blend of mixed meats as the best burger in Detroit, beating out ALL the competition (including heavyweights like Red Coat Tavern). They consider themselves pioneers of the "mixed meat" burger blend, which may sound like some mutant Frankensteinian turducken-spam, but worry not my fellow meat-lovers: this burger is all beef, made from a blend of various higher-end cuts not normally used in burger meats..."

Read the rest of the article here.

For more photos, check out the Flickr photostream.

Real Detroit Weekly: Rojo Mexican Bistro

"Rojo Mexican Bistro is the latest concept from the Vicari family, the well-known restaurateurs behind the Andiamo Group. Their first location for this upscale Mexican cuisine concept was so successful, they opened additional locations in Rochester and St. Clair Shores (another is scheduled to open soon in Partridge Creek Mall).

'What's the draw of Rojo? Unlike other cheesy Tex-Mex and Mexicali joints with cactus paintings and sombreros mounted on the walls, Rojo (which means "red") has a distinctly dramatic flair. Red fabric cascades like waves from the ceiling in the main dining room. Hand-painted murals of Mexican workers in a tequila factory and agave field are from legendary Detroit artist Andrzej Sikora. Dark wood details are used to create angles reminiscent of Mayan temples – "modern Mayan," if you will. The red motif is carried throughout the dining room and upstairs bar, Taco Rosa, with various accents like red-hued wall sconces, glass panels, chandeliers and linens..."

Read the rest of the article here.

Real Detroit Weekly: Armando's

"If you've never visited Southwest Detroit for Cinco de Mayo, you are missing out on a distinctly Detroit experience. Vernor becomes gridlocked with cars and trucks blaring salsa and reggaeton, flying the flags of their various heritage – Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic. Bagley in Mexicantown is shut down to through traffic, and outdoor vendors grill up tacos and sell beer out of coolers. Lines to get into restaurants wrap around the buildings and can be several hours long, and everywhere there is lively music and dancing and LOTS of drinking.

'It is the Latino version of St. Patrick's Day. This fifth of May, head down to Armando's, located just far enough down Vernor from Bagley to be accessible, yet still close enough to the action. Join in one of the taco-eating contests while you wait, and later in the evening check out the three-piece band. Beer and tequila sponsors will be there too, and you know what that means – FREE BOOZE!..."

Read the rest of the article here.

Real Detroit Weekly: The Hub Sports Bistro

"'Sports Bistro' may sound like an oxymoron, but at the Hub in Macomb Township, you can have your ESPN and keep it classy, too.

'There are plenty of places you can go to watch sports in the MC, but few places that have the same upscale (but still fun) atmosphere. Slate floors, a separate lounge and an expansive wooden bar top so glossy you don't even need to take your eyes off your beer to watch the game all give the Hub its 'bistro' chic, but the beer pong room makes sure it stays a good sport..."

Read the rest of the article here.

Real Detroit Weekly: Majestic Cafe

"If the Food Network had a show dedicated to places like the Majestic, it would be called "Hipsters, Hangouts and Historical Landmarks." The sprawling Majestic complex – which is home to the Majestic Theatre, Magic Stick, Alley Deck, Garden Bowl, Sgt. Pepperoni's, Magic Lounge, and the Majestic Café – has been steadily growing for over 60 years now, but in order to stay relevant in an ever-evolving city, they've had to constantly evolve themselves.

'A recent interior overhaul gave the Café a whole new look, one that fits in a little better with the complex's overall rocker-chic identity: dark wood, distressed metal, slate-grey soundproofing foam hung like an art installation and rectangles of orange neon light overhead. It is urban industrial; gritty in a polished way..."

Read the rest of the article here.

Real Detroit Weekly: Oslo

"Previous owners shut down this Detroit staple in '07, much to the dismay of sushi fans and techno freaks all over the metro area who knew this as the place to go. Current owners Kat Lemos and mother Lumpai Rossbach reopened this downtown hotspot and now, after three years, Oslo is once again one of the top venues for techno and hip-hop shows, and also one of our favorite sushi and Thai places.

'Sushi was always been Oslo's claim to fame and with a new sushi chef on board – Josh Taylor, who previously worked at Tom's Oyster Bar in Royal Oak – it will continue to be a strong draw with inventive, unique rolls only found here. Taylor has been here since the beginning of the year and brings to Oslo a fresh, unique take on contemporary sushi along with the passion and enthusiasm for food and drink that Kat looks for in her staff. Try the Tandoori Roll, a baked roll made with cream cheese, salmon, crispy tempura flakes and sweet curry sauce. It's almost as rich as a dessert with a delicately sweet curry scent. Skip the California roll – you can get those at Kroger..."

Read the rest of the article here.