Detroit Information
Joined: 17 Dec 2006
Posts: 17
Home Country: usa
|
 Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 12:59 am Post subject: FOOD & DINING IN DETROIT / DETROIT DINING GUIDE |
 |
|
FOOD & DINING IN DETROIT
Few people know it, but Detroit is one of the best places for eating out in the United States. Throughout its history, Detroit has welcomed immigrants from around the world, and each group has brought its foods. Older groups like the Germans, Italians, Polish, Greeks, and Irish vie for the palate of visitors with more recent imports from the Middle East, Mexico and South America, India and the Far East. As a result, the area has an astounding range of restaurants offering a wide variety of authentic foods—often at bargain prices.
The great restaurants are not concentrated in a few spots, but are found throughout the metropolitan region. Getting off the beaten track and finding these places is worth the extra effort, particularly if your taste runs to the adventurous.
Downtown
During the lean years in the 1970s and '80s, Greektown’s single block of Athenian restaurants, known for their saganaki, or flaming cheese, kept downtown from going completely dark at night. Now Greektown has grown and prospered. Carrying on the Greektown tradition are places like the Pegasus Taverna, the Laikon Café, the New Parthenon and the New Hellas Café. Nearby can be found the Cajun excitement of Fishbone’s Rhythm Kitchen Café, soul food at Ja-Da, and Italian food at the Intermezzo. Also on the eastern side of downtown are Opus One, an acclaimed American eatery, and the Summit, atop the Renaissance Center
A little further east, the warehouse district known as Rivertown offers several American restaurants, including the trendy Rattlesnake Club and Dunlevy’s River Place. On downtown’s north end, in the new theatre district, are the spanking new Century Club, which strives for an old-world charm, and the Hockeytown Café. Other restaurants are planned for the new Columbia Street development near Comerica Park.
Mexicantown, which starts about a mile west of downtown, is the port of entry to the city’s large Hispanic section on the southwest side. Mexican Village is the old reliable here, but has been eclipsed in popularity by Xochimilco and other innovators. The farther west you go along Bagley or Vernor avenues, the cheaper and more authentic the food—and you can branch out into Central and South American cuisine at El Comal.
The Irish influence on Detroit can be noticed in a number of bars near Tiger Stadium, including Nemo’s, and in drinking spots like the Old Shillelagh downtown. Downtown’s most famous bar is the Lindell A.C., which has autographed photos of many of Detroit’s legendary sports figures. The Lindell was a sports bar before there was such a thing as sports bars.
Cultural Center/New Center
The eclectic fare that can be found in and around the Wayne State University area includes the unique Whitney, located in an elegant old mansion; the adventurous Traffic Jam; the Majestic Café for Middle-Eastern food; and two of the city’s oldest traditional Italian restaurants:Mario’s, and, farther east in the Eastern Market area, the Roma Café, the city’s oldest restaurant. Another Italian eatery, the Ristorante El Centro, is near the Fisher Building, in the New Center Area, where the pickings are slimmer.
The West Side
Detroit has the largest Arabic population of any American city, and it is concentrated in the eastern end of Dearborn. Here, along Michigan and Warren avenues, is an unmatched assortment of Middle Eastern restaurants. La Shish, one of the first, is the most well-known, but there are myriad other good choices, all offering nutritious, tasty food at remarkable prices.
The food gets blander as you travel farther into the suburbs, but there are plenty of neighbourhood bars and family restaurants along streets like Telegraph Avenue.
Northville, a quaint village in the northwestern corner of Wayne County, offers several upscale dining options which are worth the trek, including Genitti’s Hole-in-the-Wall, a reservation-only Italian restaurant which serves traditional seven-course wedding-feast meals.
Oakland County
An unlikely transformation in the late 1980s and early '90s turned the aging downtown of an unremarkable suburb into Detroit’s trendiest evening destination, and downtown Royal Oak remains the closest thing Michigan has to a New York or San Francisco experience. The punk and resale clothing shops still exist, along with jam-packed eateries and a few clubs. This scene generated the unique BD’s Mongolian Barbeque, where you make your own stir-fry and watch chefs grill it using big sticks; the place is so popular it has become a multi-outlet franchise.
The rest of the county has restaurants of great variety flung far and wide. Birmingham and Troy offer more staid, upscale options, such as the Capital Grille in the Somerset Collection. In Farmington Hills and to the north and west, an amazing array of ethnic restaurants hide in strip malls along Orchard Lake Road, Haggerty Road, and around Novi Town Center in Novi. More places are opening around Auburn Hills and Pontiac, including the remarkable Rain Forest Café, a theme restaurant with animals, an aquarium, and continuous indoor rainstorms.
The East Side and Macomb County
Along East Jefferson Avenue, across from Belle Isle, is the urban hideaway known as Indian Village, where there are gems such as Govinda’s, for vegetarian fare, and the Harlequin Café, one of Detroit’s few French restaurants. Along Lake St. Clair, from the Grosse Pointes to Mount Clemens, seafood is king, and fresh lake perch or pickerel can be found on the menus. For the complete Great Lakes experience, spend the time to go all the way out to Mac&Ray’s Restaurant, a marina resort along Anchor Bay.
Windsor
Windsor is the place to venture if your taste runs to Chinese and Vietnamese food. It has several of the area’s best Asian restaurants, concentrated near the University of Windsor west of downtown. Many of them, such as Wah Court, serve the traditional Chinese weekend brunch known as dim sum. It’s as good as you’ll find in Toronto or San Francisco. |
|
Register
Log in
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
