[HOT LIST] Hot dogs

Atomic Dawg. Photo from their Facebook page. 

The hot dog has come a long way in metro Detroit since our first Hot Dog Hot List in the summer of '11. The gourmet hot dog trend got off to a halty start here with some places shutting down just as their buzz started building. But now the haute hot dog, yet another cheap food blue collar food made fashionable and now costs $9, has reached bonafide trend status. And that trend also happens to be wrapped in bacon (more often than not). While there are none on this list quite so patriotic as the most America-est hot dog in America, we can still hold out hope that Chef Andy Hollyday will recreate this Le Haute Duck when he opens his own place later this year.

In honor of National Hot Dog Month, here are the hottest dogs in metro Detroit.

The hot dog that should come with a waiver: Imperial's new Egg On Your Face late-night dog.

#1 Imperial Ferndale
In case you didn't know, Imperial is one of the best bars/restaurants/hang-outs in metro Detroit. So now you know. Now that we've got that cleared up, let's on to the hot dogs: they started with the simple Sonoran, a bacon-wrapped hot dog with stewed beans, tomato, onion, poblano lime cream, and salsa verde. That became so popular that they added MORE hot dogs to the menu. And the place became so popular that they also decided to add more menu; specifically, a brand-new weekend late-night menu, which includes items like the Egg On Your Face bacon-wrapped hot dog with queso fresco, jalapeno onion relish, chipotle aioli, carne asada, chorizo, and (AND) a fried egg. Yeah, that's one hot dog.

The 3 A.M. Dog at Vinsetta Garage.

#2 Vinsetta Garage Berkley
So I recently wrote this in Metromode: "The historic old garage reborn as a restaurant opened less than a year ago, and from day one has been filling its waiting list. The iconic building's history and the excellent adaptive reuse notwithstanding, people come here for one primary reason: the food. Classic American comfort food meets classic American car culture here, but in addition to the Union Joints' signature macaroni and cheese and the out-of-this-world disco fries (get the disco fries), the burgers are the real stars at Vinsetta." Okay so yeah, the burgers are the stars here but the tube steaks are no slouches. There's the Classic Detroit Coney with house-made chili, the Yeti Dog which is wrapped in bacon and deep-fried, and the 3 A.M. Dog, the hot dog version of the burger by the same name with house-made bacon jam, sriracha mayo, a sunny fried egg and crispy fried onions.

#3 Atomic Dawg Berkley
At this point I'm just repeating myself, so here again is what I wrote about Atomic Dawg for that same story in Metromode: "Though technically the Atomic Dawg is not owned by Corridor Sausage, it is 'owned' by Corridor Sausage in the pwned kind of way. As American chefs continue combing through the archives of the greatest hits of American junk food for the Next Big Thing in garbage gone gourmand, it seems that sights are set on the good old all-American hot dog. Atomic Dawg uses Corridor Sausage for their sausage selection (which includes a sausage of the week) serving what is, essentially, a really dressed up version of a meat tube." They also have a big selection of big "dawgs" that come with such toppings as pulled pork and grilled pineapple, plus they've got veggie dogs for those who like everything on the hot dog except for the hot dog itself.

#4 The Grindhouse Detroit
The Grindhouse is the recently-launched food truck owned by the folks at Corridor Sausage. Since Corridor will be mentioned on this list a total of three times, I would be remiss to not give it its own place on the list. Now, we could split hairs here - what defines a "hot dog" versus a sausage, and if we're including sausage here what about [all of these other sausage places]? Um. 'Cuz Corridor rulz. And Grindhouse has corn dogs! So. There. (Even Charley thinks so, and he's the mustard dude.)

#5 Ford Field Detroit
Not only is Ford Field stepping up their game this year with a new Corridor Sausage cart, but they've been serving Dearborn Sausage Co. hot dogs with Charley's Ballpark Mustard (the mustard dude!) for awhile now. And that, really, is all you need in a hot dog.

Recent hot dog specials at Falling Down Beer Co.

Honorable mention: Falling Down Beer Company (Warren)
These Dearborn Sausage Co. dogs were a recent special, but deserve their proper dues regardless (they will also most likely be making their way to a new late-night menu, so stay tuned). Word is out in the beerie community: Falling Down has some of the best bar food in town. Pictured: Southern Dog - homemade pimento cheese and crumbled bacon; Chipotle BBQ Dog - BBQ pulled pork and creamy chipotle slaw; Guacamole Dog - house made guacamole and cumin-salted corn tortilla strips; Horse Relish Dog - McClure's spicy pickle, red onion, horseradish and sauerkraut relish with stoneground Dijonaise.

Bubbling under Roast (Detroit), Biercamp (Ann Arbor), The Wurst Bar (Ypsilanti), Bucharest Grill (downtown), Rosie O'Grady's (multiple locations), Detroit Under Dog (Ferndale), Mercury Burger Bar (Corktown), Five Guys Burgers and Fries (various locations), Hippo's Hot Dogs (Troy, Clinton Twp.), Old Shillelagh (Greektown), Epic (Novi), The Henry Ford (Dearborn), Comerica Park (Detroit), Tortitas el Rojito (SW Detroit)

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[HOT LIST] FOOD! DETROIT! THE BEST YEAR EVER! (2012 Edition)

Brooklyn Street Local's traditional poutine. All photos by Nicole Rupersburg.

One thing was absolutely, unequivocally clear this year: when we find a trend that we like, we sink our collective teeth into it and violently shake our heads back and forth and beat it against the pavement until there is nothing left but lifeless spit-covered shreds no longer even resembling the thing it once was. We did it with upscale BBQ. We're still doing it with artisan coffee (and there's even MORE since that updated update) and classed-up comfort food (see: every restaurant that opened this year, all of them). What can I say? When we make something A Thing around here, we make it A MOTHERFUCKING THING. 

Also, for comparison's sake, here's last year's list.

#1 KEEP THE PRESERVATIVES OUT OF OUR FOOD AND THE PRESERVATION IN OUR RESTAURANTS

If anything won in metro Detroit's dining scene this year (besides steak, below), it was from-scratch comfort food joints coming together with historic preservation (often with an automotive history). Curt Catallo and Ann Stevenson are huge proponents and they also happen to be at the helm of some of the biggest, most buzziest openings of the past few years. Vinsetta Garage was no exception, taking a historic old auto garage built in 1919 and giving it new life as a burger and comfort food restaurant that has resonated resoundingly throughout metro Detroit. Currently the couple is working on doing more of the same with the Fenton Fire Hall, set to open next summer. 

Pizzeria Biga brought new life to the old St. Clair Power Station in Royal Oak (built in 1907), while Mindy Lopus is opening Red Crown in January in an old Standard Oil Gas Station in Grosse Pointe Park (MOAR burgers and comfort food). Local Kitchen + Bar also got into the game with celebrated "everyday" food in a rehabbed Ferndale gas station. Ditto the Garage Grill and Fuel Bar in Northville. Over in Ace Deuce, Lena and Habana now inhabit a building (and secret underground vaults) that could possibly date back to 1860, and even pay homage to the old Cunningham's Drug Store with a mod seafoam green awning.

#2 THE POUTINE PROPHECY IS FULFILLED 

I. TOLD. YOU. SO. One year ago, noooooooooo oooooooone had heard of this "poutine," despite us being spitting distance from the Canadian border. And I yapped and yapped and yapped and yapped about it, which I thoroughly documented here. And now, oh yes: IT IS A THING. To the point that Corktown is the Poutine Capital and I am the Poutine Queen. People are even experimenting with it: most recently on my radar, pork belly poutines from One-Eyed Betty's and Toasted Oak Grill + Market, pile o' pork poutines from 24grille and TAP (note: TAP's is not good), and tater tot poutines from the Wurst Bar and Ronin. 

#3 METRO DETROIT IS THE WINNER OF 'STEAK'

Wolfgang Puck Steak. Hyde Park Prime. Prime 29. Detroit Prime. London Chop House. Andiamo Italian Steakhouse (times three). Luca's Chophouse. All opened this year. Stoney River Steakhouse in Birmingham also received approval from the city commission and will open next year (Boringham seems to be playing it safe after those South Bar shootings). It should also be noted that Birmingham and nearby Troy and Bloomfield Hills already have Hyde Park, Fleming's, Churchill's Bistro, Big Rock Chophouse, Capital Grille, Ruth's Chris, Morton's, Cameron's, Shula's, Eddie Merlot's (also opening next year), and probably more I'm forgetting. Plus, plans for a new hotel/office/apartment/parking garage development in Royal Oak include an upscale steakhouse. Oh, when we catch scent of a trend around here...

Cafe con Leche del Este.

#4 POP-UPS WILL EAT THEMSELVES

In 2009 metro Detroit had never even heard of a pop-up. And then came Hugh. Now, three years later, pop-ups have reached critical mass ... or have they? Major retailers from the Somerset Collection and Moosejaw see the pop-up possibilities, while the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation sees them as an opportunity to breathe new life into empty blocks and lead to permanent business plans. From Dave Mancini opening his doors to poptreprenuers at Supino Pizzeria to community coffee houses like Cafe con Leche del Este, Always Brewing Detroit, and Coffee and [    ], it looks like pop-ups are now permanent.

#5 MOVE OVER MATT PRENTICE, METRO DETROIT'S GOT A NEW BREED OF RESTAURATEUR

This year saw the rise of a different kind of restaurateur: passionate about people and preservation, and more often than not a restaurateur by accident, the Culinary Class of 2012 is on a tear and looking strong going into 2013. Curt Catallo and his wife Ann Stevenson already had huge hits with Clarkston Union and Union Woodshop, then Vinsetta Garage opened and HOLY SHIT. I put my name in for a table and was given a beeper they said will probably go off sometime in February. Maybe March. But I'm welcome to wait at the bar if I can find a seat. They're also adding the Fenton Fire Hall to their oeuvre in 2013. 

In the meantime, Luciano del Signore is opening up Bigas like they're 7-Elevens (next on deck: Ann Arbor), Mindy Lopus is opening three new joints in Grosse Point Park, Jon Carlson and Greg Lobdell have huge plans for 2013 which include a new concept in Royal Oak and a third Jolly Pumpkin Cafe, the Root is opening a second location in Howell, and the Great Lakes Coffee Roasting Company went from zero to 60 (or at least four) with a flagship location in Midtown and satellite cafes in the Maple Theatre in Bloomfield Hills, another in Lake Orion, and a fourth planned in partnership with Lopus's Bona Fide Bakery in Grosse Pointe Park. 

MORE THINGS THAT WERE THINGS THIS YEAR

Beer gardens! While Tashmoo didn't make it on the round two of Hatch Detroit voting, they still packed empty lots in West Village when they popped up those handful of days. Bill's Beer Garden barely opened in time to take advantage of the warm weather, but thanks to global warming their season stayed strong into December. Other restaurants/bars in the works for next year have plans to build a beer garden, most notably Griffin Claw Brewing Company in Birmingham. If you build it, they will come. If you will it, it is no dream.

Imperial.

Ferndale! We still love it. This year it was because of One-Eyed Betty's, Imperial, Local Kitchen + Bar and John D Bistro. The city also got some really weird sculptures and announced a soon-to-open second location of Midtown's popular Canine to Five doggie day care. Dino's is expanding and has big plans for the old VFW Hall. Early next year B. Nektar Meadery will be moving into their new digs (with tasting room), and the owners of Imperial just announced they're opening a new concept called Ferndale Public House.

Corktown! Still Brooklyn-y. This year saw even more popular joints open: Green Dot Stables, an insta-hipster-hit that has already appeared in GQ and Martha Stewart Living; Brooklyn Street Local, where poutine is king; and Mercury Burger Bar, which ... serves a demographic, anyway. Next year will *fingers crossed* bring about the LONG-AWAITED opening of Detroit Institute of Bagels. Two James Distillery will be the first distillery to open in Detroit city proper since Prohibition, Batch Brewery will make Corktown so meta it's nano, and we'll get to see if Cooley and Co. strike gold once again with Gold Cash Gold.

Midtown! Oh, who cares. Shit, you do though, don't you? *Sigh* FINE. Great Lakes Coffee Roasting Company/the Institute for Advanced Drinking gives me a reason to go to Midtown, Rodin sounds like it doesn't suck, La Feria won la Hatch and la $50,000 and will open in la 2013, the Detroit Historical Museum remodeled and the Michigan Science Center rebranded and reopened, and also with Hugh.

Eastern Market! I can't even wrap my head around all of the new happenings in Eastern Market over the last year. Let's start with this, which was up to snuff as of the point at which I posted it. Let's then also add Corridor Sausage's new facilities, Salt + Cedar, Michigan Artisans, and 323 East's new digs starting in January. Oh, and whatever the hell is happening on Gratiot.
UPDATE: About an hour after I posted this, Curbed Detroit reported that the proposed shipping container hotel and event space called Collision Works is on track to purchase land from the city in the Eastern Market area.

Santorini Estiatorio.

Re-boots! We loved them last year, and we still love them this year. The Vicari family shut down three of their Andiamo eye-talian restaurants and reopened them as Andiamo Italian Steakhouse. Wolfgang Puck closed his Grille inside the MGM Grand Detroit, then made up for it by opening Cucina + Pizzeria and Steak. Mosaic closed and was reborn as Santorini Estiatorio. Opus One is still working on their renovations and re-branding. The London Chop House was resuscitated (and this is one corpse I'm glad was dug up and trotted back out). In Ann Arbor, Habana moved and is now adjoining Lena while Mash, a whiskey and bourbon and beer bar, makes so much more sense with Blue Tractor BBQ and Brewery upstairs. Ootie's isn't so much a rebooties but it's fun to say. And Green Dot wins at everything.

Beer! The state of Michigan has become a petri dish of microbreweries, but let's just focus on metro Detroit. Craft beer continued to be A Thing around here, and in fact is going at it even harder. Used to be I could list from memory all of the places in a given city that serve "good beer." Now I find myself making qualifying statements: "Well, they carry Michigan beers, but it's mostly stuff like AXL and Crooked Tree and Full Circle. If you want a really good beer selection..." Hell, even the Free Press finally caught on. So did asshole scalpers. Great things in beer that happened this year/are happening next year: One-Eyed Betty's, Clubhouse BFD, Palate, the Jolly Pumpkin Cafe in Royal Oak, Falling Down Beer Company, Chelsea Alehouse, that Jet's Pizza, Green Dot, and probably way more I missed.

Baconfest! You're welcome.

THINGS IN 2013

Look out for the east side. Grosse Pointe Park will get all of Mindy Lopus's new joints plus Dave Gilbert's new joint plus a second location for Luxe, and also City Kitchen is expanding. Over in West Village, four new spots are opening (and not that they aren't all equally exciting, but Craftwork and Red Hook are more equally exciting). I think it's safe to say that the east side is sick of being everyone's bitch.

Hamtramck ... oh, just you wait. It will give me something to write about in January.

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[Hour Detroit] Ripe for Drinking: Michigan's Growing Hard Cider Industry

Michigan’s increasingly popular craft-beer movement has a sweet aftertaste. Boutique brewing is opening doors to other locally made products — hard cider among them.

“It’s fortunate for us that the craft-brewing industry is doing so well,” says Paul Vander Heide, who began producing hard cider in 2008 at his Vander Mill in Spring Lake, Mich. “It’s really helping push the consumer to try different things.”

Mike Beck, owner of Uncle John’s Cider Mill in St. Johns, near Lansing, says hard ciders are attractive as an alternative to beer and wine.

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[HOT LIST] FOOD! DETROIT! THE BEST YEAR EVER! [2011 edition]

Brooklyn Corktown (photo by Nicole Rupersburg)

#1 DETROIT IS THE NEW BROOKLYN.
The natives got their feather hair extensions ruffled over that one, then continued to make it true. The Tashmoo Biergarten was probably the most-lauded example of this, and then there were all the DIY artisan food producers like Detroit Institute of Bagels, Suddenly Sauer, Pete's Chocolate Co., so on and so forth. Also pop-up uhhhhhhhh...restaurants? I guess? Well, anyway, restaurant owners let other would-be chefs, food producers and restaurateurs use their kitchens, as was the case with Neighborhood Noodle popping up at Supino Pizzeria once-monthly on Mondays, Pie-Sci working out of Woodbridge Pub on Sundays, and Traffic Jam and Snug being the commercial kitchen home of Perkins Pickles.

But who started the meme? ME. ME. I DID. IT WAS ME.

Er, sort of.

In a Twitter post dated June 9, 2011, I wrote: "Corktown is to Detroit what Brooklyn was to New York in the '90s." (With a link to this story in the New York Post, written by moi.)

To which Dave Gasparovich (who hails from, predictably, Chicago) was all, "WAAAAAAAAAAAH, I hate you, you're stupid."

OH YEAH, DAVE? WHO'S LAUGHING NOW, HUH?

Let's follow the meme a bit, shall we?

June 13, 2011: New York Post: The new Detroit cool 
Note: Actually it ran on June 8; not sure why the discrepancy but this is relevant when referencing my Twitter post on June 9.
Hostel Detroit, Pink FlaminGO!, Slows, Astro, Sugar House, Le Petit Zinc, Detroit Institute of Bagels, Mercury Burger Bar, Roosevelt Park ... all the bases were covered and "Brooklyn" was alluded to (especially obvious to a New York audience). This piece was followed shortly after by this in the New York Times, which many attribute as being the origin point of the "Detroit is the new Brooklyn" meme. But in reality, nowhere in this story is the Detroit/Brooklyn comparison made, or even hinted at; they actually went with the vastly less popular "Detroit is the new Berlin" meme. (Also true; not the point.) Also TriBeCa, in a quote. Please note, TriBeCa is not in Brooklyn. Nor was TriBeCa ever in its very worst days even a tenth as dumpy as Detroit. And if we're being really real here, if Corktown is Detroit's Brooklyn the rest of Detroit is not Manhattan, it's the Bronx.

July 1, 2011: New York Times: Detroit Pushes Back with Young Muscles
Detroit is lifted in parties, pictures and positive discourse. (Also see above.)

Then, a meme is born:

July 7, 2011: PBS: Is Detroit the new Brooklyn?
There, now it's out there, in no uncertain terms. Stated in the form of a question lessons the authority of the claim a bit, but that didn't stop this meme-train from reaching epic proportions.

The self-appointed guardians of the city's image then chimed in on the subject:

July 12, July 26 and August 9, Model D (and here, and here).
July 21, NPR.
August, 7STOPS (A navel-gazey blog by a blank-slater who insists it's about more than just the blank-slating, and the origin point of "Detroit is the new Detroit." Cute.)
August 15, MLive.
September 26, Curbed Detroit.

Now this was mostly a summer thing, and any remnant of its relevance was pretty much lost with that whole HuffPo hullabaloo. (In which half a dozen bloggers argued via multiple back-and-forth huffy-puffy blog posts over the right of anyone's claim to the city if they don't actually live there, and whether or not the city needs the suburbanites anyway. Seriously. This is a conversation that actually happened.) Except that .... nyooooope, still going strong well into November:

November 11, Crain's Detroit Business.

And finally:

November 21, 2011: MLive: Detroit Cliche Watchdog: Let's just go ahead and change the name of the city to Brooklyn
Could we? Brooklyn sounds nicer. A tree grows, and all.

Now we just need our very own hot hipster butchers, like what they have in Brooklyn. (But but but ... can ours be hot plz?) Then the circle will be complete.


#2 FERNDALE SAYS TO DETROIT, "ANYTHING YOU CAN DO I CAN DO BETTER."

Red Hook (photo by David Landsel)

Heh ... it's funny 'cuz it's true. Curbed Detroit mentioned this in their Corktown versus Ferndale Curbed Cup neighborhood showdown, but we can even look at this on a larger scale. After some particularly Cooley-centric coverage in 2010, Slows stopped "hogging" the media spotlight (get it?) in 2011, though Corktown continued to do so.

Old-timey craft cocktail bar the Sugar House opened in Corktown. Ferndale answered directly with the Oakland Art Novelty Company, and a little less directly with the Valentine Vodka cocktail bar and the Italian-themed Torino Espresso + Bar. Astro Coffee also opened on that same block of Michigan Ave. that is home to Slows and Sugar House (question: WHERE THE FUCK DO YOU PARK). Ferndale fired back with Red Hook, which also resuscitated our favorite fallen bakery, Pinwheel Bakery. And, again, Torino Espresso + Bar.  Detroit had a whole bunch of pop-up retail happenings; Ferndale opened the Rust Belt Market.

And the competition continues as we barrel into the new year with Sean Harrington's Hot Taco (on Park Ave., next to Centaur) in a neck-and-neck race with Woodward Imperial (another taco joint with a fancy sign). What Ferndale did NOT get, however, was a hostel or a B+B. (*fingers tapping*)

Mussels Provencale at Joe Muer Seafood.

#3 HOLLYWOOD ISN'T THE ONLY ONE REBOOTING OLD FRANCHISES.
Last year at about this time I wrote about the London Chop House reopening soon. Well, it still hasn't opened yet, but perhaps we'll see it before the Mayan apocalypse of 2012. Whether or not that corpse is worth digging up, spritzing with perfume and making it dance around like Bernie on a bender, only time (and probably a lot more of it, knowing how things tend to work in Detroit) will tell.

But 2011 did see another storied Detroit establishment revived: Joe Muer Seafood opened in the former Seldom Blues spot in the Renaissance Center as a partnership between Joe Muer, grandson of Joseph Muer Jr. who opened the original location in Eastern Market in 1929 (it closed in 1988 after nearly 60 years in business), and Joe Vicari of the Andiamo Restaurant Group (which have been opening Rojo Mexican Bistros like Taco Bells lately), after what was rumored to be a high-profile bidding war between the Vicaris and Matt Prentice for that primo locale. And after much restructuring over the last two years, the Matt Prentice Restaurant Group is poised for a huge comeback of its own next year with Gastronomy.

#TooOldForFrostedTips

#4 THE FOOD NETWORK REALLY, REALLY LOVES DETROIT. (REALLY.)
In a seemingly endless stream of clips that aired on the Food Network this year featuring metro Detroit restaurants (because when WE say "Detroit," we mean metro Detroit and so should you THE END ... seriously, it went on for days), the loud, frosted-tipped Guy Fieri visited Union Woodshop and Clarkston Union, Traffic Jam and Snug, Supino Pizzeria ... and possibly more? Or no? Idk, I felt like there was a new episode premiering every damn week LONG after the point that I thought they had all aired already. Also, the short bald-headed one came into town and loved Supino too.

6,955 monthly active users as of Dec. 6. Aww, I wuv u 2!

#5 EAT IT DETROIT WAS BORN.
Really shoulda been #1, I know, but I'm super-modest. Dining in Detroit was re-named and re-branded with a whole new focus and a facelift (hey, I know I'm no spring chicken anymore), resulting in the in-your-face Eat It Detroit. And you like it; you really like it!

Bella Piatti (photo by Nicole Rupersburg)

No, but seriously, #5: BIRMINGHAM STOPPED SUCKING SO HARD.
First Commonwealth opened and it was LAFS. Sure, it's only open for breakfast and (late) lunch, but they roast all their beans in-house and serve chef-prepared foods and all of their products are ethically-sourced. Truth be told, it feels a little out of place in Birmingham for all its emphasis on quality and sustainability, but it's about damned time.

Then Tallulah Wine Bar and Bistro hired on Executive Chef Daniel Campbell who gave the menu a much-needed revamping, then Tallulah owner Mindy Vanhellemont opened a second restaurant in Birmingham called Bella Piatti which Campbell also oversees. You know how restaurants tend to need a couple of months to gain their footing before you can really give them a fair assessment? Bella Piatti was firing hard on all cylinders only a month into their opening, and is more than a welcome addition to Birmingham's dining scene: it is a welcome addition to the dining scene of the whole of metro Detroit, a farm-to-table restaurant using Michigan products with an Italian emphasis (basically, it's SW MI's answer to Trattoria Stella).

Not all new openings showed as much promise, but at the very least, in the swamp that is Birmingham's overpriced and underwhelming dining scene populated by flashy restaurants with mediocre food, these little bright points of light give hope to the city that has been alternatively known as "Boringham."

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[Fox News] Will Macarons Be the New Cupcake?

Macarons from Cup.Cake in Royal Oak. Photo by Nicole Rupersburg.

Everyone is looking for the new cupcake. Ever since the cupcake craze seems to have calmed down (after populating nearly every corner of the country with dedicated cupcakeries), food experts, trend analysts and next-it-thing-seeking foodies have been anxiously anticipating what will be the heir apparent to the throne of exalted confections.

It may still be a little too early to tell, but the macaron—a French sandwich cookie/biscuit that is as eye-catching as it is palate-pleasing—seems to be a strong contender.

Read the rest of the article here.

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