It all began in 1929 when Joe Muer Sr, a cigar producer, decided to open his first restaurant in Eastern Market.  It was a small oyster bar, on Gratiot at Vernor, with only 7 tables and 5 employees.  As he gained popularity he scaled back his cigar production, to expand the restaurant.  The restaurant continued to grow and they kept expanding.  By the 1950s Joe Muer Seafood was one of Detroit’s top dining destinations and was known worldwide.  When Joe Sr passed away, he left the restaurant to his son Joe Muer Jr, who then passed it along to his two sons Joe Muer III and Chuck Muer, who also went on to become an icon in Detroit’s food scene . . . until his disappearance in 1993 while sailing through the Bermuda Triangle.

In 2012 the Yaquinto family opened The Sardine Room.   They were not new to the restaurant industry. They started in Dearborn, with Paisano’s Pizza over 40 years ago. In the early 2000’s they opened Campari’s On The Park, a very popular downtown Plymouth dining location.  Around 2009 they opened Fiamma Grill (which is currently being renovated) right next to Compari’s. Finally, in 2012, The Sardine Room was born. If you live in the surrounding communities, you are likely familiar with at least one of these 3 locations

We’ve heard from a ton of people that this place had the best Friday fish fry. Since it used to be Harold’s Bar, where our parents hung out when we were kids, living in Redford . . . we were a little skeptical. Turns out, they were right! AND this is not your parents dive bar any more.

We’re back! Your favorite real estate and mortgage people with this week Fun Food Friday. This week, we are stepping a little out of our norm, featuring a restaurant that is not Downtown or near where we live. This week we head to Milford to check out Charlie’s Still On Main.

This week we are featuring a newer restaurant we have been wanting to try since it opened in Fall of 2020, during the height of the Covid craziness: Oak & Reel, Hour Magazine’s 2022 restaurant of the year.

I have received a lot of suggestions to do a “Fun Food Friday “ fish-n-chips edition. I did do this in the past, featuring a different place each week for a good Friday fish fry. Most restaurants offer their fish-n-chips on Fridays - most in an “all you can eat” special. However…how about making your own at home?

We were in the mood for Middle Eastern food, so we tried a new place downtown Detroit. Leila is an upscale Middle Eastern / Lebanese restaurant located 1245 Griswold between State St and Grand River near Capital Park. We had seen and heard many good things about Leila, which opened in October of 2019. It was voted restaurant of the year by the Free Press in 2020.

Teresa and I always try to have a seafood dish at least once a week. It could be a good grilled Salmon or Tilapia, a Grouper sandwich (yes Costco recently had some Grouper in stock) shrimp or maybe some crab cakes. this week we decided to make a Cioppino. For those of you who are not familiar with Cioppino it is basically a seafood stew made with a spicy tomato-based broth.