Naftal

"multiple examples of ethnic restaurants at or approaching the fine dining level"...Mario's and Andiamo fill that requirement. ← Andiamo is a mediocre "greatest hits of Italian-American cooking" type of restaurant. but anyway. since coming back to the U.S. I've lived in five American cities besides New York and Chicago. every single one of them has local boosters and media who purport that it "has the greatest diversity of ethnic and fine dining outside of New York and Chicago." my guess is that every city in America over a million people (and probably under) claims this. they can't all be right. ← Why not?

Interesting fact/statistic: If you look at the first 10 topics on this forum you will see that three of them deal with my beloved region and they represent 381 replies and 21,187 views

There is no "known set of criteria", everyone has their own personal rules. My personal rule is: Does the place have really, really, really, really, really good restaurants. But, as you may have guessed, my views are the minority view

"multiple examples of ethnic restaurants at or approaching the fine dining level"...Mario's and Andiamo fill that requirement.

So Mario Batalli runs a chain. That's fine with me... Remind me again what he has to do with the Detroit restaurant scene? ← So... Does Detroit have a restaurant critic? ← The reference to Batalli was meant to show that a restaurant is not bad just because it is part of a chain. And yes, we do have many restaurant critics, Molly Abrams and Danny Raskin come to mind, but I do know that there are others too.

How do you define "chain"? Is a group of restaurants owned by a great chef a chain? If so,Mario Batalli and Ray Kroc are equals By the way, I am in no way saying that Kroc is a chef, but he does own a chain. Also, how do you define 'competent' as in "competent food critic"? ← Restaurant Chains from Wikipedia: So Mario Batalli runs a chain. That's fine with me... As far as a food critic goes - I'd give any paper the benefit of the doubt if they've got someone on staff working as a restaurant critic full time; As long as the paper is paying for all meals (no comps), the critic is dining anonymously, and they have any sort of food section in their paper as long as it's printed every week (or more often). ←

How do you define "chain"? Is a group of restaurants owned by a great chef a chain? If so,Mario Batalli and Ray Kroc are equals By the way, I am in no way saying that Kroc is a chef, but he does own a chain. Also, how do you define 'competent' as in "competent food critic"?

here is another article about the restaurants on woodward now, as well as some of the classic eateries and diners that have closed: eat up woodward ← I am suprised there was no reference to the Rialto,Como's, or that little French place in Ferndale on Woodward. Also, I am curious as to how a region whose Forums get over 20,000 'views' is not a restaurant city. I Know, no on thinks of MetroDetroit as one entity{sp?). Well, at least some people do. san- Should I assume that you agree with me on this point i.e. when talking of Detroit, one must speak of the Metro(TriCounty)area?Or, am I the only local who feels this way? I would very much like your thoughts on this.

hello again- I have two questions; First, I know that there is a Japanese tea that contains rice (genmaicha?), is there a similar chinese tea? And if so, what is it called? Second, this is a language question: Is the Mandarin word for 'sweet' similar to the Mandarin word for 'heaven' ? If it is, what is the difference?Is it perhaps tonal? Thanks

Locals often refer to Metro-Detroit as the TriCounty Area. This consists of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties.Oakland County,MI is considered one of the wealthiest counties in the country. I can think of four local restaurants that, if they were in NYC, would be major destinations and would be reviewed yearly. And those are the places I am sure of, There are many other places that might or might not join that list Please let me know if I interpreted your post correctly or not .

i agree. in fact, the more i think about it, there really is not any type of cuisine that isn't represented in the detroit area (other than the alinea-moto type restaurants). Fine dining you have lark and tribute, there are several other 'nice' restaurants, the ethnic food, in my opinion, can stand up to any city aside from ny & chicago, and, again, we have lafayette coney island. the thai, chinese, japanese/sushi, italian, greek, mexican, even indian, polish, ethiopian, etc, and definitely middle-eastern cuisines are well represented in Detroit. Everything is just so spread out that it appears (to me, at least) that there is no specific area, inside or outside of the city proper, that has a very high concentration of restaurants. now, if we had a public transportation system, i.e. an 'el' from the Detroit river to Pontiac via Woodward, we would have a perfect vehicle (NPI) to facilitate a backbone from which to build a concentration of restaurants that is easily accessible and part of one distinct and identifiable region. i plan on moving back to the area in 3-5 years- can someone please make sure this is taken care of by the time i get there? ← Yes!-While I do believe Detroit is a restaurant city(is anyone suprised) I can agree that the lack of a good mass-transit system does keep people from enjoying my towns numerous culinary delights. Perhaps the poor transit system also accounts for the lack of convention traffic.

Also, regarding #2-Again, while I am sure someone will disagree, Oakland County,MI is considered one of the wealthiest counties in the nation. That is another reason why I still think it is important to think of the TriCounty Area when thinking of 'Detroit'. I do love this thread

I mentioned this site because they also have an in-house dairy and make their own cheese Also, we havea lot of ethnic restaurants (my favorite being a Chaldean place) and though I am sure someone will disagree, Dearborn -the birthplace of Henry Ford-has the largest Arab community outside of the Middle East.

gfron1 and MarketSeEl-Do you like cheese? Check out this website Traffic Jam & Snug

san- The last question you raised is brilliant I would be interesed to see how everyone responds to that. In particular I would like to know slkinsey and Market StEl's take on it. Again, everyone should see the question at the end of post#60

I don't recall my last visit to Milan Michigan being chock-full of amazing food, in fact - I remember ending up at an 'Eye-talian' place. Isn't Milan smack in the middle of the Henry Ford legacy? It is indeed a unique culinary void in the heartland of this country. Once you start including an area a few hundred miles across, you can go from good restaurant to good restaurant until you reach either ocean. ← That's because you didn't have me as your guide. The next time you are here,look me up and I will change your opinion of this place.

Doesn't the lack of quality restaurants and grocery stores in the city by definition disqualify Detroit as a restaurant city? It's hard to find a populated area the size of the TriCounty region that doesn't have a handful of good restaurants - that isn't the issue. Philly is a food town because the city of Philadelphia is packed full of good places to eat. You can even walk from one good place to eat to another. Detroit (the city) is no more a food town than Box Elder Montana is. ← My point was that Detroit's auto-culture puts it in a unique position.You cannot speak of the city without including the suburbs. If Henry Ford had live in Box Elder Montana, the same thing would have happened there

Hello- just a quicknote to say that I went to Fiddleheads yesterday and it was wonderful

I went to Fiddleheads yesterday. I went there for lunch and I went there to celebrate my birthday.It was wonderful I had: lobster corn chowder with pico de gallo garnish flash fried salt and pepper squid with roasted garlic remoulade roasted lamb sandwich with garlic aioli and a side of sweet potato/bacon hash Wine: Renwood old vine Zinfandel '03 Can you tell that I loved the meal ? In my opinion, the fact that the menu changes seasonally more than makes up for the lack of specials and they even say on their take-out menu that their offerings may change due to the availability of seasonal items. I did find the phrase 'garlic ailoi' a bit redundant. But, that was the only thing I questioned about my meal there. Again, I loved Fiddleheads.

Hello again- Yes, if Detroit is not a food city (of course you know I feel Detroit is a food city but for the sake of this discussion...)it is really because of your second point. Detroit's unique development-as a result of the auto industry- means it never devloped a mass- transit system on a par with Chicago,or NYC or even A2. This auto culture resulted in the current city/suburb split. That is why, for Detroit-and only Detroit- it is more correct to speak of MetroDetroit or more exact, the TriCounty Area. If one looks at the TriCounty region as "Detroit" in my opinion, we again come to the conclusion that this is a food city.

I'll be in the City of Detroit in just 2 weeks and would much appreciate some recommendations for world-class food. Thanks!! ← In my opinion, this is the best restaurant in the City of Detroit is Traffic Jam & Snug the address is 511 West Canfield and the phone number is 313-831-9470 If you are interested in expensive quality dinning then I would suggest a place just down the street from the above mentioned place:The Whitnet Restaurant is housed in a building that origanally was the residence of lumber-baron David Whitney. It is located at 4421 Woodward and the phone number is 313-832-5700. You should call for reservations. Please let me know which places you went to and how you liked them.

Within easy walking distance of the Cultural Center/WSU area is the Detroit Medical Center. Perhaps that's why there are two world-class restaurants in the area

As mentioned earlier, I would recommend Steve&Rocky's and China Cafe. If you like Japanese food, I have recommended Happy Sushi in earlier postings. They have a lot of other stuff besides classic sushi. Lastly, you said you have a car. Would you be willing to travel into the City of Detroit proper for some world-class food?

Thank you so much! With more people like you in these forums we could convince people that our beloved Tricounty- area is indeed a true food city

Hello- Since you are discussing (were discussing) frico, I thought this would be a good time to ask a question:is montasio fresco similar to what some other Euroeans call frommage blanc? Please excuse any spelling errors. Thanks