[HOT LIST] Pie

The pie counter at Blake's Orchard and Cider Mill. Photo by Nicole Rupersburg.Not that we can't eat pie any old time, but there's something about fall that has America clamoring for the stuff. Maybe it's because some of the country's most popular pies – pumpkin and apple, for instance – pair so beautifully with this most magnificent of seasons. Or maybe it's just that it's getting cold, and we're fattening up for winter. Something that can be easily...

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[Real Detroit Weekly] Cantina Diablo's

All photos by Nicole Rupersburg."There are a lot of trendy Mexican/Tex-Mex/Mexi-cali/Mexi-Merican/Mexican-fusion restaurants opening in metro Detroit lately. But none of them are quite so ... red.'Cantina Diablo's in Royal Oak offers a little something for everyone who wants a little of a lot of things. It is the second location of the brand, owned by the same folks behind Rosie O'Grady's, and it carries over a lot of the same themes as Rosie's....

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[Real Detroit Weekly] Halloween Party Foods

Christmas is for kids. Valentine’s Day is for breeders and people who’ve had lobotomies. But Halloween? Halloween is the ultimate adult holiday, from the socially acceptable skimpy costumes to the part where you eat candy for breakfast, lunch and dinner WHY? Because you’re an adult and you can. What better way to honor this most important celebration of the seven deadly sins than with a ghoulishly gluttonous fetish-y fete? Now, we’re no Martha Stuart...

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[Y Kant Nikki Cook] Cider Mill French Toast

All photos by Nicole Rupersburg.I got inspired while making trips to various cider mills over the last week, so I thought that "Cider Mill French Toast" might be fun. The basic idea was to take stale plain fried doughnuts, soak them in cinnamon custard, prepare them like French toast, then top them with a cider caramel sauce. I decided to make ALL of this myself, because that's sort of the point right? This resulting recipe is sort of a Frankenstein...

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[Y Kant Nikki Cook] Roasted Pumpkin Fondue

All photos by Nicole Rupersburg.It's fall and it's almost Halloween (let's just go ahead and state the obvious, which is that this is the BEST time of the year), so this week we're ditching the Hot List and Feature sections and instead bringing you all easy and unique fall-themed recipes using some of our favorite ingredients (like pumpkin, and cheese) as part of our brand-new Y Kant Nikki Cook section (read more about it here). We're going to launch...

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[EID Feature] Dexter Cider Mill: Reaping the Fruits of Their Labor

All photos by Nicole Rupersburg.The Dexter Cider Mill in Dexter (just west of Ann Arbor) is the oldest continuously operating cider mill in the state of Michigan. They've been written up in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and Good Housekeeping. They've been named the best cider mill in Washtenaw County and even one of the top 10 cider mills in the country. But Richard Koziski and his wife Katherine bought the old cider mill...

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[HOT LIST] Cider mills

Blake Orchards and Cider Mill. All photos by Nicole Rupersburg.For Michiganders, "fall" means apple orchards and cider mills. We all have fond childhood memories of heading out for a day in the country to one of the old-fashioned cider mills where we would drive through the apple orchards and pick our own apples, get our faces covered in sticky caramel as we devour a huge caramel apple, drink cider straight from the gallon and eat warm fried doughnuts...

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[EID Feature] The World of the Cicerone

CBS raffle at Merchant's Fine Wine. All photos by Nicole Rupersburg.I met wife and husband Annette May and Mike Bardallis last year during Detroit Beer Week. Or maybe it was two years ago. There's usually a lot of beer involved sooooooo ... anyway, I met them, it was Beer Week, we drank and had good times. Annette is a beer goddess and also a source of inspiration to me; Mike is an engineer by day and LEGIT home brewer by night (his beers could easily...

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[Real Detroit Weekly] Battle of the Bulge

What with all the tailgating going on, here's a little game day gourmet for 'ya. Also, these foods go REALLY well with beer.Truffled Deviled EggsWhy have regular deviled eggs when you can throw some truffle oil in there? (IKR???) These little picnic staples are easy to dress up by just adding some truffle oil (easy to find in specialty stores), then they get an extra fancy-pants kick with the addition of smoked salmon, parmesan and grape tomatoes....

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[Real Detroit Weekly] Dakota Inn Rathskeller

All photos by Nicole Rupersburg."Why do Germans celebrate Oktoberfest in September? They just do, no need to worry your pretty little head over it. But at the Dakota Inn Rathskeller in Detroit's Palmer Park neighborhood, Oktoberfest starts late September and runs through the end of October because this is America and dammit, the name says 'Oktober.''The Oktoberfest celebrations at the Dakota Inn are infamous in metro Detroit, with people making reservations...

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[Real Detroit Weekly] Detroit Beer Company

All photos by Nicole Rupersburg."Beer is the new black. The Detroit Beer Company (or the 'DBC,' as the locals call it), in the heart of downtown Detroit action, has been open since 2003 and is still one of only a handful of breweries in Detroit city limits despite the fact that the city is brimming over with beer geeks – so much so that last year's Fall Beer Festival in Eastern Market (sponsored by the Michigan Brewers Guild) doubled its attendance...

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[HOT LIST] Detroit Beer Week

At the Jolly Pumpkin Brewery on Old Mission. Photo by Nicole Rupersburg.The 2011 Detroit Beer Week starts in 3 days, 5 hours and counting (seriously, check the website, there's a counter). This is the third year of this annual event that celebrates and promotes Detroit's craft beer culture; if you want to learn more about the genesis of DBW, oh hey look I already wrote about that!Detroit Beer Week brings us 11 days of local beer, presented by Jon...

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[EID Travel Feature] Ontario Wine Country: Lake Erie North Shore + Pelee Island

Cooper's Hawk Vineyards. All photos by Nicole Rupersburg.Obviously we here at Eat It Detroit are huge proponents of local travel and Michigan wines. The wineries of northern Michigan are close; the wineries of southern Michigan are even closer. But if you live in metro Detroit, a geographically unique area where Canada lies both north and south, the closest wine region actually lies across the border in Ontario ... and if you live in the city of...

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