This week we ventured out to Downtown Northville, to a place that is serving up some great happy hours selections available ALL DAY MONDAY and from 1-6 PM Tuesday through Thursday.   The Northville Sports Den. This is not a new place. It has been open since around 2010. They are a family owned restaurant, located in the Northville Square business complex. There is an entrance in the rear right off the parking lot behind the building so parking is usually not a problem. 

Located at the north end of Walled Lake, just east of Pontiac Trail, is a long standing restaurant that has been many names through the years.  My memories are from when it was Key Largos back in the 90’s. Today, it is the home to The Beach Tiki Bar & Boil

If you are a long time Clinton Township resident you may remember a place called Fazzalari’s which was located at the corner of Moravian and Utica roads. It was nothing fancy, but a typical club of the 80’s with “new wave” music and inexpensive drinks. In 1993 the Kourelis family, who are not strangers to the restaurant industry having owned the St Clair Shores Inn for many year, bought Fazzalari’s. They tore it down to make way for their new venture: Great Baraboo Brewing Company, this weeks fun food Friday adventure.

In roughly 1911, a piece of property was purchased at 7 Mile and Center street in the small community of Northville . . . roughly 40 miles from downtown Detroit. At the time, Northville was a rural community which was home to roughly 1600 residents. It’s original intended purpose was a private 9 hole golf course. A few years later, a group of men, lead by Ed Starkweather (this may be a familiar name if you are familiar with the Plymouth and Northville area) started an Athletic Park where harness racing occurred. The site was later turned into the Wayne County Fairgrounds, the location where Joe Louis trained for his world Championship bout later that year. In 1944 Northville Downs was born.

In 1996-97 Mark Rieth, a lover of beer, founded a little brewery in the Rivertown District of Detroit.  Fast forward 26 years later and they have grown into a multi-million dollar craft beer powerhouse.  They were purchased in 2020 by the Tenth and Black Beer Company, the craft beer division of The Molson Coors Corporation.  Mark promised to keep operations as normal but needed the revenue and experience Tenth and Black Beer brought to the table. It helped expand their brand nationwide selling their signature Dirty Blonde and Vanilla Java Porter, 2 of their signature beers. While their Rivertown location is the original location, they currently have other locations in Grand Rapids, Detroit Metro Airport and Grosse Pointe Park. Which takes us to this week’s Fun Food Friday location . . . Atwater in The Park.

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.

It was a Thursday, March 29th to be exact.  It was Opening Day for the Tigers in 2018 and the weather was not good.  The game actually was rained out.  But that didn't stop all the pre-planned opening day parties and celebrations from happening.  My last destination was the Corktown Tavern, yes in Corktown.  Due to the weather and the game being canceled they closed down early.  I parted ways  with the group I was with, and suddenly realized I could not find my car keys.  Yes, I had locked them in my car.  The Corktown Tavern was closed.  It was raining, cold, and my phone was on life support.  I was able to get someone to rescue me, but they couldn't be there for over an hour.  I couldn't wait outside in the rain and I needed a place to stay dry and warm. So…I stumbled into Bobcat Bonnie’s . . . this week's Fun Food Friday feature.

What’s the saying? When life gives you lemons make lemonade? In the case of Ryan and Erin Cottingim, when life gave them lemons, they decided to make beer. It was around 2008-2009 when Ryan and Erin both lost their jobs and decided to write the next chapter in their lives. They wrote up a business plan and on December 26th, 2011, Witch's Hat Brewing Company in South Lyon was born. It was in the height of the real estate and banking crash of 2008-2013 and opening a new business had to seem like an insurmountable achievement . . . but here we are 12 years later and things seem to be going strong!

I guess just like on St Patrick’s Day everyone becomes a little bit Irish, on Cinco de Mayo we all tend to become a little bit Mexican and this week we are doing it in Brighton at El Arbol Taqueria.

Every now and then we are reminded that a place, that we have known for years, has really good food and a fun lively atmosphere. The Royal Oak Brewery is one of those places. We have known of their existence since they opened in 1995 but we rarely ever eat there, at least not in the past 10 years…until recently.

Normally, we steer clear of “chain” restaurants and focus completely on unique, one of a kind, places to review.  However, this week’s Fun Food Friday is very cool chain restaurant that has ties to our area and the automotive industry…Ford’s Garage. We first came across Ford’s Garage in 2016 when we were staying in Cape Coral Florida, we didn’t know much about it so we thought we would check it out and we really liked it. 

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.

Happy Friday! I guess it is time for this weeks Fun Food Friday! As you may know, every week we like to feature non chain or corporate owned places (even though we occasionally let one slip in). This week we are going to one of the local Livonia golf courses - 1 Under.