The Week We Ate (The EID Week in Review)

There's a theme here today, folks.

The Wayne State University campus police are more effective at stopping crime than the DPD. Sigh. Lucky for Ye Olde Butcher Shoppe they're in Midtown. (To be fair though, I would wholly expect an overworked and understaffed police department to de-prioritize the robbery of a grocery store during non-business hours. The sad thing is the fact that they actually have to make that call.) [Motor City Muckraker]

The 100-year-old Awrey Bakeries, which has been struggling with financial woes since declaring bankruptcy in 2005, will be closing and is scheduled to sell its assets in an online auction Feb 21 and 22. (Rabin.com has the full list of assets.) Looks like these old-school bakeries of sugar cookies, egg breads and snack cakes are being replaced by the new school of organic flour breads, scones and gluten-free desserts (case in point: Avalon and Zingerman's are blowing up, while Awrey's and even Hostess go under). [Crain's]

What's better than a good end-of-year list? A good BEGINNING-of-year list! Yes, this is how media continues to phone it in for the first week back at work. But that's okay because people love lists. So here's this. [DetNews]

Hippie's Pizza in Royal Oak is known for their "far-out" pizza concepts as well as vegan and gluten-free options, but did you know they also deliver Slurpees, toothpaste, diapers and chewing gum, and hope to eventually include movies from Blockbuster and get a concierge license to buy and deliver alcohol? It's true, bro. Peace, love and pizza. [RO Patch]

Now, I'm not saying Treat Dreams owner Scott Moloney was a stoner in his former life, but. C'mon. [Treat Dreams FB]

Drive is a ping-pong emporium in downtown Detroit, and hope to have a liquor license for beer pong tournaments featuring local breweries like Motor City Brewing Works and the upcoming Batch Brewing Company. And, PING-PONG. [Thrillist]

Detroit Institute of Bagels has broken ground on their new production space. Can you just smell those bagels baking now? Can you???? [DIB blahg]

And here is explanation as to why The Brooklyn Street Local was closed for a few days in the fall and is again right now (they're not CLOSING closing, just dealing with some non-business-related issues right now). It's a sad day when Mexico's border is easier to cross than Canada's. [DetNews / Next Gov]

Detroit SOUP was featured on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams. [MSNBC]

Red Crown will open January 22, Bona Fide Baking Co will follow in February, and a second location of Tallulah Wine Bar and Bistro will round out Mindy Lopus's three new spots in the spring. [GP Patch]

The Flint Crepe Company is now selling soap made from its own bacon grease! You can also get this at Beezy's Cafe in Ypsilanti, made by Union Street Soapworks from Beezy's own bacon grease. (Smells pretty good, actually.) PS, Baconfest Michigan general admission tickets go on sale in a little over a month! [HuffPo / EID]

Isalita, a modern Mexican restaurant and bar from the same owner as MANI Osteria + Bar, is now open in Ann Arbor. [AnnArbor.com]

The UK Daily Mail has caught wind of the Detroit Collision Works plan to construct a hotel made of shipping containers in Eastern Market Corporation. With renderings! [UK Daily Mail]

Why do I suddenly feel like some serious Coca-Cola/PepsiCo lobbyists are behind this? 5 Hour Energy is under fire, AGAIN. [MLive]

Pure Michigan highlights some things to do in Detroit during the North American International Auto Show and included some favorites like The Rattlesnake, Cadieux Cafe, Garden Bowl, and a Detroit Auto and Brewing History Bus Tour with Motor City Brew Tours (plus a bunch of the more obvious places and sights). [Pure Michigan blahg]

And Beyond/My New Favorite Thing
~So according to The New York Times (which First We Feast takes some deserved shots at), these are the food trends that will be big in 2013. This is of course for a New York audience and the early indicators are mostly coastal (and Texas, because Texas). But I've seen a couple of glimmers -- like the artisanal soft serve at Easy Like Sundae and the Lab Cafe in Ann Arbor -- around here. I 100% support barrel-aged hot sauce becoming A Thing, and also Japan is WEIRD (re: Pig Tails section). [NYT / FWF]

~This is a really great (illustrated!) guide to dim sum, from BuzzFeed via Lucky Peach (the "Illuminati food rag," according to First We Feast). Yum yum dim sum. [BuzzFeed / FWF]

~Seriously, you should really read this post from First We Feast. [FWF]

Beerie
~RateBeer has named their top 50 beers of the year. Something to note: hoppy cock-punches are starting to get replaced by sour styles, though bourbon barrel-aged anything still reigns supreme. Bell's Brewery, Dark Horse, Kuhnhenn, and Founders are all on here, and all for bourbon barrel-aged things. (Except Bell's, which scored two rankings, the other for the only hoppy cock-punch worth drinking: Hopslam.) Prediction: Barleywines are going to be huge in 2013, and sours will continue to gain prominence. [RateBeer]

~Speaking of, 'tis the season...for HOPSLAM. [Bell's FB]

~Insane in the membrane. This is the story of how Arcadia Ales Cocoa Loco was almost the beer the wasn't. Also, get ready for the Valentine's Day posts pimping chocolate stouts 'cuz they're coming. [K-Zoo Beer Week blahg]

~Bull testicle beer. Is what we've come to. [Beer Pulse]

~New Belgium has added two new brews to their Lips of Faith series: Heavenly Feijoa Tripel is a collaboration beer with Montreal’s Dieu du Ciel! brewery and Cascara Quad is an ale that channels the Trappist tradition. Both are available in 22-oz bottles through March-ish. [BeerPulse]

Eat It GR
~Flavor 616 is launching in Grand Rapids, a free glossy of indeterminate frequency (as that information is apparently not available anywhere and DO I HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING???). It looks gorgeous and western Michigan's food scene definitely deserves the coverage, but in the days of the Internet does a freely-distrubuted glossy even stand a chance anymore? Hope they have oodles of cash behind them. [Eat Local W MI blahg]