Detroit: MidTown’s Elephant & Company
Eastern Market Brewing Company (EMBC) was founded in 2015 by Dayne Bartscht, Devin Drowley, and Paul Hoskin, with the help of veteran brewer Hazen Schumaker who had previously worked for Bell’s, Brew Detroit and 16 years at Atwater Brewing. They decided on their Eastern Market location after researching opportunities in Chicago, Ann Arbor and Detroit. The location, on Riopelle just north of Winder, is in the building that formerly housed S & D Packing and is right down the street from Detroit City Distillery.
We have been to EMBC, and enjoyed their beers, more times than we can count!
If you aren’t familiar with EMBC, here is a little bit of background. First of all they are a brewery and sell all of their own products. They do not sell liquor or food, just beer, wine and seltzers. They usually offer 9 to 12 different beers and have a few Flagship staples like their Elephant Juice and Eastern Market 313.
They also do seasonal favorites like Paczki Beers every spring which are delicious, not too sweet and the prune (yes prune) was aged in whiskey barrels and had a chocolate hint to it.
Elephant & Co Pizza and Beer is EMBC latest venture in Midtown. Why Elephant & Co? Well, the Elephant is EMBC’s logo, so why not? The midtown location is their 2nd location, having opened their 1st location in Royal Oak in 2022.
Their newest location, in Midtown is in the building that was formerly occupied by Founders. Its very spacious on the inside, and they have separate room in the back where you can host a gathering, plus a huge outdoor patio.
What makes Elephant & Co different? They are a self service taphouse, the first in the city, with 40-45 taps available serving beer, wine and seltzer.
When you arrive, you check in and they scan your ID and credit card then you get a wristband. To get a drink you tap your wristband and it unlocks the tap. They charge by the ounce, beer and seltzer is 59 cents an ounce and wine $1.09 an ounce. Yes, it is a bit more pricey averaging $7-$9 for a 12-16 ounce pour but the upside is you can do samples of 4-5 ounce pours for under $3 each.
The food is what drew us in, but the beer was a definite plus. Greg and Matt were the ones working and walked us through everything and even offered us a couple of samples of newly tapped beers.
The Metro Times put out the top 25 Detroit Style pizzas in Detroit and Elephant & Co came in at #5 . . . after only being on the pizza scene less than a year. We ordered one of their classic pizzas, the spicy pepperoni and it was so delicious. Teresa, who usually only eats 1 piece of deep dish, actually ate almost 2. So what makes their pizza stand out? It’s the dough. Being a craft beer company why not use your beer in your dough? So, they use their world-class Wonderboi Kolsch when making their dough.
To order you scan the QR code on your table and order, then the food miraculously appears at your table. They also offer a wide variety of specialty pizzas:
313 Coney Dog Pizza with hot dogs, onions, coney chili and mustard drizzle
Ballpark Nacho Pizza with taco meat, pico, tortilla strips, red onion, jalapeno and lime crema
Sexy Tractor
Nashville Hot chicken with diced pickles, house made coleslaw and hot sauce drizzle
Scape Goat with Pear, Roasted Garlic, Dill, Hot Honey and Goat cheese
Spicy Meatball
Elote
Chicken Parmesan
Here’s a few of these beautiful pizzas!
While pizza is their specialty, they do offer other food items. They have a Pesto Grilled Cheese with fresh mozzarella, sun dried tomatoes, baby spinach and pesto on sourdough. There are a couple of salads for the more health conscious, and if you just want a quick snack there are their Famous Fries or Garlic parm fries, Cheese bread and Pretzels and beer cheese.
Elephant & Co is located at Charlotte between Cass and 2nd, right behind the Masonic Temple. They are open daily at 11:30PM and close at 10:30 Mon-Sat and 9PM on Sundays. Your bill is always available to view on your phone, so you can see where your tab stands with tax and gratuity which is added automatically.
Until next time . . . live well, eat well and enjoy life!
-Keith & Teresa Becker