Detroit: Midtown’s Most Mis-Named Bar - Second Best
Is there is a bar or restaurant that whenever you happen to be in the area, you feel it drawing you in? With us that is Second Best, the most misnamed bar in the city…because, to us, it is the First Best! We find ourselves coming here all the time and we love sharing it with all of our friends and their friends. There are times when we are the only ones there, and times when we can barely find a place to sit. In the summer, they roll up the garage doors and you can enjoy the open air.
They have outdoor seating, it is dog friendly inside and out, and they even do a dog park in their parking lot during the summer. During the Covid shutdown they set up outdoor dining on milk crates with painted plywood for table tops and camping chairs for seating. There was a QR code on the table, you ordered and paid for everything on your phone and it would just arrive at your table. Very forward thinking of them.
We don’t just love the food and drinks here, we love the energy. We always have a good time. They are located within a 10 minute walk to all of the stadiums and other downtown venues just a few steps off Woodward as well as 10 minutes form the heart of Midtown making them the prefect location to meet with people when heading down for an adventure. According to their website here is how they describe themselves: Second Best is a neighborhood hangout for the everyman and woman, engrained with a steadfast devotion to producing a high caliber product that’s derived from reminiscence and delivered with swift, impassioned service in a casual, approachable environment…Blue Ribbon quality with a Red Ribbon tag. I used their quote because I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Second Best is located on Watson across the Street from Grey Ghost and is one of the Four Man Ladder Groups repertoire. Like their other ventures, they don’t do anything halfway. The menu is not big, usually 10-12 items that change on a regular basis to keep it new and exciting, but every single thing we’ve ever eaten there has been amazing! They are known for the Nashville Hot Chicken Sandwich, which has always been on the menu, but other items are always appearing that are just as good as the Nashville Hot…or even better. Plus they always have something vegetarian as well on the menu. In the past it was things like their Asian influenced Scallion Pancake or Root Vegetable Gyro, these days it is an Eggplant Parmesan Sandwich.
On this week’s visit, we met up with Andrew and Emily Ferrara – the creative geniuses behind our BHA brand, website and social media presence this year! Andrew had the Nashville Hot and those amazing potato wedges with the “omg what is in this?” sauce that comes with it. Emily had the Mac & Cheese, which is served in a cute little cast iron skillet (How many dive bars do that?) Teresa had the Corned Beef Rangoon’s and I had the new Steak & Cheese sandwich served with pub cheese, onion straws and Giardiniera which gave it a nice kick. Whenever things are replaced on the menu, we get a little sad…..but then when we order one of the new things it’s obvious that our fears were unnecessary because they just keep raising the bar.
Our first trip to Second Best, many years ago, was for the Nashville Hot sandwich and their Chicago Italian Beef sandwich. This last visit has made that Steak & Cheese sandwich our new favorite and I can’t imagine EVER tasting anything better than that! (And this is me, the food snob, saying that!) On one of our trips Casey (one of the talented dudes in the kitchen) asked our son Dylan if he was up for a challenge. Since Dylan worked across the street he and Casey built up a great friendship and Casey made him a special sandwich. For those of you with teens or young adults you may know what a McChicken and a McDouble are called when stacked together into one sandwich resembling a Big Mac…if not you might have to Google it. Anyways…Casey went to Grey Ghost and got a burger and combined it with a Nashville Hot Chicken Sandwich and called it a Sloppy Seconds, you know for Second Best. It was a colossal sandwich and Dylan ate the whole thing, minus 1 bite I was able to get while almost losing a finger.
Whether you are wanting a quick, cheap drink (a Shot and a beer – known as the BYOB for build your own boilermaker is $6 Sun-Thurs) or a quick bite to eat, rather than a lengthy “sit down dinner” you cannot go wrong starting or ending up here. You can also get a 40oz Miller High Life (the champagne of beers) in a champagne bucket with champagne glasses for that special occasion or just because you can.
Clearly we’re fans of Second Best - there’s nothing second-rate about it! We highly recommend checking it out in 2023 if you haven’t put it on your must-visit list already. We hope you all have a happy, safe and fun New Year, and all the best to you and yours in the year ahead!
- Keith & Teresa Becker