[NEWS BITES] Travis Fourmont leaving Roast, joining Great Lakes Wine and Spirits

Mr. Manhattan himself, Travis Fourmont

Travis Fourmont, one of the friendly faces behind the bar at Roast and also one of the top bartenders in the country, is leaving his position at Roast to join Great Lakes Wine and Spirits, the Highland Park-based wine and liquor distribution company.

Great Lakes, the end result of the 2007 merger between General Wine and Liquor and J. Lewis Cooper, is the largest distribution company in Michigan and is getting bigger. They currently employ about 900 people all over the state and want to further expand their offerings and services (which includes not-yet-official plans to acquire a Michigan beer distributor and get back into beer distribution).

Travis is joining the team as the corporate mixologist, a brand-new position being created so that Great Lakes can keep its competitive edge on the market, following the lead of major national distributors like Southern Wine and Spirits, which also employs a corporate mixologist.

His position is more akin to being a consultant for Great Lakes accounts. His role will include anything from collaborating on craft cocktail programs at bars and restaurants to assisting bars in keeping down liquor costs and product consultation. For Great Lakes accounts, his services come free.

Great Lakes also carries many of the top shelf spirits he is accustomed to working with, like Woodford Reserve and Bombay Sapphire, both of which he has won competitions using -- Travis makes the best Manhattan in the country according to Woodford Reserve, and also placed in the top 10 as well as winning the audience choice award at a Bombay Sapphire competition in Las Vegas last year.

Also joining the Great Lakes team is Antoine Przekop, a big name in the local liquor industry who has worked as a general manager and sommelier at places like Tribute and SaltWater and is considered one of the local authorities on wine and spirits. Antoine, who just passed the Certified Wine Educators (CWE) exam and is in the process of completing this certification (which no one else in Michigan has), will come on board on the sales side, working with top-shelf and boutique spirits. This is his first job working in sales for a distributor and outside of the restaurant industry. After 15 years on the customer service end, he welcomes this professional change and the ability to focus more on sales and portfolio development, his particular strengths.

Snagging these two well-known and well-respected names in the local beverage industry is a major coup for Great Lakes and a boon for their long-term growth plans.

In the meantime, Roast's cocktail program will remain just as strong as ever. They are rolling out a new spring cocktail menu, which was mostly hands-off for Travis, and from the three (*gulp*) I've tried so far there is no reason to mourn Travis's departure other than for the fact that we'll miss his smiling face. Check out the full new cocktail menu below. Travis's last days at Roast are Wednesday and Thursday this week; stop by to wish him well and have one last award-winning Manhattan.

Roast's Spring Cocktail Menu (with thanks to Roast's Joe Rob for providing)

Awww Snap
Sugar Snap Pea Infused Gin, Cocchi Americano, Fresh Lemon, Simple Sugar, Mint, Celery Bitters, Crushed Ice, Pea Tendril

The Last Straw (like strawberry lemonade!)
Sugar Snap Pea Infused Gin, Strawberry Infused Chartreuse, St. Germaine, Fresh Lime, Strawberry Garnish

Green Machine
Muddled Avocado, Ilegal Joven Mezcal, Spiced Agave Syrup, Fresh Lime, Cracked Black Pepper

Turnin’ on the Screw
Citadelle Gin, Aperol, Fresh Lemon, Rhubarb Bitters

Phosphene Dream
Mindo Cocoa Tea Infused Bourbon, Averna Amaro, Orange Flower Water, Xocolatl Mole Bitters, Mezcal Rinse

Self Portrait in a Convex Mirror (hello super-awesome beer cocktail)
Bulleit Rye, Crème De Cassis, Fresh Lemon, Egg White, Petrus Aged Pale

Je Ne Sais Pas
Ron Zacapa 23, Fresh Lemon, Simple Syrup, Mint, Xocolatle Mole Bitters, Egg

The Mazatlan (HOLY SHIT - order this by the pitcher)
Cilantro Infused Gin, Jalapeno Syrup, Fresh Lime, Chili Oil, Sea Salt

Bar Fly
Fig Infused Gin, Campari, Cherry Heering, Cranberry, Angostura, Vanilla Fig

Cucumber Collins
Cucumber Infused Gin, Fresh Lime, Simple Sugar, Soda

PRCPU
Old Overholt Rye, Fernet Branca, Tawny Port, Aperol

[HOT LIST] Detroit delivery

This post authored by EID Co-Conspirator Stefanie Cobb.

The Detroiter: knockwurst with coney sauce, grilled onions and cheddar on a sesame bun. Bucharest Grill.

From time to time, we have one of those days where we find ourselves pants-less in bed and starving without an ounce to motivation to move, much less to put on pants to leave and get food. Or maybe it’s one of those nights where you’re a six-pack-plus-some deep, and all there is to eat in your apartment is a half-empty box of linguine and ketchup packets. Seeing as how it’s generally frowned upon to venture out drunk and pants-less, how will you fulfill that basic human need for pizza nutrition? Delivery, of course, and here are some places that will bring food right to you. Sadly, you're still going to have to put on pants to answer the door. (But only for like, five seconds. Then RIGHT back off again.)

PIZZA:
Because who isn’t in the mood for pizza?

The ghost pepper pizza at Amar Pizza.

Amar Pizza (313) 366-0980
Sunday-Thursday 10am-11pm, Friday and Saturday 10am-12am
Pizza, halal, sandwiches, salads, and other fried goodies. All awesome. They’re located in Hamtown at Caniff and Conant St. They deliver within a two and a half mile radius. And yes, they're famous for their ghost pepper pizza, which is not -- and we cannot emphasize this enough, ***NOT*** -- what you want to order when you're actually hungry and actually want to eat something, and YES it's just as hot on its way back out. Show off some other time. "Oh it's not that hot." Fuck you.

Jet's Pizza (313) 297-7000
Monday-Thursday 10am-12am, Friday and Saturday 10am-2am, Sunday 11am-12am
Deep dish, duh. They deliver in and around Midtown.

Vince’s Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria (313) 842-4857
Tuesday-Friday 11am-10:30pm, Saturday 2pm-11pm, Sunday 2pm-10pm
They’ve proudly been located in Southwest for over 50 years and have a menu that offers pizza, pasta, salads, sandwiches and more. It’s pretty much the whole Italian spread.

Happy’s Pizza (313) 874-5555
Monday-Thursday 11am-11pm Friday-Saturday 11am-1am
More pizza, delivering to the Midtown/Downtown and New Center area.

EVERYTHING ASIAN:
Chinese, Thai, you get it.

Panda Chinese Restaurant (313) 297-6593
Greasy, sturdy portioned Americhinese food with very speedy delivery.

Bai Mai Thai (313) 567-8424
Monday-Thursday 10:30am-10pm, Friday 10:30am-11pm, Saturday 4:30pm-11pm
Found in Lafayette Park. Do try the Coconut Fried Rice!

New China One (313) 872-8888
They’re located in New Center so cover most of the Midtown/Wayne State radius. The perk of ordering from China One is that their kitchen is visibly pretty clean.

Bangkok Cuisine Express II (313) 832-3408
Monday-Friday 9am-9pm, Saturday 12pm-9pm, Sunday 12pm-6pm
The Drunken Noodles are pretty solid and they’re conveniently located to accommodate all Midtowners.

Konbini: For all your Red Bull, Ramen and Haagen-Dazs needs, night or day.

LATE NIGHT:
So you just got home from the bar and have the drunken munchies, do ya? No worries, we’ve all been there.

Bucharest Grill (313) 965-3111
Monday-Thursday (and Sunday) 11am-11pm, Friday-Saturday 11am-2am
Hello Chicken Shawarma with curly fries, allow me to devour that fuck out of you so you’re the last thing I see before passing out on my bathroom floor. See you in my dreams. Delicious Romanian-Mediterranean grub delivered until 2am. The End.

Detroit 1 Coney Island (313) 832-7380
Open 24 hours but delivery goes until 2am. Closed at 4pm on Sundays.
D1 is a boozer’s dreamland. Everything fried, cheesy, and smothered in Coney sauce delivered to your door.

Konbini Delivery www.konbinidelivery.com
Tuesday-Sunday 11am-3am
They cater to those who reside between Midtown and Downtown. Konbini will deliver a variety of products from fresh produce and salads to playing cards and condoms. This is a real thing. Want tampons and Garden Fresh salsa? Done. All you have to do is go to their website and add your desired items to the shopping cart. They’ll be waiting at your door in no time at all.

THEY DELIVER?
Hell yes they deliver.

Mudgie's Deli.

Mudgie’s (313) 961-2000
Monday-Friday 11am-9pm, Sunday 11am-4pm
You better believe that Mudgie’s delivers to all of Corktown and some of the Midtown/Downtown area. For all you Mudgie’s novices (if there are any), they serve up some real mean sandwiches using locally-made products. They also have soups, salads, and darling little cupcakes. Thank you, Mudgie’s.

Harmonie Garden Café (313) 638-2345
Monday-Saturday 9am-9pm, Sunday 11am-4pm
Holy falafel! This Middle Eastern hole in the wall delivers to all of Midtown. They have falafels and more falafels, but also breakfast, soups, salads, sandwiches and then some more falafels. Falafel.

CK Mediterranean Grille and Catering
Monday-Friday 10:30am-8pm. Closed on weekends.
They have a decent spread of Fattoush salad, Shawarma, Kabobs, Hummus, etc. CK delivers within the Downtown radius.

Maccabees at Midtown (313) 831-9311
Monday-Wednesday 8am-10pm, Thursday-Friday 8am-12am, Saturday 9am-12am, Sunday 11am-4pm These newbies inhabit the ground floor of, go figure, the Maccabee building in Midtown. They deliver around that area for orders with a $20 minimum. They’ve had quite a bit of buzz since their recent opening. The menu offers bistro-style American cuisine such as sandwiches, burgers, and breakfast foods.

Hot Spokes
Monday-Friday 11am-4pm
Detroiter Shanye O’Keefe is the founder of Hot Spokes, a bicycle delivery service within the boundaries of Midtown. They will deliver food from Cass Café, Shangri-La, Slows To Go, Goodwells, PJ’s Lager House, Seva, Avalon, and Louisiana Creole Gumbo. If any of those places ignite your craving, simply call any of the restaurants listed, place your order and tell them you’d like delivery through Hot Spokes. They’ll pick up your order and bike it right to your door.

The Week We Ate (The EID Week in Review)

I saw the sign. (That Whole Foods Market in Midtown is getting ready for it's big debut on Wednesday, June 5 at 9 a.m.). [EID FB]

The latest in fast food mega-sized mutant creations comes from Little Caesars and their new DEEP!DEEP!(TM) Dish Detroit-style pizza. Which, if you can take a moment to reflect on the gravity of this situation, is how many people outside of Michigan will first be introduced to all that with is Detroit deep dish pie. Think about that. [Slice]

In other words, Little Caesars Pizza is making the DOUGH!DOUGH! as the fastest-growing pizza chain in the country (5 years running now). They're putting all their pepperonis on one pizza with the new DEEP!DEEP! Dish, marking the first time a square deep dish from the chain has been available nationwide. [Freep]

Guess who's the official "Food Curator" of the Orion Music and More festival on Belle Isle? Phil Cooley of SLOWS BAR BQ! Here he names some of his off-radar (for a national audience) favorites, including Mudgie's, City Wings, Sunday Dinner Company and Motor City Brewing Works. [Orion Official]

If you're going to pay $11 $8.75 for a beer, it might as well be a good one. Bell's Brewery, Inc. (Official), Founders Brewing Co., New Holland Brewing Co. and Atwater Brewery are all on tap at Comerica Park! (Plus some new food options too.) [WXYZ]

In case you missed it: How hard is it to have a residential property re-zoned for commercial use? This hard. Here's what Alley Wine has been up to in these last 20 months since they first came on the scene as semifinalists in Hatch Detroit in 2011. [Model D]

Moo Cluck Moo in Dearborn Heights opened with a ribbon-cutting on Friday. It's a fast food joint that uses all-natural, high-quality ingredients, including buns made in-house, shakes made from Calder Dairy ice cream, and 100% cane sugar soda. Also, all preparation and cooking has been designed in collaboration with the renowned Jimmy Schmidt. (Yes, THAT Jimmy Schmidt.) Standards of service are set high by their culinarians led by Master Culinarian Allen Fisher. So it's a fast food joint, but it's pretty serious business. (Also their emails are quite humorous.) [Detroit News / Moo Cluck Moo press releases]

"If it had a beating heart, chances are you can find a part at Berry and Sons." New meat market Berry and Sons is now open in Hamtramck and is 100% halal - so no pork, but just about every part from every other animal. [Hamtramck Star]

Food Field (in Boston Edison) is adding a fish farm that will raise blue gill and catfish and also plan to double the number of members in their CSA this season. [MLive]

St. Cece's Pub debuted their lunch menu which includes muffulettas, Cuban sandwiches and more. [St. Cece's FB]

The Root Restaurant + Bar to eventually open in Royal Oak? So says Crain's! [Crain's]

Black Rock, the locally-owned restaurant concept that started in Hartland and was the first restaurant in Michigan to offer Australian-style rock cooking, is now open in Novi. [EID FB]

The spring Detroit Restaurant Week menus are mostly out - make your reservations now for April 19-28! [DRW FB]

Berkley's The Atomic Dawg serves "haute dogs" in a vintage setting. After a sort of false start a couple of years ago, hot dogs are back on their way to thingness! [Detroit News / EID]

Holy Cannoli's has opened a second location. They now have stores in Rochester and Berkley and can still be found Saturdays at Eastern Market Corporation. [Metromode]

Michigan-based Meijer is expanding their "Made in Michigan" product program to include all 102 stores in the state. [Rapid Growth]

Tuk r jibs, or whatever. Small craft brewers seek tax cuts to expand their businesses. [AnnArbor.com]

[Real Detroit] Old Shillelagh

Photo by Nicole Rupersburg.

The Old Shillelagh in Greektown is known as a lot of things to a lot of people. Or maybe it is simply known as one thing to a lot of people: a really big party spot. A rooftop bar and patio, a tent in the parking lot for special events like St. Patrick's Day (when they get over 10,000 people through their doors in a single day) and Opening Day (this Friday!) and a clientele that is wholly focused on their liquid assets. As one of Detroit's most popular watering holes, the Old Shillelagh isn't really known first for its food.

And that makes head chef, kitchen and bar manager Sarge sad. Because Sarge loves his Fucking Awesome Burger. (The "FAB." That's really its name.) And he wants you to love it too. As well as the other items on their menu that are all made from scratch in-house.

Read more.

[Real Detroit] The Dish

Mac and cheese at Red Crown. Photo by Nicole Rupersburg. 

•Why not just call it "Meaddale"? Ferndale's B. Nektar Meadery recently expanded into a second production facility with a tasting room and Schramm's Mead – owned by world-renowned mead-man Ken Schramm – is set to open later this spring. In the meantime, get your mead fix at B. Nektar's first-ever Spring Mead Fest on Saturday, 4/20 at 1505 Jarvis from noon to 6 p.m. There will be food from Treat Dreams, Green Zebra, Detroit BBQ Co. and Dee's Hot Dog Stand. Limited-release meads will be on draft and they'll also release their new bourbon barrel-aged mead, Episode 13 – B. Nektar Strikes Back.

Read more.

[Model D] Alley Wine wins zoning ordinance change, moving forward and hoping for fall opening

Alley Wine sounded like such a lovely idea: open up a wine bar in an alley in a converted garage with doors that open to the alley and a backyard that can be used for outdoor seating and recreation. The idea sparked a lot of interest, securing it as a semi-finalist in the first-ever Hatch Detroit contest in 2011.

Read more.

The Week We Ate (The EID Week in Review)

Dan Gilbert is a man with a plan. Actually, a lot of them. And he unveiled some of them during a two-hour press conference last week, announcing (among many, many things) that Papa Joe's Gourmet Market will open in the First National Building and will have a bar and prepared foods; Moosejaw Mountaineering is staying forever-ever; Just Topped, an ice cream store using Ray's Ice Cream from the owner of Just Baked, will open; plus a whole lot more "placemaking" strategies. [Freep]

And here's more on that Just Topped concept. [Crain's]

Detroit-style deep dish is ready for its national close-up, and NO IT IS NOTHING LIKE CHICAGO. [Freep]

Paul Howard, owner of the Bronx Bar and Cliff Bell's, has a new bar in the works at the PuppetART Theatre building downtown. [Curbed]

Corktown's Green Dot Stables celebrated their one-year anniversary last week. Keep those $3 beers and sliders coming for many more to come! [GDS FB]

Dave Mancini of Supino Pizzeria is officially on his annual springtime sabbatical, which means the pizzeria is closed until he gets back on April 16 (further renovation work on the space next door will happen in the meantime). He and other area food industry people from places like Roast and Wolfgang Puck are off touring Croatia and Italy. Note to self: become best friends with all of these people. [Supino FB]

Travel + Leisure names Michael Symon's Roast - Detroit one of the best steakhouses in the country. [T+L]

In case you missed it: Here's an update on the Bagger Dave's opening later this year in Greektown and "SkyBar" is no longer a misnomer. [Model D]

Toast Birmingham has a new Executive Chef, Myles McVay, formerly of D'Amato's Restaurant and, most recently, Cafe Muse. The B-ham location now has a whole new dinner menu which includes vegan and vegetarian options. [EID FB]

Daily regular business owners have started at Trinosophes. Stop in mornings and evenings for coffee, tea, beignets and other treats with an expanded menu coming soon. (And free WiFi!) [Trinosophes FB]

Alley Wine's rezoning has been approved after 20 months. Now they're hoping it won't take another two years to get a liquor license. [Alley Wine FB]

Thrillist takes a look at the new Grace of India in Midtown. [Thrillist]

Falling Down Beer Company is officially open in the craft beer capital of the east, Warren. [RDW]

Mark's Carts officially re-opens for the season today! Which is not an April Fool's joke despite it being in the 30s outside. [AnnArbor.com]

More metro Detroit National Coney Islands opening. Hanis all day every day. [Detroit News]

Some news bites from Ferndale Patch: Nom Nom's Cupcake Factory has opened a second location in Berkley, Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt has opened its first-ever Michigan location in Troy, Grumpy's diner in Clawson has closed, Ferndale's New Way Bar has been sold and closed, more. [Ferndale Patch]

Going to Chicago? Don't buy a major airline ticket like some kind of commoner. For the same price you can fly in a PRACTICALLY private jet with free drinks and no baggage fees via Lakeshore Express starting this summer. Plus, it's out of the Oakland County airport where you park for free and don't have to deal with the usual major airport headaches. And hey, since you'll be out that way you can also stop by The Root Restaurant + Bar for lunch or dinner! [Freep]

Want a restaurant space that's white box-ready? (Or ... orange and purple box-ready?) This one's in SW right on the edge of Corktown in the shadow of Michigan Central Station. At only $99k, it seems like a good buy. [Curbed]

Own the shirt that Ryan Gosling might one day possibly wear! [MLive]

Beerie
~Chicks are apparently more into beer than wine now. [Freep]
~Vander Mill Cider and Founders Brewing Company are both getting into the canning game this year. [Vander Mill FB / BeerPulse]
~So, you guys, Traverse City. They went from being a meh place for beer two years ago to, well, THIS. [The Ticker TC]

Other
~The corn chip singularity is upon us. [Death + Taxes]