We recently attended a special “Detroit - The City of Chefs” dinner at Schoolcraft College, and were seated at a table with some wonderful people, Mark & Sadina Pulgar. They are foodies, just like us, and shared their love of dining out, wines, bourbons etc.  Sadina specifically said she loves to be in the kitchen . . . not just cooking, but specifically baking.  They mentioned their daughter, Ellen Genaw, had just opened a new restaurant in the heart of Downtown Monroe called PRIMAL PLATES. 

Located a ¼ mile apart, on M-59 (aka Highland Rd) in White Lake Township, are two places that are worthy of making a trip for some legitimate carry out food.  We are taking you from Nashville to Graceland in 30 seconds, visiting Nashville Detroit for their great Nashville Hot Chicken sandwich and Graceland King Gyro, a liquor store selling some great gyro sandwiches.

This week our adventure takes us back to Clarkston to Honchos. Honcho’s is a Latin street food inspired restaurant and coffee house. It is part of the “Union Joints” which started in 1995 when they opened their first place, The Clarkston Union. Today, they have expanded and are behind The Fenton Fire Hall, Union Rec in Ann Arbor, Vincetta’s Garage in Royal Oak and Union Assembly and Mom’s Spaghetti in Downtown Detroit to name a few.

The story that we heard, was that in 2008 Bogdan Tarasov, a Romanian construction company owner was working in the downtown Detroit area and would bring in sandwiches for his crew.  His sandwiches were so good that he was encouraged to open his own place, serving these delicious shawarma sandwiches. Bogdan was able to secure a place, inside the Park Bar, at the corner of Park and Elizabeth . . . and The Bucharest Grill was born. It was a small “walk up” and “order sandwiches to go” place which quickly grew in popularity. 

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.

This week we are in Ann Arbor, at the Blazin Coop’s Nashville Hot Chicken, which is a food truck/trailer. It is located in the parking lot of the Shell Gas Station at 3240 Washtenaw Ave, on the SW corner of Washtenaw Ave and Huron Parkway.  Blazin Coop is a brand new venture, started by brothers Alex and Sonny Nasser, that specializes in Nashville Hot Chicken. 

We love good BBQ, I mean who doesn’t?  This weeks destination is definitely one worth talking about.  They opened their Livonia location back in the Spring of this year, over 2 years after announcing they were coming . . . Thanks Covid!  While it took a while to get open it was worth the wait.  Who are we talking about?  Well of course it’s Bad Brads BBQ.  Since we are avid BBQ fans, we are not new to Bad Brads. They now have  4 other locations: Clinton Township, New Baltimore, Shelby Township, Orion Township.

This week we are visiting a Mid-town Detroit Burger Joint that opened it’s doors in 2017, in the heart of Detroit’s Cass Corridor: Royale With Cheese. Honestly, we have driven by this place a thousand times, yet we had never been here until recently. We thought “well it’s just a burger joint” which it is, but it is so much more than that. Sure they have burgers . . . . some damn good burgers!

In 1963 Dick Portillo invested $1100 (around $10,000-$11,000 today) in a 6 x 12 trailer and named it “The Dog House” in Villa Park, IL 2 miles west of Chicago. What started with hot dogs out of a trailer, has grown to the establishment they are today. With over 70 locations nationwide, Portillo’s is a fun and exciting destination for some delicious Italian beef sandwiches, Chicago Dogs and their famous chocolate cake and chocolate cake shakes.

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!

We love good success stories . . . and this one is definitely that! We know that any food or restaurant venture entails a lot of hard work and dedication. Nothing shows that more than Detroit 75 Kitchen.  Opened in 2014,  by 2 brothers Mike & Ahmad Nassar, in the parking lot of their family’s truck stop not far from the Ambassador bridge. Detroit Kitchen 75 is a must visit destination in the Detroit food scene.  They were named as one of the top 3 food trucks in Detroit in 2017 by ThreeBestRated.com and one of the top 100 places to eat in 2019 by Us Weekly magazine. We figured they must be doing something right. After trying their food, we agree that they are!

This week we are in Ann Arbor being reminded of why we do what we do. We love finding unique and exciting places! In October of 2022 the husband-and-wife duo, Aaron & Miriam Orr, opened 1923 Taco Bus. It is a double decker bus, from England, that they brought here and turned it into a food truck. Why call it 1923? It is explained on their website as paying homage to when the first engine powered double decker bus was released in London in 1923 after World War 1.

It’s that time again . . . time to talk about how much fun it is going to Eastern Market. Shout out to Alex & Toni Aloe for introducing us to Eastern Market about 15 years ago! You seriously changed our lives!

This Sunday is the official Flower Day - the Sunday after Mother’s Day. While flower day is great for getting your summer flowers to beautify your home, our favorite day is the regular Saturday market which is every Saturday 6AM - 4PM year round. While there are so many great vendors to get your fresh veggies and other favorites, there are also a lot of places to eat and drink within the market as well. Whether it is an actual vendor, selling in the shed, or a brick and mortar building in the market district, there is something for everyone’s taste and new places keep popping up every year.

We came across Alex’s in Independence Township (Clarkston area) a while back and we were intrigued enough to make a special trip back to check out all it has to offer. After some research we found that while this location is relatively new, the market itself is not.  Alex’s original market is located in Holly and was opened in 2007 by the Nannoshi family, and this is their 2nd location.