Detroit: Get Lucky: Series:Food / Restaurant Revolution is Metropolitan suburbs And Detroit Altogether

Number one in a series of Food analysis in the Metro D

As of this article Your culinary journey has started in the middle of the alphabet -M for Mongolian

or L for Lamb ...or Lebanese...

The Restaurant Revolution is Metropolitan suburbs And Detroit Altogether

How is Detroit in a Resturant Moment? ? Detroit is not as ethnically diverse. We lost our Chinese Community China town by the time of the riot/ rebellion of 1967 . Where Little Caesar stadium is now on the southern edge -just before Fischer Freeway was a classic Chinatown - like the movie.

If its anything I miss most about NYC its the variety of Asian food and markets in their 4 "Chinatowns"... to be correct its not just Chinese but Malaysians, and South Americans/ Central Americans and Puerto Ricans in Brooklyn's Sunset Park zip code 11220. Ever heard of Chino- Latino??

Chino-Latino- like sweet and sour sauce on Mofongo

Back to Detroit and its fellow suburbs Asian Diaspora : we do have a Korean Community , and Hmongs (Vietnamese/ Chinese /Laotians /Thai Mountain peoples non urban all) in the Detroit metro area mostly in northeast Detroit, South Warren and Pontiac. There's also some Laotians on the eastside of Detroit. The Vietnamese are in Troy and Sterling Heights.

Thank you Detroitography https://detroitography.com/2015/01/07/map-detroit-area-ethnic-groups-1971/ As for Maltese - they are Mediterranean both North African (Arab) and Greco-Roman All the white space you see is industrial and possibly brownfields all 6.1 square miles

We are as diverse as NYC or some other coastal capital of commerce and consumption just that we do not have 33 different ethnic/cultural restaurant categories. Looking for a Laotian restaurant? Well Detroit suburbs have lumped Asian together! How Japanese sushi and generic Chinese food can be in the same restaurant I do not know Not hanging there- that is for sure ...

Where to go? Driving the 143 square miles of Detroit and beyond- all the way to Howell/ Milford/ Ann Arbor I was able to confirm that This is the area of hottest kitchen /culinary explosion in recent times.

But if you do not believe this article and you think you have to seek Culinary Community further afield- skip Detroit Metropolitan area, fly over NYC and be really avant garde - I recommend a trip right out of DTW direct to Beijing if you need an excuse for exoticism .. Not that expensive either.(1)

There are 2500 restaurants here that are as glamorous as the Mad Man Mid Century Modern set of The Best of Everything - (movie ) There are restaurants here that are as old /Older than the Blues Brothers movie (1980) paying homage to the shack of soulful food in back of the house that features food from a church full of ladies cooking plates for sale after services on Bedford -Stuyvesant.(2)

When I left here the restaurant I ate in was bugged- Coleman Young liked the food too...

Now I am back - lived through several boom and bust restaurant cycles and trends...in the city that rivals Europe for Zagat, Michelin bragging rights New York does have it... and Detroit has it too!

For now - as long as rent stays reasonable and people in Detroit eat out more than they cook ...
The Detroit Metro area dining will keep getting Better- the food is affordable, considering that it is often locally sourced, organic and fresh. So what Tao NYC... Who needs a Buddhist temple to dine in? If you are into power surroundings and exotic non -Western spectacle see the map - eat right h ere in the Detroit Metro Area.

Appreciate the convenient Detroit Metro Area including those suburbs that connect by freeway in all directions offers dining High or Low in terms of your decor . After paying with an credit card too many times for atmosphere you learn this:

Food, served so the food can be eaten comfortably
In a space that is not crowded and about
A third less expensive than you know where..
Is better than having hovering waiters and a crazy bill

The Detroit restaurant equivalent of Mid Century Modern is the
London Chop House -not Cranbrook -sorry Eero Saarinen

You can be a fan of food and still not be a foodie- unless they pay you for eating/commenting

Learned the lesson the hard way.

Collected Menus and matchbooks.

Estimated that at one point all 21 meals a week being eaten out.

Had a dining tab.
Walked the pounds off daily.
Still not Gail Greene , but that is another story for another day...

INSTEADAte like a New Yorker, but missed Detroit's food.

Learned that Coney Islands in NYC have NO meat!! (that is not cool)
Loved Greek Diners in NYC serving wine with your BLT

Loving Fresh Fish /fryers appearing on Harlem streets on Fridays

Exploring it all - Food Trucks Rule in both cities.

Variety in both cities is amazing! In NYC I have eaten everything from koshary from the NYC Koshary (it is Egyptian not Jewish) in deep Brooklyn/BayRidge to spicy Okra at

Bognan International West African Restaurant in the Bronx Give me 30 days and start with Armenian and 30 days later still have not gotten to the pho at my favorite Vietnamese Restaurant in Brooklyn's Sunset Park Chinese Community ...there is at least 33 to 35 ethnic cuisines to visit,and that includes Northern Chinese broths &Mongolian Borts (dumplings).

Spoils you a little. But I am looking forward to seeing what is here In the D and beyond.

Detroit does Lamb!! Better than NYC !!

I missed the Mongolian Food Trucks serving lamb filled dumplings

called in Queens Himalayan dumplings and are found@southern end of the LGA-Queens Bus/subway route

Whoa! Detroit does have Lamb!! Affordable and succulent Lamb.Middle Eastern or Greek depending on which side of the Mediterranean you prefer -the sauces differ .

I was willing to forgo the dumplings ( lamb dumplings are better in Xian)

Yippee Lambchops!Lamb Ribs.Lamb! I did not need to spend more
than 20 dollars in the Metro D. If you want a little atmosphere try lunch here- excellent Lamb hummus lunch . You know I could go on and on but go see for yourself. Not going to waste your time being a foodie expert -it is better to be adventurous and not be trendy. Need a dose of NY food trendy? Read this review of abcV (the newest restaurant by the extremely successful Chef owner Jean- Georges Vongerichten) It is pure foodie writer snark - which this blogger Does Not Miss

Beau's Grillery

Which has re-invented itself from Burger Pub to American Bistro Middle Eastern influences

Beats the grilled lamb I had on 9th avenue near 54th street in the food district of Clinton/Hells Kitchen
NYC new Indian place serving Lamb - the place was real cute though beautiful plating, artisanal alcoholic drinks,tiles white & gleaming...Communal tables and gorgeous waitstaff-

It felt like a movie- the scene- a hot restaurant a celebrity or two present -

I paid accordingly .The lamb was at a typical midtown NYC hipster joint that
if it existed when I first moved to the neighborhood, would have hastened my monetary demise ...I spent $65 without drinks-ouch...

You have no idea how happy I am to be back in the land of reasonable beautiful food ... then again I am also cognizant of the vast majority of others in my age bracket that just do not go out. They are retired, and they tend to frustrate us food advocates and writers,like Hungry Black Man I get it- so guess who is not retiring-

Eat to live. Live to eat! Exploring Detroit will be such a treat!

I just met a young man from Louisiana who is a chef across the street from Beau's Grillery
so I will check him out next- He is on Instagram as Anointed Epicurean.

Number one in a series of Food analysis in the Metro D
REFERENCES

As of this article Your culinary journey has started in the middle of the alphabet -M for Mongolian or L for Lamb ...

(1) DTW direct to Beijing if you need an excuse for exoticism Not that expensive .

The exchange rate for The Chinese Rembi to dollars is often between 8 to 1 and 10 to 1. When 10 dollars spends like 100 you are a rock star. Everybody speaks English so get that ticket out of the D and fly over the Arctic Circle just in time for Dinner..nahhhh it is better if you did this:

Eat In Your City/Get Out And Enjoy Detroit's Food Renaissance

(2) Church Supper Plates - Can not tell you exactly but usually Menus posted near schools on Fridays in Bed- Stuy with phone # and prices OR Go walking Sunday afternoons on Fulton
be aware there is no Safe Serve paperwork - these are not Soup Kitchens ...