In 2016, Michael Ransom decided to return to Detroit to open a casual restaurant featuring Japanese inspired food with Midwestern ingredients. He named this restaurant IMA. Ima in Japanese kanji means ‘now’, as in ‘in the moment’. Chef Ransom said “My philosophy behind the ‘now’ thing is that food is an escape. When you’re sitting down at a table with great food and great people … nothing else matters. It’s kind of an escape from reality a little bit. It’s that break in the middle of your day or night that really does allow time to stand still.”

Located in the Vista Tech Center, The American Harvest Restaurant may be the schools best kept secret.  Unless you are in “the know”, you have probably never heard of it, yet it has been around for as far back as I can remember.  It was there in 1985, when I attended.  It is not just a restaurant, but a class that is part of the culinary program and all student must take.  The downfall is that it is not open all the time, only when class is in session.  Don’t mistake the cafeteria as the restaurant. The cafeteria and culinary program are 2 separate entities.  Culinary Arts does not prepare the food for the cafeteria.

This week we are going to a little town, just outside of Kalamazoo, where husband and wife Dan and Brayden Bracken run their family owned restaurant: Chinn Chinn in Mattawan, MI. Brayden was 12 when her parents, John & Michelle Tsui, closed their original restaurant Peking Palace in Portage, MI in 2003. In 2004 they opened Chinn Chinn, and today Brayden runs the front of the house and her husband Dan runs the kitchen allowing her parents to step back and enjoy life.

As we have mentioned in previous posts, there are so many cool, new and exciting things in Detroit.  It seems that between Downtown, Midtown, New Center and Corktown there are numerous new bars and restaurants popping up every month.  This weeks feature, which we featured back in 2019, is one that is not only creative but it has lot’s of space and something for everyone’s taste: The Detroit Shipping Company. 

Ooops they did it again! The Four Man Ladder group, John Vermiglio, Josef Giacomino, Will Lee and Michael Gray, the talented crew behind Grey Ghost and Second Best in Detroit’s Brush Park neighborhood, have recently opened their 3rd restaurant…Basan!

Earlier this year, when we were doing some favorite fried chicken postings, Mara Mazzoni recommended we give Bon Chon in Farmington Hills a try. We usually do not feature chain restaurants, unless they are a local franchise, but after trying Bon Chon we had to give them a shout out.

As mentioned earlier this week, we were out doing some recon for this weeks post. It is actually a revisit to one of our favorite places, featured back before the Covid shutdown . . . IMA!

We have become huge fans of noodles with rich broth. It can be Ramen, Udon or Pho. When it is done right, it is delicious. Of course we are not talking about the store bought packaged ramen, but real legitimate noodles and broth that has been simmered and seasoned for maximum flavor.