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The Tastes of Detroit Food Tour 2013

The Tastes of Detroit Food Tour 2013

Tastes of Detroit Food Tour 2013

Sliders from Green Dot Stables in Detroit, MI

(The better late than never edition?)

For the seventh year running, we are proud to announce the annual Tastes of Detroit food tour at Expo Icrontic.

The Tastes of Detroit Food Tour is a long-standing tradition. From the beginning, the goal has been to introduce out-of-towners to the unique, wonderful, diverse, and excellent food landscape here in the Detroit area. The Metro Detroit area is lovely in that we have a vast array of ethnicities and styles represented, and do not suffer heavily from the “national chain restaurant syndrome” that plagues much of this fine country (Macomb Township, Sterling Heights, Novi, Canton, and Troy are excluded from this statement).

In 2006, we went on our first food tour. It consisted of visits to a few of my local favorites (two of which are sadly out of business now), and a special visit from the former staff at Pi’s Thai in Hazel Park, where we were given a few gallons of soup for a hungry crowd (since the restaurant was too small to accommodate us). Since then, the Food Tour has been the single most requested and participated-in event at the Expo Icrontic. We routinely fill restaurants and spend hundreds of dollars at local businesses, all in the name of good eats.

As always, it gets harder and harder every year to find new places to accommodate our stringent requirements:

  • The restaurant must be unique. It’s safe to say that if a restaurant has a “corporate office” somewhere, we’ll probably never go there.
  • The restaurant must have some compelling theme or specialty that makes it truly a step above the normal establishment. This can be service, a menu item, decor, price, character, etc.
  • The restaurant must able to at least try to introduce people to something they’ve never had before.
  • The restaurant must be able to accommodate 50 or more people at once, as this is the average size of our group.

I try to accomplish these goals without any repeats, although tour favorites have made re-appearances throughout the years. Here’s the historical list of places we’ve covered so far:

2006:

  • Raj Mahal (Indian), Sterling Heights
  • Josephine Crepes (French), Ferndale
  • Thang Long (Vietnamese), Madison Heights
  • Pi’s Thai (Thai), Hazel Park

2007:

  • Passage to India (Indian), Berkley
  • New Seoul Garden (Korean), Southfield
  • Red Coat Tavern (British), Royal Oak
  • Thang Long (Vietnamese), Madison Heights

2008:

  • Xochimilco (Mexican), Detroit
  • Sala Thai Eastern Market (Thai), Detroit
  • Hu Hot Mongolian Grill (Mongolian-style), Fraser
  • Original Pancake House (American), Grosse Pointe

2009:

  • Shilla (Korean), Troy
  • Anita’s Kitchen (Lebanese), Troy
  • Passage to India (Indian), Berkley
  • Polonia (Polish), Hamtramck
  • Tivoli’s (Italian), Utica

2010:

  • Buddy’s Pizza(Detroit-style Pizza), Warren
  • Taqueria Mi Pueblo (Mexican), Detroit
  • Red Hot & Blue (BBQ), Sterling Heights
  • Golden Harvest(Dim Sum), Warren

2011:

  • Bostaan (Middle Eastern), Warren
  • Noble Fish(Sushi), Clawson
  • Lazybones Smokehouse (BBQ), Roseville

2012:

  • Cafe Sushi (Japanese), Troy
  • Tamaleria Nuevo Leon (Tamales), Detroit
  • Amar Pizza (Bengali), Hamtramck

Since the logistics of moving 50+ people around the metro Detroit area have always been kind of a pain, we started a new trend in 2011 that worked out well: catered food. This year we’ll be introducing another awesome trend that is made possible by our move into the city of Detroit last year: Food trucks!

Without further ado, here are the 2013 Food Tour choices:

GREEN DOT STABLES

To say that Green Dot Stables is a “slider joint” is really selling it short. Very short. Green Dot Stables opened last year in Detroit and really shook up the scene: they have gourmet sliders, craft cocktails, and delicious craft brews, and it’s all super cheap and super awesome. It’s also the only place in Detroit (that we’ve found) that serves the horrid Jeppsen’s Malort, but that’s neither here nor there. What’s important is that you can get things like Korean Kimchi Sliders, CAMEL meat burgers (it’s true, I had two), PB&J sliders, and other exotic fare. We will be ordering a selection of their best offerings (including vegan and vegetarian options), so you’ll find Korean Kimchi sliders, Buffalo Chicken sliders, Gyros and Tzadziki sliders, the “Hot Brown”, black bean, tempeh, and more. We’ll also have enough truffle and herb fries to choke a horse. The cost will be $15 per person and you’ll get to select 3 sliders and as many fries as you can eat. Please pre-pay cash to Lincoln.

THE GRINDHOUSE FOOD TRUCK

Have you ever heard of merguez langos? If so, you should be happy to try it again. If not, you’re in for a treat. The Grindhouse is a From Corridor Sausage Co., The Grindhouse is focused on quality and artisan crafted food. Everything from the sausage to bread to mustards are made in house or from local sources. It’s pretty remarkable. Our selection this year will be Apple Pork Sausage, Vietnamese Chicken Sausage, Fig Lamb Sausage, Merguez Langos, and Asparagus Langos for those veggies. What is a Langos, you ask? It’s sort of like a pizza, but a whole lot different. You’ll see.

This will be Expo Icrontic’s first food truck. It will pull up out front, and you can all line up and tell them what you’d like from the selection above. The cost will be $10 per person and you can give your cash to Lincoln beforehand, because we are pre-paying.

SUPINO’S PIZZA

In a recent Esquire interview, Christina Hendricks (we’ll forever know her only as Saffron) made the bold claim that she had found the best pizza she ever had in Detroit, and it was from Supino’s. While we might question her pedigree when discussing what is and is not the best pizza, we will agree that it is pretty fantastic, and is probably the best pizza within the city limits. It’s with zero regret, then, that we will be bringing in many boxes of this pizza for all Expo Icrontic attendees to enjoy. The cost will be $15 per person, cash to Lincoln beforehand.

By keeping all the food coming TO the event instead of wrangling everyone for hours driving around the city, we hope we bring added convenience while still enjoying the Tastes of Detroit. Bon Appetit!

 

Comments

  1. QCH
    QCH awesome mix!!!
  2. GnomeQueen
    GnomeQueen Oh man, I'm so happy everyone will get to experience green dot. It's the best. Supinos is pretty great too!
  3. Tushon
    Tushon I'm preparing my diet breaking plans.
  4. Linc
    Linc It's also our most affordable food tour by far, I think. I'm super excited.
  5. WagsFTW
    WagsFTW Great options! Bummed I'll be missing the Food Truck - those sausages sound fantastic!
  6. RyanMM
    RyanMM Supinos is LEGIT. That's all I'm gonna say.
  7. ardichoke
    ardichoke
    those sausages sound fantastic!
    #TWSS
  8. Bandrik
    Bandrik Green Dot's sliders were awesome.
    Grindhouse food truck's Langos was amazing.

    And it's catered, and cheap? So far this food tour is amazing and win. <3 to all involved in planning. Looking forward to Supino's Pizza tomorrow.
  9. RyanFodder
    RyanFodder Second the food being catered being awesome. More time to do stuff? WIN.
  10. GHoosdum
    GHoosdum Well played, pizza.
  11. Bandrik
    Bandrik Pizza was pretty good, indeed.
  12. GnomeQueen
    GnomeQueen Seriously, I think this year was hands down my favorite group of food tour places. I think Green Dot is tastier when served in-house, but catering was much easier. Excellent job, Mr. Primesuspect.
  13. primesuspect
    primesuspect If you'd like to review these venues on Yelp, there is a badge for that ;)

    Green Dot Stables

    The Grindhouse Food Truck

    Supino Pizzeria.

    I hope everyone enjoyed it :)
  14. QCH
    QCH All three reviewed.

    For those that want to review a few of the other places...

    Detroit 1 Coney Island
    St Cece's Pub
    Honest John's
  15. mertesn
    mertesn
    All three reviewed.

    For those that want to review a few of the other places...

    Detroit 1 Coney Island
    St Cece's Pub
    Honest John's
    My first trip to ICHQD where I didn't end up at Honest John's :/
  16. CB
    CB I've never left a thoroughly negative review for a restaurant before St. Cece's. That [place was truly terrible in every category.
  17. Thrax
    Thrax I had very good food at St. Cece's, but there were a variety of other issues that would limit my imaginary review to three stars. Unreasonably slow service (even with respect to our party size), disgustingly watery pop, the worst bloody mary I've ever had, an order of wheat bread served as rye, and an order that never came for me.

    Really it comes down to awful service. But, man, the food I had was delicious.
  18. primesuspect
    primesuspect Just to be clear: I did not recommend St. Cece's. The last time I was there I had a similarly bad experience. My curated list of recommendations for brunch were:

    Le Petit Zinc
    Woodbridge Pub (which was closed for an event)
    The Hudson Cafe

    I ended up going to Le Petit Zinc with @Guppy, @Lershee, @J, @Nemikan, and @TroubleBaker. We had a totally awesome brunch. We sat outdoors on a patio in a garden with a fountain providing lovely background noise and had fantastic crepes, quiche, and breakfast sandwiches.
  19. CrazyJoe
    CrazyJoe Raw pancakes and over 2 hours for brunch (nearly making me late for my flight and not allowing for adequate good byes) make me echo the poor thoughts about St. Ceces. The only positive was that I got to ride by the site of Tiger Stadium which was on my list of things to do in the D.
  20. GHoosdum
    GHoosdum I reviewed Supino since that is the only food tour stop I visited. I intend to review St. Cece's as well but I'm formulating exactly how to describe the experience. I don't think it is possible to say it better than Joe has.

    @primesuspect we strayed from your curated list because, although we wanted to try Le Petit Zinc, Lincoln said it could not accommodate all 22 of us. St. Cece's was a decision based upon capacity, and presumably the bottomless mimosas.
  21. Linc
    Linc Le Petit Zinc can barely handle 12 people in the entire restaurant let alone that many just in our party, and I didn't want to take everyone downtown into a mess of parking at Hudson's (and I've never been there so I couldn't comment on capacity). That said, I'm not sure how we decided on Cece's. I guess I was being overly optimistic that they'd gotten their shit together by now like Green Dot has.
  22. Linc
    Linc Oh hell, we forgot Foran's. We should totally book that for Sunday brunch next year. Everyone could fit for sure and it is GREAT food.
  23. QCH
    QCH This was my review of St. Cece's...

    To be fair... my party of 22 arrived 5 minutes after opening for Sunday brunch so this review is more about service and less about food. My order of huevos rancheros was $8 but it was presented well and was really good. I was not sure about the cream cheese.

    The real issue was how the staff handled the orders and the 2 hour meal. It took way too long before the manager came by to let us know things were not working well in the kitchen.

    Overall the party thought the prices were too steep and the food quality was sub par.
  24. UPSLynx
    UPSLynx Oh man, I haven't been to Foran's in a couple years. Do want to go back during ICOK

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