Detroit: Ima’s SuperCrisp
Its week 4 of black history month and this week we are featuring Mike Ransom and his successful line of restaurants. Specifically Supercrisp in Midtown Detroit at Warren and Cass. Owner/Chef Michael Ransom, who is a Traverse City native, first moved to Detroit in 1999. He was roommates with a sushi chef and that is when he discovered his passion for the delicacy of Japanese food and his culinary flame was lit.
In 2007 he moved to Chicago to attend Kendall College, getting his degree in Culinary Arts specializing in classical French cuisine. Following college he spent time with a major hospitality group managing restaurants in San Francisco and Baltimore.
In December of 2016 Mike Ransom opened his first restaurant, Ima, a Japanese-influenced noodle bar, on Michigan Ave in Corktown. The place was an immediate success! In 2017 Ima was Eater Detroit’s Restaurant Of The Year.
Fast forward 9 years and Ima has moved from its original location down the street to a larger location. They opened a 2nd and 3rd location, one in Midtown and one on Madison Heights, and a fast food style restaurant next to their midtown location called Supercrisp. They have also opened a place called Summertown Fresh Bar, in their original Michigan Ave location, where you can grab salads, wraps, specialty toasts, smoothies and juices.
We have talked about Ima in the past, especially for their great happy hour. One of the things that was offered on their Midtown menu that was not on their original Corktown menu was their fried chicken sandwich, because the Corktown location did not have a fryer. We’ve always loved Ima for their creative and delicious noodle dishes and the addition of their chicken sandwich was a game changer. It is not just any chicken sandwich. Its a double fried Karaage Chicken Sandwich. (I had to look up what Karraage meant - here’s a link.
As Ima’s popularity grew Ransom saw the opportunity to expand and in 2022 he opened Supercrisp next to his Midtown Location giving them the ability to be more creative but this time with fast food.
Supercrisp, where Japanese street food meets Detroit soul food, offers more than just their delicious fried Chicken sandwich offering burgers, hot dogs, and much more. We’ll start with the fried sandwiches, which come in chicken, fish or tofu. All are yuzu-ginger marinated and twice fried to give them that super crisp crunch. They are topped with Kewpie slaw (a Japanese inspired coleslaw made with Japan’s favorite mayo, Kewpie) pickles, lemon mayo, and red onion. All come on a Vegan Brioche bun and you can get them regular or spicy.
Next are their burgers. We haven’t tried the burgers yet, but have seen them and heard people rave about them. If you aren’t super adventurous, you can just get a regular cheeseburger with oki sauce (a Japanese sauce made with tomato sauce or ketchup, Worcestershire Sauce, Soy sauce and sugar) and katsu mayo (a vegan mayo made with soy sauce, ginger and other Japanese spices).
For the more adventurous they have:
Wasabi Burger with avocado, wasabi mayo, pickled red onion, chili crisp and sesame seeds, .
Curry Burger with curry slaw, pineapple chutney, pickled red onion and ginger, curry may and scallion, and lastly the
Kimchi Burger which has kimchi, Maggi onions, burger sauce, American cheese, scallion and sesame seeds.
They also have Halal all beef or vegetarian hot dogs. You can get them plain or choose from one of their 4 craft dogs. They have a
Kali dog with crab salad, avocado, pickled ginger, wasabi mayo, scallion, nori wrap and sesame.
A curry dog or Kimchi dog, which have the similar toppings to their burgers with the same name
and lastly the Oki Dog with Kewpie slaw, pickled ginger, oki sauce, scallion, nori, and black sesame seeds.
They also have wings, salads, soups, and snacks and sides which is where we will make our next stop.
They have really good fries but they aren’t just regular fries, they come 4 different ways.
The Umami fries have garlic, sesame, nori, and chili lime sea salt.
Hot Fries which have ghost pepper and toasted chilis, garlic sesame, nori, chili lime sea salt and are served with a furikake ranch dressing.
The oki fries are their hot fries with kimchi mayo, spicy kimchi, scallions and crispy shallots.
And finally their Oki Fries with chili & lime sea salt, oki sauce, slivered ginger, scallion, nori and kewpie. These can also be made with the hot fries.
Even their beverages are not your typical beverages. All their pop is locally sourced from Detroit City Sodas and are made with real cane sugar. They also have adult beverages featuring their 8oz Lil Buddy Lager, a Yuzu ginger cider, a North Pier Brewery naked Tiki mango, lemon & lime seltzer and a draft Junami Sake.
Nothing about this place is ordinary fast food. It has been elevated to a new level to totally amaze your tasTe buds. If you are in the area, it is definitely worth making a stop to try.
Until next time . . . live well, eat well and enjoy life!
-Keith and Teresa Becker