Reviews
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My Visit to the Queen
We head out to the airport – Chris dutifully dragging both luggages so I can work the camera. We hop the shuttle over to our terminal. McNamara is the cool terminal – but only a few airlines fly out of it. We get through TSA with a small amount of hassle… See, packing a ton of charging cables, camera lenses, and M&M tubes full of pennies looks AWFULLY suspicious on the xray. I got my hands swabbed for explosives and everything. This is the biggest airliner we’ve been on. It’s got 3 rows of seats – and yet it’s the narrowest walkway evah. The luggage barely rolls, let alone us…
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The Peterboro
Just a quick cell-phone review of The Peterboro in Midtown Detroit. Serving up Chinese-American food with a fancier flair. It’s not your “eat out of a take-out box” Chinese food, but with the beautiful jade green tile and large tiger painting, you’ll want to sit down to eat anyway. Image courtesy Eater: Detroit We got a couple of “small plates”. BURNT EDAMAME soy, maldon sea salt These were absolutely delicious. CRISPY PORK BELLY five spice, sweet bean sauce The pork belly wasn’t very good; the skin wasn’t as crispy as I’d expected, and the meat and fat were quite chewy. Like, cheap squid chewy… It’s interesting that this isn’t listed…
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Smoke Ring BBQ – Food Trucks in Detroit
There is a limited selection of good BBQ this far north. To find excellent BBQ in a food truck is sublime, and so is their meat! Don’t let this picture fool you. Word has gotten around about this truck, and they are regularly sold out of their ribs and brisket if you get there too late. They maintain a simple menu. Do a specific thing and do it well is always a good motto. For a current selection and pricing, make sure to visit their website. The ribs are a dry rub. You get to wet it up yourself with varying levels of heat from their house-made selection of sauces.…
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Rattlesnake Club – Detroit Restaurant Week Review
Our third and final meal for this year’s spring restaurant week is The Rattlesnake Club. It’s located in the Stroh’s 300 River Place building, which is a recognized historic site. The restaurant has been operating here since 1988 and is named for the buzzing energy of its kitchen. For this trip we took my parents out with us, as it’s not often the two of them get such an extravagant meal out. The handrails are a long rattlesnake. They have a great patio area available, which overlooks the riverfront. It was a bit too windy and cool yet to use though. We sat down and looked over the menu –…
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The Whitney – Detroit Restaurant Week Review
Last year I chose the Whitney as one of my DRW destinations, and enjoyed it so much that after seeing the menu this year, I decided to return. Take a moment to read over that review, and you’ll get a bit of background on the building’s history. This year we were seated in the Music Room. This room originally served as the Whitney family’s primary entertainment room. It boasts authentic Tiffany stained glass windows and a ceiling mural featuring cupids dancing on clouds. Today, the Music Room is The Whitney’s largest single dining room. © The Whitney While I wasn’t able to take a full tour, I did wander the…
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Jefferson House – Detroit Restaurant Week Review
The Jefferson House is in the Crowne Plaza Pontchartrain Hotel, formerly the Hotel Pontchartrain. Built in 1965, it takes its name from a much grander and older building, after a contest was held for the naming rights. The Jefferson House is on the first floor, just off the street entrance and before the hotel’s check in desk. Below you can see some of the lobby. In the first picture, off to the left past the railings is the front desk. In the second you can see the doors to the street, and to the left of that is the restaurant entrance. A little mood lighting Shirley Temple First course: The…
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Restaurant review – One-Eyed Betty’s
Ferndale announced it was having a Restaurant Week, and since I only had time for one place during Detroit’s food showcase, I was determined to visit one of these places just a few towns north. Of all, the menu at One-Eyed Betty’s in particular caught my eye. In the future I’d like to see some of the other places with larger offering and or multiple choices for items but other than that it was a good start to a new tradition for the city. When we got there it was hopping – it’s very much a destination for those who like beer, and on top of that the Tigers were…
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Restaurant Review – Roast
Continuing my foray into the eateries for those with deep pockets – Chris and I had a lovely dinner at Michael Symon’s Roast to commemorate my getting the internship with Quicken Loans. It is located in the Westin Book Cadillac, which had gotten an extensive restoration and was celebrating a grand reopening at the same time Roast opened. Walking into the lobby’s opulence should give you a taste of what your bill will look like before you leave.
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Restaurant review – The Whitney
During Detroit Restaurant Week I visited La Dolce Vita with my mom. I also ended up going out to the Whitney for a surprise fancy dinner with my husband. The Whitney has a long history starting as a private residence for a lumber baron in 1890. In 1986 after several ownership changes and different uses of the building over the years, it became a restaurant. In 2007 it received an extensive restoration to what it is today. I’m not a fan of valet and the lot is fairly small so we chose to park in the large garage next door. I was a bit dismayed by the large banners hanging…
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Restaurant review – Vinsetta Garage
Built in a former service garage of the same name, this is the latest restaurant venture of Curt Catallo and Ann Stevenson who operate the Clarkston Union and the Union Woodshop. Both are deservedly popular places that got even more so when featured on Diners Drive-Ins and Dives, thanks to the glowing review of Detroit’s own Kid Rock. So I had high expectations of what I would find here. The Vinsetta opened to service Model Ts and other vehicles in 1919, before the road that became Woodward Avenue was even paved. The last owner to operate the full service garage decided he needed a career change and when none of…