Matt & Mo’s, which started as a food truck, has the most delicious Italian Beef we have ever had. We actually found them by accident in 2017 or 2018 while on a day drinking adventure in Corktown. It was one of those days that you don’t think eating is your top priority until it is almost too late. When we decided we were going to eat nothing was open near us and we saw a line at a food truck parked the next block down so why not…let’s give it a try.

Teresa and I have been wanting to feature this Livonia restaurant for a while and here it finally is. It is a local favorite to many Livonia residents and they have a very diverse menu with something for everyone. Also a great place for a Good Friday Fish n Chips or Shrimp Tacos…Black Label Tavern.

Breakfast for dinner anyone? How about some homemade blueberry pancakes? We love eating breakfast food for dinner and blueberry pancakes are a household favorite. If blueberries aren’t your thing you can go plain or use other fresh fruit or chocolate chips. This is a delicious, quick and easy recipe that can be whipped up in about 10 minutes with ingredients kept in most pantries.

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?

This week we are featuring the American Harvest Restaurant at Schoolcraft College. Yes we have featured it in the past, but it is worth revisiting since it has been a few years. For those of you who are unaware, Schoolcraft College’s culinary arts program has their own restaurant that serves gourmet food at reasonable prices.

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.

The days are getting longer but it is still cold out and this is a good recipe for those cold winter evenings. Teresa and I are big fans of Cajun and creole style cooking. We decided to make Red Beans & Rice from scratch as a meal, not a side dish.

Who out there doesn’t love good fried chicken? I know I had seen Krispy Kruncky Chicken in my local travels and found they are in a few locations around us as well so we thought we would give it a try.

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.

This week we are talking about gas station food. In the past few years it has become a thing to open a takeout restaurant inside gas stations, offering fresh cooked burgers and sandwiches. I have seen a number of different places in the area but have only tried a couple. The only one worth mentioning is Pump 5 Grill in Livonia.

Who likes a good chicken sandwich? I know we do. We are always in search of the best chicken sandwich especially a Buffalo Chicken or Nashville Hot and believe me we have tried many some great and some not so great.

This week we made some Cashew Chicken Lettuce Wraps, but we substituted the chicken for ground turkey. Total prep and cook time is about 40 minutes, and they can be made the day before and heated up when you are ready to eat them.

Keeping with the quick and easy things to make at home this week, we are making Chicken Quesadillas. These are something we have often in the Becker household. They are quick, easy to make and most of all delicious!

While we have been staying home a lot and cooking in, we still get out occasionally to dine out. Especially when it is a special event like Grey Ghost and She Wolf’s “Battle Of The Bars 2022”.