tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12235934020207935042024-03-19T01:45:02.879-04:00Great Lakes, Better Foodgood eats in and around the mitten.Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137907415131232555noreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1223593402020793504.post-78080580495736522382013-07-25T22:43:00.001-04:002013-07-25T22:43:43.184-04:00On the Barbecue Trail: Ann Arbor & Beyond The barbecue revolution is in full swing and there are plenty of signs of it all around. Several places around town are cooking low & slow over hardwood, resulting in some very respectable bbq. From Ann Arbor to Ypsilanti to Pinckney, there is some good bbq to be found in Washtenaw County<br />
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<b>Chef Chris’ Boogie Woogie BBQ <br />Pinckney, MI </b><br /><br />Boogie Woogie is a bit out of the way, but well worth the trek if you are looking for some serious bbq. There is no getting around the fact that the big trailer smoker in small strip mall puts out some of the best bbq you will find in the area. As I got out of my car, I was hit with the unmistakable smell of smoke from a low & slow bbq pit. I took a quick peek at the temperature gauge on the massive grill – dialed in to exactly 225, right where it should be. I knew I was in good hands.<br />
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The worst part about my trip was that I couldn’t bring myself to not try nearly everything on the menu. Chef Chris’ isn’t just a bbq man, he also has a few Cajun items on the menu as well and I am not one to turn down a bowl of gumbo. Luckily I had Mrs. T and my buddies P and CLB for backup, so between the four of us we managed to order most of the menu. <br />
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<ul>
<li>Pulled pork: smoky, nice smoke ring, not a strong rub. Mrs. T got the sandwich served on their housemade roll, which was great – pillowy soft, yet did not disintegrate under the mount of pork. </li>
<li>Ribs: some of the best ribs I’ve had (standard caveat: outside of Memphis). I prefer my ribs dry with a plenty of bark and smoke. Chef Chris nailed the ribs for my preferences. </li>
<li>Hot Links: spicy with a cracking snap from the natural casing. </li>
<li>Brisket: perhaps the only miss of the meal, it just did not have that tender texture that is so tough for a pitmaster to perfect. </li>
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The sides were all on point as well. Mrs. T loved the mac & cheese, which was not the soupy stovetop variety that a lot of bbq places do, but rather baked & topped with breadcrumbs. The gumbo was loaded with shredded bits of smoked meat. <br /><br />I really can’t say enough good things about Boogie Woogie, so I’ll just add that I’m bummed that it’s a bit of a hike for me to get to from Ann Arbor. <br /><br /><b>Satchel’s BBQ <br />Ann Arbor, MI</b><br />
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A bit closer to home is Satchel’s BBQ, my go-to spot to satisfy my bbq craving in town. Satchel’s may not do anything great, but they do a lot of stuff very well. The pulled pork is always juicy, though a little lacking in smoke for my taste. The brisket, on the other hand, comes strong with the smoke, but is inconsistent on the texture. I’ve had some unbelievably tender batches of brisket and some tougher batches. I’ve said it to anyone that will listen that brisket is notoriously difficult to bbq and can dry out quickly even if you’ve cooked it properly unless you do a brisk brisket business – dry brisket is the price we sometimes have to pay for not living in Texas. <br /><br />The ribs at Satchel’s might be the surprise winner here. They have all the evidence of properly smoked ribs – pink smoke ring & chewy bark. They are served dry, similar to Boogie Woogie, which is my preference. I like to hit them with a bit of vinegar sauce. <br /><br />I usually go for the red beans & rice side at Satchel’s, which are an excellent compliment to the bbq. The mac & cheese is the soupy stovetop variety that might remind some people of Velveeta shells & cheese, which may be a positive or negative depending on your point of view. <br /><br /><b>Ron’s Roadside BBQ <br />Ann Arbor, MI</b><br />
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If you like off the beaten path bbq joints, Ron’s is your spot. I heard about this place a while ago and had to use different internet sources to verify the address because I was convinced that there was nothing out on Pontiac Trail northeast of Ann Arbor. After finally making the trek out to Ron’s, I was glad to say I was very, very wrong. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">barbecue joints love chalkboards</td></tr>
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Ron’s is actually an extension of Romanoff’s Catering, an Ann Arbor institution founded in the 60s. Ron himself has quite a story, a classicly-trained chef who spent time working with the Barefoot Contessa and would later go on to open a BBQ joint in upstate New York before returning home to help out in the family business. We should all be glad he did.<br />
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As far as I could tell, everything is made from scratch here, from the rolls for the sandwiches to the side of jambalaya. It’s hard to pick a favorite for best bbq among this list, but for atmosphere, Ron’s cannot be beat. <br /><br />
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<b>Red Rock <br />Ypsilanti, MI</b><br />If Boogie Woogie and Satchel’s are at the roadside, hole-in-the-wall end of the bbq spectrum, Red Rock is at the other end. Located in downtown Ypsi, it occupies a huge bar space that has been adorned with wood-paneled walls and a huge blackboard listing a variety of MI beers and craft cocktails.</div>
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The bbq is certainly not an afterthought here though. Burnt ends are on the menu (though they tend to run out quickly). The smoked wings are an excellent prelude to the main event. The brisket and pulled pork are both better than average, with a hint of smoke and piled high on buttered texas toast.<br />
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<b>Biercamp <br />Ann Arbor, MI </b><br />Though not technically a bbq spot, I would be remiss if I did not mention the sandwich offerings at Biercamp. Biercamp is a smoked, cured, and cased meat emporium, with about 20 different kinds of brats and equally as many bacon choices, including my personal bacon relative – guanciale. In addition to these, they have a rotating selection of sandwiches throughout the week – pulled pork, brisket, roast beef, all served on a sturdy bakery roll. They don’t have the variety of sauce options you’ll find at a full-service bbq spot, but you won’t find better meat anywhere. As an added bonus, you can wash it all down with your favorite Faygo varietal (Rock N Rye for me please). <br /><b> </b><br />
<b>Others of Note</b> <br /><br />
<b>Blue Tractor <br />Ann Arbor, MI </b><br />Call me a hater but I have never really been impressed with anything I’ve had at Blue Tractor. The space is great and they do have some decent beers, but I can’t recommend the bbq. <br /><br /><b>Zingerman’s Roadhouse <br />Ann Arbor, MI </b><br />I’m not sure how a place that makes possibly the world’s best fried chicken can turn out such average pulled pork, but they do it. Dry and unflavorful is how I would describe it. Zingerman’s does a lot of things great but bbq isn’t one of them. Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137907415131232555noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1223593402020793504.post-89778534900013032522013-06-06T21:45:00.000-04:002013-06-06T21:45:46.575-04:00[Up North] Honest Food & Friendly Folks in Southwest Michigan<i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Our Up North series highlights good eats to seek out on your weekend roadtrips as you head Up North – that ambiguous, nebulous region in Michigan where everyone has, or has a friend that has, a cottage on a lake somewhere.</i><br />
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It is hard to go wrong when picking where to spend a weekend along
Lake Michigan in the summer. For our first summer getaway this year, we
headed to Saugatuck/Douglas for a weekend of summer fun and good food.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>First,
your daily dose of trivia: As soon as we got into town, I made a
pitstop at the grocery store where I picked up a 4-pack of New
Holland’s Paleooza and a 6-pack of Saugatuck’s Singapore IPA. Why did
they name a beer after a small Southeast Asian country, I wondered. The
blurb on the side of the 6-pack talked about the lost city of
Singapore. Assuming this was some bit of local mythology, I turned to
Wikipedia and was surprised to find out that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore,_Michigan">Singapore, MI actually existed</a>.
It was one of many towns along Lake Michigan to supply lumber to
rebuild Chicago after the Great Chicago Fire. Without the protective
tree cover to prevent erosion, the town was buried by sand. <br />
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<b>Phil’s Bar & Grille</b><br />
Saugatuck, MI<br />
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appropriate rations for late-night drinking on the porch of our
B&B, we headed to downtown Saugatuck for dinner. We settled on
Phil’s Bar & Grille, which lured us in with a menu of upscale pub
fare like ancho citrus broasted wings and potato encrusted walleye. <a href="http://greatlakesbetterfood.blogspot.com/2012/07/up-north-us-31-elk-rapids-to-charlevoix.html">I re-discovered “broasted” chicken last year</a> and I am now singing its
praises to anyone that will listen. The pressure-frying of broasting
(versus regular deep frying) yields an insanely light and crispy batter
and leaves the chicken dripping with juice. I suspect the shorter frying
time required by broasting as opposed to frying helps keep in the
moisture, which should be of particular importance to you white meat
fans.<br />
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We ordered a batch of the hot ancho-chile citrus wings.
First bite was crispy crunch from the batter, juicy wing meat, and nice
chile-citrus sauce. I didn’t get a lot of heat though. By the time we
were onto our last wings though, my mouth was tingling – that’s my
favorite kind of spicy, the kind that sort of sneaks up on you that you
don’t taste at first. <br />
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We had trouble deciding between the walleye and
perch, but I couldn’t have it be a weekend at the big lake without some
fried perch. Served with a housemade tartar sauce that was more on the
mustard side of things instead of mayo – a major plus in my book. <br />
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<br />
<br />
I
would be remiss if I did not dock Phil’s a couple points for their
drink menu. Only three Michigan beer selections – Oberon and two from
Founders – and zero Michigan wines offered by the glass (you can buy a bottle of L. Mawby
sparkling wine). Do you really need every imaginable awful mass produced
beer on the <a href="http://www.philsbarandgrille.com/drinks.html">menu</a>?
I thought it was also just poor form to not support the thriving
Michigan beer & wine scene. For the record, I had two Founders All
Day IPAs. <br />
<br />
After dinner, we strolled down Butler St. and ended at the patio at
The Butler for a drink overlooking Kalamazoo Lake. (Again with the poor
beer selection, Oberon was the only craft brew option). <br />
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<br />
<br />
<b>M&M’s Blue Star Cafe </b><br />
Douglas, MI<br />
<b><br /></b>
A Saturday morning full of garage sale and thrift store shopping builds up quite an appetite. Pregnant Mrs. T played the iron card again, demanding burgers for lunch. We went to our favorite pitstop we used to make driving to/from Chicago – M&M Blue Star Café.<br />
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<b><br /></b>
<br />
It’s actually more
than just a burger spot, they have a full diner menu and seem to do a
solid brunch business, but Mrs. T and I go there for the burgers.<br />
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<br />
<br />
While
the burgers are nothing too sexy, they always hit the spot on those
sunny summer days. While the beef is not ground on-site, the patties are
not frozen. The irregular-shaped patty and solid browning
bear all the signs of a properly griddled and hand-formed burger.
M&M also has a walk-up ice cream window for all your malt &
shake needs if the burger wasn’t enough. We had some afternoon shopping
to do downtown, so I grabbed my ice cream at Charlie’s Round the Corner.
Charlie’s serves up Sherman’s Ice Cream - <a href="http://greatlakesbetterfood.blogspot.com/2012/07/up-north-barbecue-blue-moon-and.html">a favorite of mine</a>. I opted for cake batter this time.<br />
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<br />
<b>Salt of the Earth</b><br />
Fennville, MI <br />
<br />
For
dinner, we ventured inland(!) to downtown Fennville for a place I have
been meaning to get to for years. Salt of the Earth is a restaurant
& bakery focusing on local farm-to-table dining. I realized that
this was not your typical locavore restaurant when I parked the car around
the corner from the restaurant. <br />
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A quick glance of the menu and
it is clear that this is not the type of place you’d expect to find in
rural Middle America – or maybe it is. They try to source everything
within 50 miles of the restaurant, which really should not be difficult
since the 9-mile trip from Douglas to Fennville brought us past dairy
farms, apple orchards, blueberry farms, farm market stands, etc. <br />
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<br />
<br />
I
had a hard time deciding which cocktail to start with and finally
settled on the Sage Rub – gin, sage, lime sour, passion fruit liqueur.
Amazing. I will be officially declaring a challenge to my mixology snob
friend CLB to try to replicate this. Mrs. T also had rave reviews for
her virgin mojito. <br />
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<br />
<br />
For starters, we got the crispy pork belly
appetizer and roasted radishes. My first bite of the pork belly
confirmed that these guys knew what they were doing – the fat spread
like butter on the bread from the bakery. I have been on a radish kick
lately – the lowly radish is a throwaway item when raw, but transforms
into a delicious starchy bite when roasted.<br />
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<br />
<br />
For the main event,
we decided to split the roasted confit chicken with a side of the
balsamic fried brussel sprouts – the house specialty. Two more home
runs. The chicken was tender, the skin was crisp – the simple roasted
chicken is tough to beat when done right. The sprouts were on another
level from the meager roasted sprouts I cook at home. Fried until the
leaves turned a dark green, they were topped with housemade bacon and
drizzled with balsamic. <br />
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<br />
I could have ordered another round of
the sprouts for dessert had I not heard about the wood fire-roasted
s’more with housemade marshmallow and salted caramel. This thing was
just ridiculous.<br />
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<br />
<b>New Holland Brewing Company</b><br />
Holland, MI<br />
<br />
The
plan for Sunday was to stop by Holland on the way home, walk around
downtown to do some shopping, and grab lunch at New Holland. Apparently
the city of Holland has not got the memo that people like to walk around
and spend money on weekends in Michigan – downtown was a ghost town and
everything was closed. We killed some time and finally headed to New
Holland where we were both excited to munch on some White Hatter
mussels. Predictably, the waitress informed us that they were out of
mussels. I drowned my sorrows in some Black Tulip Trippel Ale. <br />
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Aside from the hiccups in Holland, the trip was another excellent excursion to Lake Michigan. <br />
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Phil's Bar & Grille</div>
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215 Butler St.</div>
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Saugatuck, MI</div>
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<a href="http://www.philsbarandgrille.com/">http://www.philsbarandgrille.com/</a></div>
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M&M Blue Star Cafe</div>
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141 Blue Star Highway</div>
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Douglas, MI</div>
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Charlie's Round the Corner</div>
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132 Mason St</div>
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Saugatuck, MI</div>
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Salt of the Earth</div>
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114 E Main St</div>
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Fennville, MI</div>
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<a href="http://www.saltoftheearthfennville.com/">http://www.saltoftheearthfennville.com/</a></div>
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New Holland Brewing</div>
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66 E 8th St</div>
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Holland, MI</div>
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<a href="http://newhollandbrew.com/">http://newhollandbrew.com/</a></div>
<br />Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137907415131232555noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1223593402020793504.post-41122833171894666552013-05-16T22:07:00.003-04:002013-05-16T22:07:57.741-04:00The Other KFC: Korean Fried Chicken at Seoul Street<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Fried chicken is probably one of my favorite food groups. Even when it’s not good, it’s delicious. Normally, I’d go for the typical American-style fried chicken with its crackling, crunchy seasoned coating, like you’d find at KFC or Popeye’s. Korean fried chicken, on the other hand, has a crispy paper-thin shell encompassing a super juicy wing. With the Red Wings starting their series against the Blackhawks, a very pregnant Mrs. T suggested wings would be appropriate for dinner and I obliged with a trip to Seoul Street up on north campus in Ann Arbor. </div>
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There really isn’t much to add, the chicken is about as delicious as it looks there. The chicken at Seoul Street is lightly glazed after frying – soy garlic or hot & spicy. The obvious call here is to go half & half. The wings are good size, is there anything worse that getting yourself pumped up and being served with B-dubs sized wings? Not a problem at Seoul Street, the wings are big & meaty. You could go all out with the drumsticks or thighs if you wanted. I’m not an expert on Korean fried chicken, but the only complaint I can come up with is that the batter might have been a tad too thick, not quite as eggshell-thin as I would have preferred. I should also mention that the chicken is fried to order – this is a good thing, but it means that your order will take 20-25 minutes, so plan accordingly. </div>
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<br />Although the chicken is my highlight of the menu, there are other more traditional Korean dishes like bibimbop and fusion things like Korean tacos and kimchee fries. We got an order of bibimbop with bulgogi (had to get the beef, Mrs. T needs her iron). The bulgogi was great, plenty tender and good flavor from the marinade. Bibimbop is another piece of evidence supporting the hypothesis that everything is better with a fried egg on top.</div>
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Seoul Street</div>
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1771 Plymouth Rd.</div>
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Ann Arbor, MI</div>
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<a href="http://www.eatseoulstreet.com/">http://www.eatseoulstreet.com/</a></div>
Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137907415131232555noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1223593402020793504.post-42472862271032148732013-05-02T21:57:00.000-04:002013-05-02T21:57:09.219-04:00Seersucker with a Side of BourbonApologies for the blogging hiatus. But I’m back to give you some summer drink ideas, just in time for the Kentucky Derby this weekend. So grab your favorite bourbon and enjoy these two concoctions that have become staples of our summer grill-outs and barbecues.<br />
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<b>Bluegrass Burro</b><br />
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I have always enjoyed the Moscow Mule (ginger beer + vodka + squeeze of lime), but I’ve never been a huge vodka fan. It was after a couple rounds of Dark & Stormy’s (ginger beer + dark rum) with a buddy of mine that the light bulb went off – if ginger beer works well with vodka and rum, it has to be good with bourbon. After some tinkering with the formula and trying it with lime juice and without, we looked to the classic mint julep for the missing component - mint.</div>
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The internet does show some evidence that we are not the first people to pour ginger beer and bourbon together (often under the unimaginative name Kentucky Mule), so we will plead independent creation. However, the muddled mint is a key element missing from any other write-up I’ve come across.<br />
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The Southern Gentleman was born back in the summer of 2010, when the <a href="http://brianfinke.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/ESPN_OleMiss_119.jpg">southern swoop haircut</a> was spreading like wildfire across SEC campuses. As a clean-cut northern boy, I couldn’t help but be a little jealous of these southern guys that could pull off that hairstyle. When I would go a little too long in-between haircuts, I’d try to pull off the Southern Gentleman hair, often with little success and much to the chagrin of Mrs. T.<br />
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We were playing cornhole in front of our old apartment in Chicago, my buddy FJ was looking for something to mix with the bourbon he had brought over. As always, I had plenty of beer on hand, but not a lot in the way of mixers. I did have a bottle of limeade in the fridge though. We poured bourbon into a highball and topped it off with limeade. We now had the cocktail to go with the hair – the Southern Gentleman had arrived!</div>
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So this weekend, bust out your seersucker & linen and sip on these cocktails while coming up with your own idea for next year - you can use the <a href="http://www.kentuckyderby.com/horses">Kentucky Derby horses</a> for inspiration, Golden Soul sounds like a great summer drink, though I'd be scared of what the following morning would look like after a couple rounds of Black Onyx.</div>
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Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137907415131232555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1223593402020793504.post-81799951512525444772013-01-10T08:24:00.000-05:002013-01-10T08:24:13.240-05:00Le Lobster Bisque at Le Dog is Legit<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Le Dog had been one of those places that I’d been meaning to get to for a long time, but I could just never find the time to make it there. That is partly due to their brief hours, only open during the week for a couple hours for lunch. The stars finally aligned a couple weeks ago when I had a day off of work, which turned out to be a blisteringly cold winter day where a hot bowl of soup would fit the bill perfectly.</div>
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<a name='more'></a>At first glance, Le Dog appears to be a bare-bones hot dog stand on an awkward stretch of Liberty St. in Ann Arbor that isn’t quite on campus isn’t quite downtown either. The hot dogs are not the main attraction at Le Dog though, the tiny shack produces some of the best soup in the city. <br />
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The star of the show is the lobster bisque – available only on Thursdays and Fridays. At $7 for a bowl, plus $1 for your choice of Zingerman’s bread – a pretzel roll or crusty paesano roll – it is well worth a trip in the cold and is one of the best bang-for-your-buck lunches you’ll find. You’ll want the bread so soak up the addicting broth (next time I will splurge an extra $1 for another hunk of the paesano). There are a handful of chunks of lobster meat swimming around in the broth as well. With my birthday coming up, I might have to devise a way to get a big bowl of bisque and about 3 mini-loaves of the paesano bread for my birthday dinner. <br />
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Le Dog <br />
410 East Liberty Street<br />
Ann Arbor, MI Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137907415131232555noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1223593402020793504.post-40941241739315689992012-12-16T19:23:00.001-05:002012-12-16T19:23:08.267-05:00My First Take on Taiwanese FoodThis is probably a good time to remind you that I am not a food critic or food journalist of any kind - I'm just a guy who likes food. So with that in mind, what follows is my take on Asian Legend in Ann Arbor. If you're anything like me, you've walked passed Asian Legend (on William next to Cottage Inn) a bunch of times and probably never noticed it. At first glance, the ambiguously named restaurant might look like any other mediocre Chinese takeout place where you can get your fill of General Tso's and Kung Pao chicken. In fact, you can do exactly that at Asian Legend if you want, but you'd be missing out on some delicious Taiwanese food.<br />
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Prior to going to The Legend, I was under the impression that there was a double secret Taiwanese menu that you had to ask for. However, when I flipped the menu open, the first two pages were of Taiwanese snacks and entrees - looks like the secret is out.<br />
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Knowing that I was going into unfamiliar territory, I turned to the internet to see what the popular dishes were. Most reviews pointed out the handmade Pork Pan-Fried Dumplings that are served with what seemed like a ginger soy dipping sauce. These bite-sized pockets of pork goodness were a perfect start.<br />
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Next up was the Pepper Salt Chicken Wings. The battered wings were probably the crunchiest wings I've ever had - in a good way. They were somewhat plain though and I found myself using the wing as a mop for various sauces in all of the other dishes (don't knock it until you've tried it).<br />
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The first of our main dishes was the Shredded Pork with Dried Tofu and Celery. I thought it was fine, but in a meal of other highlights, this didn't stand out too much.<br />
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One of those highlights were the Wuxi Ribs. I was expecting something along the lines of a Chinese BBQ type of preparation for these ribs, but instead, they were melt in your mouth tender due to a long braise. The ribs were intensely rich, simmered for a long time in a dark soy broth.<br />
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Finally, we ordered one of mine and Mrs. T's favorite Chinese dishes - the face-melting Mapo Tofu with hunks of tofu suspended in a spicy red broth and topped with numbing Szechuan peppercorns. The Legend's version of Mapo Tofu wasn't the spiciest I've come across, but it got the job done. I think I've found my new favorite spot when that craving for spicy Asian food hits.<br />
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Asian Legend<br />
516 E. William St.<br />
Ann Arbor, MI<br />
www.asianlegendannarbor.com/Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137907415131232555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1223593402020793504.post-27229876547095753232012-12-02T19:19:00.001-05:002012-12-02T19:19:43.674-05:00Ann Arbor’s Taco BlockEver since moving back to Ann Arbor from Chicago, I have been trying to fill a taqueria void in my life. I went as far as trekking to Detroit’s Mexicantown to track down some al pastor on the spit. This time, I thought I’d take a look at my options a little closer to home and it turns out there are some decent options in Ann Arbor, with ground zero being a one-block stretch on West Liberty that has two taquerias worth visiting.<br />
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<b>Chela’s</b><br />
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As is the case with most good ethnic food in Ann Arbor, Chela’s sits in a nondescript strip mall at the corner of Liberty and Maple located next to a liquor store. Inside are a few small tables, a TV playing Mexican soccer in Spanish, and a waft of grilled meats in the air – this is how a taco joint should be. The first thing I look for in a taco joint is a grill with live coals – that is the only way to get tender, juicy bits of chopped steak with just the right amount of charred bits – no luck so far in finding this anywhere in the area. As a result, I know the carne asada is going to be a step below excellent, so I opt for three tacos – carne asada, al pastor, and barbacoa – all with onions & cilantro and a hunk of avocado.</div>
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The problem with cooking steak on a griddle and then leaving it in a warming pan (the process that a majority of taqueries do for their carne asada) is twofold: 1) the griddle isn’t hot enough to get that slightly charred crust that makes beef delicious and 2) by not grilling the steak to order, it sits in a warming tray and loses all of it’s juices. So the carne asada at Chela’s was not outstanding and I will likely say the same about every carne asada taco I have outside of one made with meat grilled over open coals or a live flame of some kind.<br />
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The al pastor was much more serviceable, though not nearly on the same level as al pastor on the spit like you’ll find at Taqueria del Rey. But it more than hits the spot when I get a taco craving.<br />
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The barbacoa was the highlight of the trip – the slow-roasted shredded beef had the right amount of heat from the chiles and was tender and juicy.<br />
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I did not see any salsas on the tables, so I did have to ask for their salsas and was given too small containers. I tend to go a little heavy on the salsa so I prefer how most taquerias will have giant bottles sitting around to use. In any event, the two salsas – one bright green tomatilla/jalepeno, and another red, roasted, & smoky – were pretty standard, I preferred the spicier red one (made with tomatoes and chile de arbols is my guess).<br />
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<b>Taco King</b><br />
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Just down the road from Chela’s is Taco King, located inside the Tienda La Libertad grocery store – an excellent source for latin ingredients that you might not find at Meijer or Kroger. </div>
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The menu at Taco King is very similar to that of Chela’s, both include carne asada, pollo asada, al pastor, chorizo, a veggie option, but Taco King also offers lengua (beef tongue, not as bad as it sounds) and lamb. I was most intrigued by the lamb so I went with al pastor & lamb on this trip.</div>
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The al pastor is about as good as you can hope for from non-spit roasted al pastor. The marinade of dried chiles and citrus juice really comes through and the meat is grilled to just the right texture. The lamb turned out to be sort of a lamb version of barbacoa – shredded lamb braised in a mildly spicy chile broth. I liked it, but Mrs. T who is not a huge fan of lamb, did not like it. It did have that gamey lamb taste, so if you are not a fan of lamb, I would avoid it.</div>
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The final verdict on both of these places is that they're good, not great. I definitely enjoyed the barbacoa at Chela's and al pastor at Taco King if I was picking favorites.</div>
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Other taco joints in AA that are worth visiting include TMAZ Taqueria on Packard near Platt and La Fiesta on Packard near Carpenter.<br />
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Chela's</div>
693 S Maple Rd<br />
Ann Arbor, MI<br />
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http://chelas.co/</div>
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Taco King</div>
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2231 W. Liberty St.</div>
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Ann Arbor, MI</div>
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Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137907415131232555noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1223593402020793504.post-24140778424861433952012-10-15T22:12:00.000-04:002012-10-15T22:12:15.324-04:00The Burgers of Ann Arbor & YpsiAlthough there are some areas where Ann Arbor/Ypsi are lacking (there is an amazing dearth of Latin food), one food where there is no shortage is burgers. I make no apologies for being an all-out burger snob – if I’m going to use a day’s worth of calorie and fat allotment on some beef and cheese, I want it to be the real deal. While I would probably argue that the <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&ved=0CDoQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgreatlakesbetterfood.blogspot.com%2F2012%2F06%2Fhamburger-day.html&ei=_a58UMPVCu-CyAGL24CIBA&usg=AFQjCNHUqpCV4xJgQcV_A2t3qwvgFy9WVQ">best burgers in the area are coming from my kitchen</a>, there are more than a few solid options around town.<div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sidetrack Bar & Grill</td></tr>
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<b>Great Plains Burger Co.</b></div>
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The relative newcomer to the burger scene is Great Plains Burger Co. on Plymouth Road in Ann Arbor near U of M’s North Campus. Great Plains’s burgers start as hand formed patties of fresh ground, locally sourced beef. The patties are smashed onto a hot griddle, which helps develop an amazing crust. The patties are served on top of a sizable toasted white bun. Toppings are all of your standard options plus a few things like fried egg and avocado.</div>
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<br />On<a href="http://twitter.com/GetBetterFood"> twitter</a>, I described the burger as “frustratingly close to being great.” While I think it is a very, very good burger, it suffers from two main flaws: 1) The patties spend just a little too long on the hot griddle, causing them to come out a tad dry. The technique used to cook the burger is solid – smashing the burger initially helps develop that awesome crust, but once the burger is flipped, it should come off the griddle soon after. I watched the process last time I was there. The grillmaster was flipping the patties repeatedly and they spent a long time on the griddle. This is probably all in the name of health codes, but I’m sure they could get away with cooking the patties for 1 minute less, which I’m guessing would help things immensely. 2) The bun:meat ratio is too high. The patties are already a tad dry and the large buns exacerbate the issue. I like the buns, which are buttered and toasted, but they are just a tad too big for the single patty. A juicier patty probably mitigates this problem as well.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the crust on that patty is food porn-worthy</td></tr>
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Burgers aren’t the only thing on the menu worth trying, the fresh cut fries are outstanding and the milkshakes are hands down the best around. The fries are thick and fried to order; though not the crispiest fry you will eat, they are damn good (I don’t think they’re twice-fried, which is why they don’t come out super crispy). There is usually a rotating tap of dipping sauces – Honey chipotle, Kentucky Bourbon, Carribean Jerk, Black Truffle, etc.<br /><br />The only thing better than the fries might be the shakes made with Guernsey Farms Dairy ice cream. The shakes are super thick – as a shake should be – and served with a very wide straw, a touch that many shake places overlook. The only thing that could make them better is a variety of flavors. They only have chocolate and vanilla. What do I have to do to get a chocolate/peanut butter or vanilla/cookies’n’cream shake?</div>
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<br /><br /><b>Sidetrack Bar & Grill</b></div>
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<br />I have sung Sidetrack’s praises before as being one of the best craft beer bars around. This time the burgers come in for high praise. Typically, burgers that are advertised as being “Named Best Burger by” anything end up being a massive disappointment. Sidetrack’s burger had all the symptoms of overhyped burgers I’ve seen before – “As seen on Oprah!” “Named One of the Top 20 Burgers by GQ!” Having been sorely disappointed by several overly hyped burgers in the past, it was with a little trepidation when I ordered my burger at Sidetrack – medium rare with American cheese on a regular bun.</div>
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I can probably count on one hand the times in my life when I’ve ordered a burger medium rare and actually have it come out anything less than medium. Sidetrack nailed it though, perfectly tender and juicy. The bun was nothing extraordinary, just a standard white sesame seed bun, which worked just fine with this classic rendition of a burger. I really have no complaints, this burger was as excellent as they come. Maybe <strike>Oprah</strike> <a href="http://www.oprah.com/food/Gayle-Searches-for-Americas-Best-Burgers">Gayle</a> just knows her burgers.</div>
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<b style="text-align: center;">Bagger Dave’s</b></div>
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Whereas Great Plains comes off as a burger joint run by a guy with a passion for good food, Bagger Dave’s comes across as a place run by a restaurateur trying to cash in on the burger craze. Honestly, everything just feels half-assed. The fries are supposedl fresh cut, but they don't seem like it. They are always under-cooked (I've actually tried to order them ‘well done/extra crispy’ with little luck). The burger menu offers a million toppings, which is probably due to the underwhelming patties, which are under-seasoned, overcooked, dry and bland. I’d be lying if I said I don’t stop in here from time to time when a craving hits and I don’t feel like driving across town to one of the better options.</div>
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<br /><b>Wurst Bar</b><br />Wurst Bar doesn't only do solid housemade sausages, they also have some solid burger offerings as well. The burgers at Wurst are fresh ground beef brisket that are dipped in umami sauces. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umami">Umami</a> is the latest buzzword in the foodie scene and refers to the fifth basic taste, along with sweet, sour, bitter and salty. Umami is typically ambiguously described as the savory taste. The <a href="http://www.wurstbarypsi.com/">Wurst menu</a> explains that the umami flavors come out best when the sauces are caramelized when the burger is cooked to about medium well. I decided to go with the Mr. Peanut burger topped with aged cheddar, bacon and crunchy peanut butter and followed the rules by going with medium well. </div>
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The burger sounds like it shouldn't work, but the PB and cheddar come together in a sweet/salty combo that works with the pretzel bun. I didn't really pick up a savory boost with the umami sauce and would have just preferred a medium rare patty. Having said that though, the burger was still pretty tasty and I’d order it again.</div>
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<br /><b>Krazy Jim's Blimpy Burger</b><br />Here is the obligatory mention of Blimpy Burger. I suppose you can’t have a recap of the burger scene in the area and not include Blimpy. I’m not sure I have anything unique or interesting to add – everyone already has an opinion on Blimpy and I’m not trying to change any minds. Are the burgers the best I've ever had? No, but that isn't totally the point. I am usually not easily swayed by “environment”, but it’s tough not to like the scene at Blimpy – patties of beef being smashed on the griddle, <a href="http://sandwichtalk.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/snowbears.png?w=398&h=313">old pictures of the annual snow carvings out front</a>, <a href="http://www.blimpyburger.com/combos.htm">framed calculations of the total number of mathematical combinations of burgers</a>, patrons waiting patiently in line with trays in hand hoping not to be scolded by DaVee. I once saw her scold a super pregnant lady for sitting down while waiting in line (rule #2 at Blimpy Burger – don’t save seats). She nearly brought a 10 year-old girl to tears for reading Harry Potter and not paying attention when asked what she wanted from the grill. I've run in to old friends that I haven’t seen in years while waiting in that line.<br /><br />The nostalgia isn’t the only draw at Blimpy though, the burgers are great and the fried veggies are even better – fried cauliflower is my fried veggie of choice. The beef is ground fresh and the onion rings are legendary. </div>
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<b>Other Burgers of Note</b></div>
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<a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CCAQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgreatlakesbetterfood.blogspot.com%2F2012%2F09%2Ffrom-range-to-grange.html&ei=OcB8ULiQJeW6yAHJ64HQCg&usg=AFQjCNF1aJOtxJICHT7hoXW8v38ekYs6yg">Grange</a> usually has a burger on their menu and it is solid - the brunch burger with bacon jam and a fried egg is a can't miss. <a href="http://www.quickie-burger.com/">Quickie Burger</a> is not as bad as you might think, given it is right on campus and open until 4am - I had a decent late night burger there one night when Mr. Spots was closed. <br /><br />Although I didn't come across a perfect burger, I found some pretty good ones from people that clearly have a passion for burgers. The lesson learned is that a mediocre patty can't be saved by a plethora of toppings. With that, I'm off to go grab a burger. </div>
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Got a burger joint I missed or somewhere else that makes a great burger? Let me know about it in the comments.</div>
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Great Plains Burger Co.<br />1771 Plymouth Road<br />Ann Arbor, MI<br /><a href="http://www.greatplainsburger.com/">http://www.greatplainsburger.com/</a><br /><br />Sidetrack Bar & Grill<br />56 E. Cross St.<br />Ypsilanti, MI<br /><a href="http://sidetrackbarandgrill.com/">http://sidetrackbarandgrill.com/</a><br /><br />Bagger Dave's<br />859 West Eisenhower Parkway<br />Ann Arbor, MI<br /><a href="http://baggerdaves.com/">http://baggerdaves.com/</a><br /><br />Wurst Bar<br />705 W. Cross St.<br />Ypsilanti, MI<br /><a href="http://www.wurstbarypsi.com/">http://www.wurstbarypsi.com/</a><div>
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Krazy Jim's Blimpy Burger</div>
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551 S. Division</div>
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Ann Arbor, MI</div>
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<a href="http://www.blimpyburger.com/">http://www.blimpyburger.com/</a></div>
Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137907415131232555noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1223593402020793504.post-10113016316131882622012-10-03T10:04:00.001-04:002012-10-03T10:50:52.900-04:00Tailgating Like the 1%A couple weekends ago, Michigan played UMass in what no one referred to as the Mitt Romney Bowl. Nevertheless, it seemed like as good a time as any to buy some lobsters and tailgate like the 1% with some New England lobster rolls.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>The market for lobsters is an interesting case study of economics and the environment. In recent years, the market price for lobster has declined due to <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304388004577529080951019546.html">overfishing of cod and haddock</a> - the primary predator of lobster. Back in 2008, lobstermen encountered even further challenges to get rid of the oversupply when Canadian lobster processors lost their lines of credit due to the financial crisis. The price of lobster plummeted, leading to an <a href="http://nymag.com/guides/summer/2010/66749/">explosion of lobster roll shops in NYC</a>. The Midwest has not reaped any of these benefits, so it'll take a little bit of work to get your hands on a lobster roll.<br />
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(Sidenote: In his article <i><a href="http://www.gourmet.com/magazine/2000s/2004/08/consider_the_lobster?currentPage=1">Consider the Lobster</a></i>, David Foster Wallace recounted his visit to the Maine Lobster Festival and discussed the moral and ethical quandary of cooking and eating lobster. It is a great, if uncomfortable, read.)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwjTcSAfkarK7aAbFygF7LESN5tcXCnVuYgr98m94WyLklBGJnezc5E4SaBENyq5jc7U0-QfDYpIQUjkUN_OXhPbhlMyK9rBNhUfrsrF9ZosdMgWa4z-7Y5_KPWKJmLEzciLj21OrrnaBj/s1600/IMG_9021.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwjTcSAfkarK7aAbFygF7LESN5tcXCnVuYgr98m94WyLklBGJnezc5E4SaBENyq5jc7U0-QfDYpIQUjkUN_OXhPbhlMyK9rBNhUfrsrF9ZosdMgWa4z-7Y5_KPWKJmLEzciLj21OrrnaBj/s320/IMG_9021.JPG" width="214" /></a>Lobster rolls come in two varieties across New England. The most prevalent variety is cold lobster with mayo and celery or scallions served on a <a href="http://www.roadfood.com/photos/mini_7752.jpg">split-top hot dog bun</a> (split-top buns are virtually unheard of in the midwest). The less popular variety is warm lobster served with drawn butter. As an ardent opponent of all things mayo, I opted for the latter variety.<br />
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If you are thinking about serving lobster rolls for a crowd, you'll rightly assume that it could quickly become a costly event. To cut down on the cost, I picked up some langostino tailmeat from Trader Joe's. Langostino refers to meat from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langostino">squat lobster</a>, which looks like a sort of mash-up of a lobster, crab, and crayfish. The tailmeat is pretty tasty and worked well to cut down on the cost of the whole operation.<br />
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To cook the lobster, I used my outdoor fryer/boiler and got a big pot of water and tossed them in. After about 10-12 minutes, I removed the lobsters to an ice bath to stop the cooking. Removing the meat from the lobster tail, claws and legs is by far the most difficult part of the whole operation. I used my kitchen scissors to cut through the shell - be careful not to hack through the claw meat, that's the best part.<br />
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To prepare the meat, I melted a ton of butter in my dutch oven, tossed in the lobster & langostino meat, sprinkled it with salt, pepper, and celery seed. I could not find any split-top hot dog buns, so I bought an unsliced loaf of Zingerman's bakehouse white. I cut the loaf into thick slices, buttered each side and toasted it on a skillet. I cut a slit down the top and then stuffed it with lobster meat. Serve and devour.<br />
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If I were to do it again, I'd try to kick them up a notch somehow as they were just a little too plain - not totally a bad thing when it comes to lobster, but it could have used something else. My buddy P gave me a tip after his recent trip to a lobster roll shack in Connecticut - add a bit of sherry and garlic to the butter to make a sherry butter sauce. That sounded like exactly what is needed to bring these to the next level. I didn't hear any complaints from 99% of the people at the tailgate though, the only complainer was the one who didn't get a roll:<br />
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Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137907415131232555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1223593402020793504.post-79052005634352349722012-09-24T22:14:00.001-04:002012-09-24T22:14:20.320-04:00From the Range to Grange<i>(Editor's note: Apologies for the bad pictures, I try to not be That Guy taking flash photos in restaurants.)</i><br />
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Housemade charcuterie, poutine, Great Lakes perch. Grange had me at hello.<br />
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I have been to Grange a couple times, for brunch and for dinner. With my brother and his girlfriend in town for the weekend, it was a no brainer on where to go for dinner on Friday night.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>Grange's website gives you a good idea of what they're all about. The largest portion of the website is devoted to the <a href="http://grangekitchenandbar.com/farms.php">farms, orchards and other local businesses</a> that supply the restaurant. The menu - organized into snacks, plates, and entrees - touches on all the recent foodie trends - farm to table dining, nose to tail meats, housemade charcuterie, upscale comfort food snacks like scotch eggs and poutine. The drink menu is not an afterthought, with plenty of innovative cocktails and Michigan beers & wines. I started with their take on the classic dark & stormy - served with sparkling apple cider instead of ginger beer. I am totally stealing this for an upcoming football watching party.<br />
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If I had my way, restaurants wouldn't even bother listing entrees, just let me pick a bunch of smaller stuff to try. Grange meets me halfway with its smaller snacks and plates, which are perfect for sharing, and a few entrees. Although my vote for the pigs head was vetoed, the group did settle on some good choices.<br />
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The fried green tomatoes with bacon jam were as good as they sound. I need to get to work on hacking this bacon jam.<br />
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Next up was the fried Great Lakes smelt with roasted pepper aioli. Almost as good as the smelt at Christmas Eve dinner with the Italian side of the family.<br />
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The one thing that we unanimously agreed that we had to try was the duck confit poutine with cheese curds and duck sage gravy. Poutine, Justin Beiber, Carly Rae Jepsen - Canada is slowly invading us with their delicious food and irresistibly catchy pop songs.<br />
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We went on to split the roasted chicken in a bacon mustard pan sauce and grilled trout with a corn and mushroom relish. My only complaint is that they took forever to come out, I'm usually a pretty low maintenance diner, but it seemed a little long even by my standards.<br />
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There is a small bar upstairs, which doesn't have the best atmosphere (it's in a small space above the main floor) but would be a good place to grab a couple drinks and snacks from the<a href="http://grangekitchenandbar.com/bar_menu.php"> bar food menu</a>. I've had a burger on a prior visit and can vouch that they know to make a burger. The burger they are doing right now has bacon jam and garlic mayo, I might have to go back this weekend to try that.<br />
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Grange Kitchen and Bar<br />
118 W. Liberty<br />
Ann Arbor, MI<br />
<a href="http://grangekitchenandbar.com/index.php">http://grangekitchenandbar.com/index.php</a>Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137907415131232555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1223593402020793504.post-67281919893589755072012-09-13T21:46:00.000-04:002012-09-13T21:46:19.101-04:00[Up North] Northern Exposure: Off to the UP!<div>
<i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Our Up North series highlights good eats to seek out on your weekend roadtrips as you head Up North – that ambiguous, nebulous region in Michigan where everyone has, or has a friend that has, a cottage on a lake somewhere.</i>
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As a follow-up to <a href="http://greatlakesbetterfood.blogspot.com/2012/09/up-north-eating-our-way-around-little.html">last week’s post on the Lower Peninsula portion of our roadtrip</a>, this will focus on the Upper Peninsula portion. While the UP portion of the trip was more about taking in the scenery, we did find some solid food spots along the way. <div>
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<a name='more'></a>After crossing the Mackinac Bridge, we made our first pitstop at Clyde’s Drive-In just off the highway in St. Ignace. Clyde’s is your typical old school drive-in with burgers, fries and malts. While I’m sure most everything on the menu comes out of a freezer, their burger patties are made to order, as evidenced by the huge tray of ground beef sitting next to the griddle. Clyde’s specialty is their ¾ LB “Big C” burger and while I was fairly hungry, I couldn’t bring myself to try to tackle that Paul Bunyan-sized beast. </div>
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Pro-tip on where to eat – don’t eat it in your car, take it to go and head to the <a href="http://hunts-upguide.com/st__ignace_bridgeview_park.html">Mackinac Bridge Bridgeview Park</a> just down the street for a great view of the bridge. </div>
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Defeated, we headed back to the campsite to drown our sorrows in a smorgasbord of Pure Michigan snacks we had loaded up on back in Petoskey. </div>
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The next day, we hiked from our campground at the Lower Falls to the Upper Falls (~5 miles). The hike was a bit tougher than expected, but the fact that we knew there was beer waiting for us at the Tahquamenon Falls Brewery at the Upper Falls made it a little easier. </div>
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<br />The next day, we made our way westward to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore to stake out a campsite. (sidenote on camping in the park: there are three campgrounds within the Pictured Rocks National park area and they are first-come, first-serve, which is to say, it’s basically prison rules. You drive around looking for an open spot and if you see one and can get a piece of property down on it, it’s yours. There is no campground host to make sure things go smoothly. The lady driving around in front of me was driving too slowly around the spots, so I channeled my inner Andretti and swooped around her and ended up snagging one of the last spots available. The spots fill up quickly in the morning so get there early.) </div>
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<br />On our first day in the park, we drove around and hit the sites that are easily accessible by car via short hikes (<1 mile) – Miner’s Falls, Miner’s Castle, Munising Falls, Wagner Falls. </div>
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We had some time left to kill before our sunset cruise along the Rocks, so we rolled through Munising to check it out. Right along the water, we saw a couple of fisheries on the docks and decided to pop into Vanlandschoot & Sons. Vanlandschoot’s looked like exactly the type of place you want to buy your fish from – literally right on the water where their boat is docked. The storefront consists of a small counter inside the building where it looks like they do all of the processing. Cheap too. We finally had our smoked fish and it was excellent. In addition to the smoked whitefish & salmon, they had fresh fish (whitefish, salmon, walleye) as well. Definitely worth the stop, if only for the free smells of the fish docks. </div>
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<br /><br />We had a dinner date with Johnny Dogs – which is like a hot dog stand on HGH. Menu items include things like the North Carolina dog (House smoked pulled pork, Orange Pop BBQ sauce, coleslaw) and the Bob Marley Dog (House smoked Jerk chicken, sweet pepper pineapple salsa, banana peppers), and some non-dog items like a Cuban sandwich and whitefish wasabi tacos. The most stressful decisions I make are at times like these. I decided to go with the Lake Superior Whitefish sandwich (blackened Cajun style), while Mrs. T went with the Homewrecker dog - deep fried dog, chili, cheese, and bacon. </div>
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My whitefish sandwich was basically a po’ boy, it came out on an light French roll that is probably the best po’ boy bread I’ve come across outside of New Orleans, I wonder where they get their bread from.<br />
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Mrs. T couldn’t handle all of her dog so I had to throwdown on that as well. It tastes like it looks, which may be in the eye of the beholder. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9NkBF58jRkBi7VouQf_bymGjv9a6AoKXYRy-zP3pBuRd5wxeXhl0cBO13p_nNWL6v5CfMMRbIx4zV5PzJlgIEd0yfgOT7Cl0n2uR2H27n-L7tb7pf_Q1rAJ1rA4FsAxLm0yamVhvUG7sk/s1600/_MG_9639.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9NkBF58jRkBi7VouQf_bymGjv9a6AoKXYRy-zP3pBuRd5wxeXhl0cBO13p_nNWL6v5CfMMRbIx4zV5PzJlgIEd0yfgOT7Cl0n2uR2H27n-L7tb7pf_Q1rAJ1rA4FsAxLm0yamVhvUG7sk/s640/_MG_9639.JPG" width="640" /></a><br /><br />The weather on our trip was perfect all week – sunny and not too hot. It figures that the only two hours where it was cloudy all week would be the exact two hours we were on our sunset cruise of Pictured Rocks. Insert<a href="http://mckaylaisnotimpressed.tumblr.com/"> McKayla is not impressed face here</a>. </div>
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The next day we did the 10-mile Chapel Loop hike. We were on the fence about doing the relatively long hike, but decided to do it due to my hissy fit about the lack of sun on the cruise the night before. Needless to say, we were glad we did the hike. </div>
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<br /><br />If you ever make it to Pictured Rocks, you owe it to yourself to do the Chapel Loop. It is a ~10-mile loop trail that goes by Chapel Falls, Chapel Rock, Chapel Beach then climbs to the top of the Rocks where you hike along the top of the rocks and have some really stunning views. Eating our sandwiches on top of the Rocks at one of the lookout points was one of the more enjoyable meals on the trip. </div>
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<br />After the hike, we started making the long haul back into the Lower Peninsula, but not without making one last stop for pasties at Lehto’s just a few miles outside of St. Ignace. </div>
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<span style="text-align: center;">For the uninitiated, a pasty is basically a huge northern version of an empanada – a thick flaky pastry-like crust, filled with chopped beef, potatoes, onions and rutabaga (and according to my grandparents, it has to have rutabaga to be legit). I am far from a pasty expert but Lehto’s is supposed to be among the best and after having mine and half of Mrs. T’s, I can’t disagree. </span><br />
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<br />We didn’t get to everywhere we wanted to, there was Brown Fisheries in Paradise and the <a href="http://chibbqking.blogspot.com/2010/06/west-bay-diner-grand-marais-mi.html">West Bay Diner</a> in Grand Marais. There’s always next summer. <br /> <br /> <br />Clyde's Drive-In <br />3 US Highway 2 W<br />St. Ignace, MI</div>
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Tahquamenon Falls Brewery & Pub</div>
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Tahquamenon Falls State Park - Upper Falls area</div>
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<a href="http://www.tahquamenonfallsbrewery.com/">http://www.tahquamenonfallsbrewery.com/</a>
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<a href="http://www.greatlakeswhitefish.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=122&Itemid=32">VanLandshoot & Sons Fishery</a></div>
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Commercial Street (head down Munising Ave west out of town and look for the signs on the east side of the road)</div>
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Johnny Dogs<br />106 Lynn Street<br />Munising, MI<br /><a href="http://www.johnnydogsonline.com/">http://www.johnnydogsonline.com/</a>
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Lehto's</div>
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US Highway 2 W, ~6 miles west of St. Ignace</div>
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Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137907415131232555noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1223593402020793504.post-46294675584362926322012-09-10T22:25:00.000-04:002012-09-10T22:25:35.884-04:00Tailgating Recap - Alabama Smoked Chicken and Air Force WingsIt's after Labor Day, which means it's time to put away the white shoes and start getting the tailgate ideas ready. Here's a look back at what I cooked up for the first couple weekends of the football season.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>Smoked Chicken with Alabama White Barbecue Sauce</b></div>
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I have not come across a food that varies more from region to region than barbecue - every part of the country seems to have their own twist on it. One of the more peculiar specialties I've come across is northern Alabama's white barbecue sauce invented by <a href="http://www.bigbobgibson.com/">Big Bob Gibson</a> in 1925. The mayo-based sauce does not seem like it should work, and for a mayo-phobe like myself, it sounds downright unholy. But with Michigan taking on Alabama in the opening week of the season, I thought I could get a little juju going in our favor by making some barbecue the way they do in Alabama. </div>
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For instruction, I turned to <a href="http://www.meatwave.com/blog/smoked-chicken-with-big-bob-gibsons-alabama-white-barbecue-sauce-recipe">The Meatwave</a>'s writeup on Alabama white sauce. I butterflied the chicken by cutting out the backbone and dusting them with a <a href="http://www.thepauperedchef.com/2008/08/smoked-pulled-p.html">bbq rub</a>, then placed them on the cool side of a grill set up for indirect grilling. I usually go legs towards the fire, skin side up for about 20 minutes, then flip over and rotate so that the breasts are towards the fire for about 15 minutes, and then flip again and rotate (skin up, legs toward the fire) for another 10-15 minutes. I basted them with the white sauce towards the end of cooking and then drizzled some more sauce on while serving. </div>
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The only thing to disappear faster than Michigan's chances of winning the game was the chicken, so at least I had that going for me.</div>
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<b>Wings Three Ways: Siracha Garlic, Momofuku-style Asian, and Sweet and Smoky BBQ</b></div>
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I was a little stumped at what to cook for the Air Force game, but Mrs. T chimed in with the obvious answer - wings! I decided to go with a lineup of some of my favorite wing creations of the past. </div>
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To cook the wings, I opted not to fry them so as to avoid the mess of a giant pot of oil with lots of people hanging out around the house. Instead, I went with a method from Kenji over at SeriousEats that manages to provide a fairly crisp skin through roasting the wings in the oven. The trick is to <a href="http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/02/the-best-buffalo-wings-oven-fried-wings-recipe.html">season the wings with salt and baking powder</a> to dehydrate the skin before baking them. </div>
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For the spicy siracha garlic wings, I chop up a ton of garlic (~1 head of garlic per 1LB of wings) and saute them in a good bit of butter (4 tbsp per 1LB of wings). After they're nice and fragrant, I dump in 1/2 cup of siracha. Toss with the wings once they're done. </div>
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The <a href="http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/10/momofuku-style-chicken-wings-recipe.html">Momofuku-style wings</a> are doused with a thin ginger soy sauce. They were the crowd favorite of the afternoon.</div>
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My favorite of the day was the sweet and spicy smoked legs, once again courtesy of <a href="http://www.meatwave.com/blog/grilled-super-smokers-sweet-and-spicy-chicken-wings-recipe">The Meatwave</a>.</div>
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UMass is coming to town next weekend - lobster rolls anyone??</div>
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Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137907415131232555noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1223593402020793504.post-14775899386622600102012-09-05T23:11:00.003-04:002012-09-05T23:13:22.752-04:00[Up North] Eating Our Way Around Little Traverse Bay<i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Our Up North series highlights good eats to seek out on your weekend roadtrips as you head Up North – that ambiguous, nebulous region in Michigan where everyone has, or has a friend that has, a cottage on a lake somewhere. </i>
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My end-of-summer hiatus is over. I’ve been on vacation, roadtripping through the northern part of the Lower Peninsula and then through part of the UP. Here is a rundown of some of the places we stopped on the first portion of our trip, which took us through Bellaire, Charlevoix and Petoskey before heading through the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M-119_(Michigan_highway)">Tunnel of Trees</a> en route to the Mackinac Bridge.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Tunnel of Trees</td></tr>
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The main attraction in Bellaire was a visit to Short’s Brewing, but before we could get to the drinking, we had to get some dinner. Lulu’s Bistro came highly recommended from the innkeepers at the B&B where we were staying. </div>
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We started with some mussels served in a tomato/fennel broth and served with olive tapenade crostini. After we finished with the mussels, we mopped up the broth with some extra bread. Good stuff. <br />
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Next up, we got the artichoke-crusted whitefish, sourced from nearby John Cross Fisheries in Charlevoix. The fish was excellent and the poached veggies were not just a throwaway component of the dish, I could have eaten another bowl of them. Turns out we got the last piece of whitefish that night as the couple dining next to us was informed that they were out a few minutes later. Our waitress explained that due to the warmer weather, the whitefish are going into deeper, colder water and the fishermen’s nets do not go down that far. I was a little skeptical – no whitefish Up North? Couldn’t be. As usual, I would be proven wrong. <br />
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Next up was a trip to Short’s. Short’s makes a couple of my favorite beers at the moment, the very hoppy Huma Lupa Licious as well as their Nicie Spicie summer wheat. I was anxious to try some of their brews that are not bottled and only available at the brewpub. I won’t go through all of them, but they were a little hit or miss. Short’s tends to try fairly unique concoctions, so naturally some of them are going to be misses. <br />
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On the way out of town the next morning, we came across the Bellaire Smokehouse. I liked the look of it, so we popped in to check it out. The storefront is behind a huge Victorian house with a smokepit around the side. Inside I found a butcher counter with fresh meat, along with tons of smoked meats, sausages and fish. The fridge was stocked with plenty of MI craft beer and wine. I was looking for whitefish, but there was no sign of it. Hmmm. We grabbed some smoked cheddar beef sticks for a roadtrip snack and headed north to Charlevoix and our lunch date with Roquette Burger Bistro. <br />
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I went with the bacon jam burger with bacon jam, brie, and arugula while Mrs. T went with the breakfast burger with bacon, white cheddar, fried egg and their housemade mayo. We both ordered our burgers medium rare and they were incredibly juicy. The buns were soft and pillowy, just how I like them, but couldn’t quite hold up to the big patties and the burger became somewhat unmanageable towards the end. <a href="http://www.midwestliving.com/travel/around-the-region/the-midwests-best-burgers/">Roquette’s burgers come with a lot of hype</a> and I’d say that they pretty much live up to it. I also ordered their delicious watermelon soda and helped myself to a garnish of fresh mint from the herbs growing along the side patio. I will be going back the next time I’m anywhere close to Charlevoix. </div>
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We strolled through Petoskey, stopping at Symon’s General Store, which has a great selection of gourmet snacks, good cheese counter and extensive wine cellar. You can easily get your fill of Pure Michigan snacks and drinks here. </div>
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A few doors down is American Spoon that has jams, preserves, salsas and butters made from about every fruit grown in Michigan. All products are made in Petoskey and they have a few locations around northern Michigan and one down in Saugatuck. We picked up a jar of the mango habanero salsa to save for our camping trip in the UP. The menu at the American Spoon Café & Gelato shop next door was very tempting, but we had dinner plans at Chandler’s. </div>
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Chandler’s is a restaurant owned by the same family that owns Symon’s. I would describe the menu as New American with some Asian influences (the menu changes frequently). We decided to eat outside on the patio behind Symon’s and I started with a regular mojito while Mrs. T got the pomegranate mojito. Both started disappearing too quickly to get a pic, but they were excellent and served with a sliver of sugar cane, which I can never resist from nibbling on after I’m done. <br />
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We started with their tomato salad – straightforward and mighty tasty. <br />
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Next up were the pork spare ribs, glazed with a hoisin bbq sauce and topped with a slaw of pineapple and shallots. These were incredible, perfectly tender and nicely charred on the outside. The bright slaw provided a great contrast to the fatty ribs. I was ready for the whole half slab. <br />
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Next up was the duck breast served over a soy & sesame slaw. The duck was on the rare side of medium rare, but the skin was seared well. All in all, a great meal, though there was not as much focus on Michigan-sourced products as I would have guessed. <br />
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After dinner, we strolled through the park and made our way to Mitchell Street Pub, which I declared on twitter that night to have the world’s best jukebox. I think I still stand by this even in my soberer state. The bar is full of northern kitsch, including a massive moose head behind the bar and peanut shells all over the floor. If it were anywhere else, it’d feel a little lame and contrived, but up here, it is the perfect spot to grab a seat at the bar, have a couple brews and listen to the salty locals at the bar. <br />
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We initially tried to go to the Mitchell Street Pub on Sunday, but it is apparently closed on Sundays, so we headed over to City Park Grill. Dating back to 1875, the City Park Grill has a long history including prohibition raids, a favorite hangout of Ernest Hemingway during his northern Michigan summers, and the bizarre story of one of its former owners, Frank Fochtman. </div>
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Fochtman took over the business in 1897 when it was called Grille Cafe and when Prohibition was established in 1917, he built underground tunnels to a nearby hotel to export alcohol. Legend has it that Fochtman later hung himself in the basement of the building. To commemorate Frank, Short’s released a Hangin’ Frank ale, <a href="http://www.shortsbrewing.com/beer/our-portfolio/seasonal-offerings/controversiale/">but had to re-brand it as ControversiALE</a> due to some controversy over the label. City Park Grill still calls it the Hangin’ Frank ale and I figured I had no choice but to order one up. </div>
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The next day, we biked around Little Traverse Bay and made a pitstop at Tom’s Mom’s Cookies in Harbor Springs to energize for our trip back to Petoskey. <br />
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On our way out of town the next morning, we stopped at Toski Sands Market for some of their famous whitefish spread. Toski Sands is a great grocery with a fantastic meat counter, with everything from local perch to La Quercia guanciale. We loaded up on grub for our camping trip and grabbed bread and some breakfast pastries at the nearby Crooked Tree Breadworks. </div>
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As I made my way to the cooler, our vacation hit its first major roadblock – there was a sign taped to the refrigerator door, where the whitefish spread should have been, explaining the whitefish shortage problem. I was momentarily devastated but I had it on good authority that a small general store further north in Good Hart had excellent whitefish spread as well. </div>
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We continued north through the Tunnel of Trees towards the small village of Good Hart where I would get my whitefish spread. <br />
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The general store in Good Hart did have a deli counter in back and a solid selection of any last minute snacks or supplies you might need for your beach or camping trip. But they did not have any of the whitefish spread I was looking for. My smoked whitefish search would have to continue on to the UP. So onward we went. <br />
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Lulu’s Bistro<br />
213 N. Bridge St. <br />
Bellaire, MI<br />
<a href="http://lulusbistro.com/">http://lulusbistro.com/</a> </div>
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Short’s Brewpub<br />
121 N. Bridge St.<br />
Bellaire, MI<br />
<a href="http://www.shortsbrewing.com/"> http://www.shortsbrewing.com/</a> <br />
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Bellaire Smokehouse<br />
508 N. Bridge St.<br />
Bellaire, MI<br />
<a href="http://www.bellairesmokehouse.com/"> http://www.bellairesmokehouse.com/</a> <br />
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Roquette Burger Bistro<br />
103 Park Ave. <br />
Charlevoix, MI <br />
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Symon’s General Store <br />
401 E Lake St <br />
Petoskey, MI <br />
<a href="http://lakeandhoward.com/SGS_INC/Symons_General_Store.html">http://lakeandhoward.com/SGS_INC/Symons_General_Store.html</a> <br />
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American Spoon <br />
411 E Lake St. <br />
Petoskey, MI <br />
<a href="http://www.spoon.com/">http://www.spoon.com/</a> <br />
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Chandler’s Restaurant <br />
215 Howard St <br />
Petoskey, MI <br />
<a href="http://lakeandhoward.com/SGS_INC/Chandlers.html">http://lakeandhoward.com/SGS_INC/Chandlers.html</a> <br />
<br />
Mitchell Street Pub <br />
426 E. Mitchell Street <br />
Petoskey, MI <br />
<a href="http://www.mitchellstreetpub.com/">http://www.mitchellstreetpub.com/</a> <br />
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City Park Grill <br />
423 E Lake St. <br />
Petoskey, MI <br />
<a href="http://cityparkgrill.com/">http://cityparkgrill.com/ </a><br />
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Toski Sands Market <br />
2294 Petoskey Harbor Springs Rd (M-119) <br />
Petoskey, MI <br />
<a href="http://www.toskisandsmarket.com/">http://www.toskisandsmarket.com/</a> <br />
<br />
Crooked Tree Breadworks <br />
2264 Petoskey Harbor Springs Rd (M-119) <br />
Petoskey, MI <br />
<a href="http://breadworks.com/">http://breadworks.com/</a> <br />
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Good Hart General Store <br />
1075 North Lake Shore Drive (M-119) <br />
Good Hart, MI <br />
<a href="http://www.goodhartstore.com/Good_Hart_General_Store,_Welcome.html">http://www.goodhartstore.com/Good_Hart_General_Store,_Welcome.html</a></div>
Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137907415131232555noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1223593402020793504.post-36903020389180900562012-08-21T23:10:00.000-04:002012-08-21T23:10:03.737-04:00The Search for Al Pastor Ends in Detroit's MexicantownWhen people ask me what I miss most about Chicago after moving back to Michigan last year, my immediate response is all of the great taquerias around town. I’m not talking about the places open until 4am in Lincoln Park that serve up gigantic burritos, or even the upscale taco joints in places like Wicker Park. I’m talking about the taco counters in the back of the Mexican grocery stores, places that use paddles the size of canoe oars to stir a huge pot of carnitas simmering in lard, places where your order is quantified not by number of tacos, <a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/carnitas-uruapan-restaurant-chicago">but by pounds of meat</a>. And every once in a while, you’d stumble across the holy grail of Mexican grilled meats – al pastor cooked on the spit. <div>
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To get the distinct smoky and citrusy flavors of al pastor, slices of pork take a bath in a marinade of chiles (guajillo/pasilla/ancho) and pineapple juice, with some garlic and achiote paste thrown in for good measure. The slices of pork are stacked on a vertical spit with hunks of onion intermittently layered in that will melt into the caramelized pork. The spit (or “trompo”) is then topped with a hunk of pineapple. <br /><br />If this sounds suspiciously familiar to Middle Eastern shawarma with a different flavor profile, you might be on to something. Pastor is Spanish for shepherd, which was the name given to Middle Eastern merchants (primarily from Lebanon and Syria) who immigrated to Mexico in the early 1900s. Where the Middle Eastern immigrants used lamb marinated in herbs for their shawarma, the Mexicans modified the recipe by using local chiles and citrus for the marinade and replacing the lamb with pork.<br /><br />While most respectable taco joints will serve a version of al pastor, very few actually cook it on the traditional vertical spit. In lieu of the vertical spit, lesser taco establishments toss the marinated pork onto a hot griddle to cook, which lessens charring and depth of flavor. On the spit though, the pork cooks slowly, rendering out its fat, which mingles perfectly with the melting onions, resulting in perfectly charred bits of juicy pork heaven. The pork is shaved off into a corn tortilla along with a couple slices of the pineapple roasting on top of the trompo. <br /><br />It took me longer than it should have to track down some solid al pastor in Michigan, but the mission ended in the severely underrated culinary destination of Detroit’s Mexicantown on the southwest side. No, you won’t see it on any postcards or a Pure Michigan commercial, but what you’ll find there is a taste of back home for the neighborhood’s predominantly Hispanic community. My search for al pastor led me to Taqueria El Rey on Vernor, the main street in Mexicantown. </div>
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<br />I knew I was in good hands as soon as I stepped out of the car and was hit with the intoxicating smell of grilled meats cooking on the grill in an auxiliary cooking area in the parking lot. Turns out Taqueria El Rey is not a one-hit wonder – in addition to the al pastor, they turn out some pretty fantastic grilled chicken. Cooked over live coals, the full birds are hit with a spicy rub and then take a trip on the grill to cook until the skin gets nice and crispy. If I’m nitpicking, our bird probably stayed on the grill a few minutes too long, but delicious nonetheless. </div>
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Inside, the trompo is on display right next to the counter. El Rey actually has a fairly extensive menu, with a variety of meats for taco, burrito, torta, or tostada toppings, but this was strictly an al pastor affair for me. Mrs. T went with one al pastor taco and one carnitas taco. </div>
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<br />The al pastor was outstanding, exactly as I had hoped, although they lose a tenth of a point for <a href="http://gwiv.com/CarniceriaLeon41.jpg">no hunk of pineapple on top of the roasting pork</a>. The carnitas were great as well, slow-cooked to be tender and juicy. I had planned on doing a taco tour of Mexicantown but now I’m not sure I’ll want to go anywhere else. What about you – where are your favorite taco joints?</div>
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Taqueria El Rey</div>
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<a href="http://taqueria-elrey.com/">http://taqueria-elrey.com/</a>
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4730 W Vernor Hwy<br />Detroit, MI 48209<div>
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Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137907415131232555noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1223593402020793504.post-19065927530569462762012-08-17T07:09:00.000-04:002012-08-17T07:09:12.180-04:00Unraveling the Mystery of Coney Sauce for a Detroit/Chicago Dog ThrowdownWhen my brother and his friends, evenly split between Detroit and Chicago residents, decided to come to cottage for the weekend, the stage was set for a hot dog throwdown pitting the Chicago Dog against the <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/07/03/156214351/coney-the-hot-dog-that-fed-detroits-american-dream">Detroit Coney</a>. There was only one problem: while the components of the Chicago Dog are fairly straightforward, getting our hands on some real Detroit Coney sauce turned problematic – picking up some generic grocery store chili would not be acceptable and you aren’t going to find coney sauce in grocery stores outside of the metro Detroit area.<br />
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Although Detroit coneys are described as a form of chili dog, it is somewhat of a misnomer - it is a thicker, more viscous sauce than chili. Chili typically involves a base of ground meat, tomatoes, and a stock of some sort. The consistency of coney sauce is totally different, it is much thicker, closer to an Italian Bolognese sauce and has a different flavor profile than your typical chili. I had attempted to replicate coney sauce a few years ago in my Chicago days to satisfy a coney craving; it was a miserable failure and I swore off making coney sauce ever again. I was all set to break down and mail order some <a href="https://store.nationalconeyisland.com/p-16-chili-brick-15.aspx">National Coney Island coney sauce online</a>, until I stumbled across <a href="http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/Seeking-Authentic-Detroit-Coney-Sauce-Recipe-m114580.aspx">a thread on the RoadFood forums</a> where a recipe claiming to be legit Detroit coney sauce was getting rave reviews.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">cheatsheet for the uninitiated</td></tr>
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Once I read the recipe, the lightbulb went off and the mystery of Detroit coney sauce had been unlocked – it is not a chili at all, it is a gravy. It turns out that Detroit coney sauce starts with making a roux by cooking flour in melted butter – the same way you make gravy at Thanksgiving. This made total sense and it’s so obvious that I’m ashamed I couldn’t come up with it.</div>
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The process starts with browning some ground beef* in a large Dutch oven. I then removed the browned beef, leaving some nice browned bits on the bottom of the pan to scrape up when making the roux. Then I tossed in the butter and let it melt (being careful to not burn the butter) and then dropped in the flour and stirred frequently until the mixture gives off a nice nutty aroma and the color turns light brown.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">* The conventional wisdom seems to be that beef heart is used along with ground beef in most coney islands around town. I couldn’t find any on short notice so I went with ground chuck. I’m guessing chicken livers would be a decent substitute to up the offal factor that beef heart would provide.</span><br />
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Next, slowly stir in some stock, followed by all of the spices. Once the spices are incorporated, add back the browned beef and reduce until it is to a texture of your liking – it should be just thick enough to where it won’t run all over the plate when you spoon it onto your dog.</div>
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As far as the dogs, I went with the Koegel’s natural casing dogs. You are free to get whatever brand you want, but they must be natural casing – what’s the point of having a hot dog if you don’t get that nice snap when you bite into it? I had planned on smoking the hot dogs, but the traditionalist in me decided to keep it simple this time around, so I grilled them slowly over moderate heat, trying to prevent them from bursting open. </div>
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The Chicago dog preparation is much more straightforward: pickle spear, onions, yellow mustard, atomic green relish, sport peppers, tomato slices, celery salt. Not nearly as fun as hacking the coney sauce, but a fine way to dress up a hot dog nonetheless.</div>
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<b>Detroit Coney Sauce Recipe:</b></div>
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2.5 LBs ground beef<br />
½ LBs ground beef heart<br />
6 tbsp butter <br />
6 tbsp flour<br />
2 tomatoes (~8 oz. of canned crushed or diced tomatoes)<br />
24 oz of beef or chicken stock <br />
3 tbsp chili powder <br />
2 tbsp paprika <br />
3 tbsp yellow mustard <br />
1 tbsp turmeric <br />
1 tbsp cumin powder <br />
1 tbsp garlic powder <br />
1 tbsp onion powder <br />
1 tbsp kosher salt <br />
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1. Brown the beef in a large Dutch oven, use beef suet or lard to brown the meat if you can find it.</div>
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2. Remove the beef from the pot, melt butter, whisk in flour to create a roux. Whisk constantly and maintain a medium heat so that the flour and butter do not burn. </div>
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3. Once the roux turns light brown and gives off a nutty aroma, slowly pour in the stock and whisk constantly. Pour in all of the spices and tomatoes and stir to incorporate. Add the beef back to the bowl.</div>
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4. Simmer the pot uncovered until it is reduced to a thicker consistency. </div>
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5. Grill or steam up some natural casing dogs. Top with mustard, diced onions and coney sauce.</div>
Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137907415131232555noreply@blogger.com43tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1223593402020793504.post-48868870021882262482012-08-14T23:04:00.001-04:002012-08-14T23:04:12.695-04:00Crayfish Wars: The Neighbors Strike Back<div>
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My <a href="http://greatlakesbetterfood.blogspot.com/2012/06/up-north-great-lakes-seafood-boil-fish.html">previous attempt at catching crayfish</a> at the lake at our cottage earlier this summer did not go well. Apparently unimpressed with my trapping efforts, the neighbor kids – and “<a href="http://greatlakesbetterfood.blogspot.com/2012/06/meat-candy.html">meat candy</a>” fans – decided to take matters literally into their own hands. I arrived late on a Friday night and saw a couple flashlights down near the docks – the kids were in the water pulling crayfish out of the rocks by hand. I guess it’s like the kids say – <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Only_Live_Once_(disambiguation)">YOLO</a>. By the following morning, they had captured 13 of the mud bugs. I was surprised at how big some of them were.</div>
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As I started boiling up a pot of water with a heavy dose of Tony Chachere’s creole seasoning, I had several skeptical relatives and neighbors waiting nearby, snickering at the thought of eating these guys.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"yewwwwwww." ~Mrs. T</td></tr>
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Attitudes started changing once they got a little taste of the tailmeat doused in the spicy creole broth. Unless the crayfish come off the<a href="http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-153-10370_12145_12203-33021--,00.html"> invasive species list and the DNR</a> allows them to be commercially sold, I don’t think we’ll ever be able to do a full boil, so the appetizer portion will have to do for now. After this, at least It know I won’t be the only one complaining about that.</div>
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<br />Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137907415131232555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1223593402020793504.post-51464237828062213572012-08-10T07:18:00.000-04:002012-08-10T07:18:28.172-04:00Snapshots from Mark's Carts in Ann Arbor<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I am a fan of the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/19/dine-and-drive-in-the-d-food-truck-rally-detroit_n_1437760.html">food truck movement</a> and am glad we have some semblance of a food truck scene in Ann Arbor with <a href="http://markscartsa2.com/">Mark’s Carts</a>. Somewhat controversial, food trucks give aspiring chefs - who otherwise could not afford to open a brick-and-mortar restaurant - the chance to show off their craft. It increases food diversity in the area and more often than not, will lead to new businesses from the successful trucks opening up permanent locations.<br />
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(Minor rant – can we have food trucks that actually, you know, drive around to different spots? Right now Mark’s Carts has a monopoly on the food truck scene as it is the only spot where food trucks are allowed, and the same eight vendors are always there. Communities need to embrace the food truck trend by passing ordinances that allow for food trucks to roll freely through city streets. I don’t find the argument that food trucks take away business from brick-and-mortar establishments to be compelling – if increased competition is negatively impacting your business, you must not be doing something right.)<br />
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The vendors at Mark’s Carts are doing their thing and cranking out some good street eats, so I will keep my grumblings to a minimum. On with the show.</div>
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I started with a fish taco from <a href="http://darcyscartaa.com/Home.html">Darcy's Cart</a> - lightly pan-fried Lake Huron whitefish topped with red cabbage, cilantro and a chipotle crema on a flour tortilla. I generally prefer my tacos to be a corn tortilla that has spent a few seconds on a hot griddle, but the rest of the components here were on point. I had their carnitas taco on a previous visit, which was a hit as well. Are these tacos better than those you can get at the Mexican taquerias in town - TMAZ, Taco King, and Taqueria La Fiesta? That debate will have to wait for another day.</div>
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Perhaps the star of the show tonight was the Lucky Pork bun from <a href="http://www.sanstreetfood.com/">San Street Food</a> - unbelievably tender pork belly with pickled veggies topped with a sweet hoisin sauce all wrapped in San Street's <a href="http://www.sanstreetfood.com/2010/07/ann-arbor-observer-event-at-top-of-the-park-7-10-10/#more-311">handmade</a>(!) buns. We doubled down on the pork belly with my cousin ordering up a banh mi, which is served on a French loaf from Zingerman's Bakehouse.</div>
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San Street hosted a pop-up event at <a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-bar-at-327-braun-court-ann-arbor">The Bar at Braun Court</a> - get in before it blows up - on Tuesday night and it sounds like that will be a recurring event. </div>
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Mrs. T's mom was in town and she and Mrs. T split a margherita pizza from <a href="http://www.facebook.com/A2PizzaPi">A2 Pizza Pi</a>'s mobile wood-burning oven.</div>
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The dough seemed to be made with wheat flour. You can see the nicely charred bits on the outer edge of the crust. The bottom of the crust didn't get quite as crispy as I was hoping but the fresh mozz, basil, and tomatoes made this a fine take on the classic margherita.</div>
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I haven't made it to all of the places at Mark's Carts yet, but that's only a matter of time. </div>
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Mark's Carts</div>
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<a href="http://markscartsa2.com/">http://markscartsa2.com/</a>
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211 W. Washington St.</div>
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Ann Arbor, MI</div>
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<i>Check out or other trip to Mark's Carts: <a href="http://greatlakesbetterfood.blogspot.com/2012/07/hut-k-chaats-tastes-too-good-to-be.html">Hut-K Chaats Tastes too Good to be Healthy</a></i></div>Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137907415131232555noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1223593402020793504.post-39712161862761299112012-08-07T08:19:00.000-04:002012-08-07T08:46:12.099-04:00An Extended Look at All Square: A History of Detroit-Style Pizza<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<span style="background-color: white;">As an addendum to my post on <a href="http://www.michigan.org/blog/guest-blogger/all-square-a-history-of-detroit-style-pizza/">Detroit-style pizza featured on the Pure Michigan blog</a>, this post will provide an all-encompassing source for everything you need to know about Detroit-style pizza. Free from word-count restrictions, I can now lay out some additional critical information for both Michiganders in search of pizza in the D and help Michigan transplants find some square pie.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">As I began thinking about topics to write for the Pure Michigan spot, I had a few ideas bounce around in my head before settling on Detroit-style pizza. I settled on it for a couple reasons: 1) it’s delicious 2) it’s not that well-known outside the area, and 3) a lot of people familiar with Detroit's square pies don’t realize that you can’t get them elsewhere. I know I did not come to that last realization until I moved outside of Michigan. First I lived in DC, where I became exposed to Neapolitan-style places like Two Amy’s. Then I lived in Chicago and slowly came around on Chicago-style pizza*. I am an equal opportunity enjoyer when it comes to pizza, but none of them hit the same sweet spot for me like the square pizzas in the D.</span><br />
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First, a big thanks to all the contributors to the forums at <a href="http://pizzamaking.com/">PizzaMaking.com</a>, from which I gathered most of this info. I used to think I was into pizza but these guys are out there reverse engineering pizzas, using calipers to measure crust thickness, and measuring recipes out to thousandths of grams. They know pizza.<br />
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<b>It's All About the Pan</b></div>
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Everything that is delicious about the square pies are due to the pan - the caramelized cheese crust that forms around the edge, the crispy bottom, the thick airy dough - all due to the "blue steel" industrial parts plans. From what I have been able to tell, all places in Detroit source their pans from the same manufacturing company - Dover Parkersburg (see <a href="http://www.doverparkersburg.com/products/utility_items.html">"utility trays" here</a>). I was able to snap a quick pic inside the kitchen of Detroit Style Pizza Company in St. Clair Shores and they look exactly like the pans on the Dover Parkersburg website:</div>
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Unfortunately, Dover does not sell individual pans to the public, but the pans do pop up from time to time at restaurant supply stores. They appear to be available online <a href="http://www.bucket-outlet.com/upan.htm">here</a>. I have my order in so I can begin experimenting with recreating Detroit-style pizza at home. </div>
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<b>Where it all Began: Buddy's</b></div>
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<a href="http://www.buddyspizza.com/">http://www.buddyspizza.com/</a> </div>
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The roots of Detroit-style pizza trace back to the original Buddy's location where the pizza was first served by Gus Guerra. Gus sold the business in 1953 and left to take over Cloverleaf Bar & Restaurant. Since then, Buddy's has expanded to nine locations across the Detroit metro area. </div>
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The lone location within the city limits, the original Buddy's location sits on an unassuming corner on Detroit's eastside at 6 Mile and Conant and provides a snapshot of Detriot - past & present.</div>
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I think I may have heard the echo of an Ernie Harwell "loooong gone!" home run call when I stepped down into the bar area at Buddy's. The dining area is classic old-school Italian, with checkered tablecloths and a long entry way filled with articles and photos of varying levels of celebrities documenting Buddy's storied history. And if that's not enough nostalgia for you, Buddy's has bocce ball courts that are open to everyone dining inside.</div>
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Oh, they do serve pizza here too. I've been to a couple other Buddy's locations and they've consistently been delicious. What I like the best about Buddy's is the sauce - the light tomato sauce with a good hit of herbs elevates the pizza to legendary status. The cheese - <a href="http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=3783.0">a source of much debate among extreme pizza afficiandos that are trying to reverse engineer Detroit-style pizza</a> - gets a touch of sharpness from shaved parmesean. The crust wasn't quite as crispy as I like my Detroit-style pizzas, but a minor complaint to otherwise perfect pizza.</div>
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<b>A Pizza Lineage: Cloverleaf, Loui's and Detroit Style Pizza Company</b></div>
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Many of the pizza joints in Detroit can somehow trace their roots to Buddy's. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list, but rather a snapshot of a few of the big names in the Detroit-style pizza scene. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQJSaJyuEEx9qKcSASqy6-tPqAVlI6_6rv6-wM_XGUgkWQhJIRI6KI9M2cfFIeAYrgfAetxTi3L11Km6yapOuEelrYeXoIpPqBXaET9HBZuEFW7ZckTJWr7hr-JfwbmR2jsVRCQffJHvg5/s1600/_MG_8694.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQJSaJyuEEx9qKcSASqy6-tPqAVlI6_6rv6-wM_XGUgkWQhJIRI6KI9M2cfFIeAYrgfAetxTi3L11Km6yapOuEelrYeXoIpPqBXaET9HBZuEFW7ZckTJWr7hr-JfwbmR2jsVRCQffJHvg5/s400/_MG_8694.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">cherubs love square pizza</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;">After Gus sold Buddy's, he moved on to take over at <a href="http://www.cloverleafrestaurant.com/">Cloverleaf Bar & Restaurant</a> in what was then East Detroit and what is currently Eastpointe. We ordered a pepperoni pizza with pepperoni on top (toppings are typically applied underneath the cheese, but I like to order pepperoni on top so that the pepperoni gets nice and charred). </span></div>
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Unfortunately, the pepperoni didn't quite crisp up like I was hoping it would. The lack of crisp in the pepperoni was made up for in an extra crispy edge of caramelized cheese. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQEHrX_rxat-LwdVY_Qmi5yl1MYkfjA6lj3LdL5nAQbh4ZqdWF9tBDqdCXkymhLwiyNUNP8jCsrJUZVNiBNsiloVrnLhm0dswseed7PwVZXPRxWHe7b7lCUq12InOKZ0c_kRUclnOsdzqc/s1600/_MG_8690.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQEHrX_rxat-LwdVY_Qmi5yl1MYkfjA6lj3LdL5nAQbh4ZqdWF9tBDqdCXkymhLwiyNUNP8jCsrJUZVNiBNsiloVrnLhm0dswseed7PwVZXPRxWHe7b7lCUq12InOKZ0c_kRUclnOsdzqc/s320/_MG_8690.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Next up was <a href="http://louispizza.net/">Loui's</a>, founded by long-time Buddy's chef Louis Tourtois. Louis worked at Buddy's for 27 years, eventually left to take over the kitchen at <a href="http://www.shieldspizza.com/">Shield's</a> (another Detroit-style pizza staple), and would later leave to open his own place in Hazel Park - Loui's Pizza. Louis still runs the restaurant, along with his son Louis - they are the only two men that know the recipe at Loui's, according to our waitress, whom I have no reason to doubt given her 18 years of experience at Loui's. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiybFMtcjQF82vD3bkMY1ApkwC7fNg1NLTAYAFmdRZ6mI5SR6rIOLpVf7xaoIehN8ZsuWxHrc9TG3MkVM4ldhu82qp8AGniyXPAqd3rlTezHp33guu9fvfe8q8EpudLpOoNnZN0mUYKTQ2j/s1600/_MG_8703.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiybFMtcjQF82vD3bkMY1ApkwC7fNg1NLTAYAFmdRZ6mI5SR6rIOLpVf7xaoIehN8ZsuWxHrc9TG3MkVM4ldhu82qp8AGniyXPAqd3rlTezHp33guu9fvfe8q8EpudLpOoNnZN0mUYKTQ2j/s640/_MG_8703.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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The pizzas at Buddy's and Loui's are very comparable. The crusts are nearly identical. The toppings provide a bit of contrast - the cheese at Loui's was milder, likely not hit with the shaved parmesean like Buddy's. Most people agree that the cheese used on Detroit-style pizza is not standard mozzarella, but rather some combination of brick cheese and/or white cheddar. My money is on brick cheese as the cheese never seems sharp enough to be white cheddar. </div>
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We enjoyed our with a bottle of chianti, like thousands of patrons before us had if the ceilings are any indication.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_rO2x0E3JbkV1qfIfU-hDJmwSBgQZy2Qv1v2XI0RGWOAWR_EaM_qPxHVF2x8syAtf8GZhf_BFi88ryxv11qgDxP7Ua_rSjYDEyamNrRVKh2iIaapdYHxH-2iDhUfWrpBh1GGsZzA6v74B/s1600/_MG_8700.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_rO2x0E3JbkV1qfIfU-hDJmwSBgQZy2Qv1v2XI0RGWOAWR_EaM_qPxHVF2x8syAtf8GZhf_BFi88ryxv11qgDxP7Ua_rSjYDEyamNrRVKh2iIaapdYHxH-2iDhUfWrpBh1GGsZzA6v74B/s400/_MG_8700.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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The last stop on our tour was relative new kid on the block <a href="http://detroitstylepizza.co/">Detroit Style Pizza Company</a>. Formerly operated under the Cloverleaf name, Detroit Style Pizza Company opened under the new name earlier in 2012 and is a creation of Gus Guerra mentee Shawn Randazzo. Shawn was recently crowned <a href="http://www.prweb.com/releases/DetroitStyle/Pizza/prweb9466531.htm">World Champion Pizza Maker of the Year</a> at the 2012 International Pizza Challenge with his Detroit-style pie.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghNhDtrXoemrFB3KKftCwSRYJNCWbIBGEY1d5yAkXbzRYB7NOXtX7LaamIWwY-5owjZKpzp_tRuDMOQhnwBHUh2AwAUPjC1kno4FUypUBhTIVK4XI_TEilRVFOQL4w0CR2ecBPTp6cFLbi/s1600/_MG_8681.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghNhDtrXoemrFB3KKftCwSRYJNCWbIBGEY1d5yAkXbzRYB7NOXtX7LaamIWwY-5owjZKpzp_tRuDMOQhnwBHUh2AwAUPjC1kno4FUypUBhTIVK4XI_TEilRVFOQL4w0CR2ecBPTp6cFLbi/s400/_MG_8681.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Shawn is putting an updated spin on the classic square pizza with his "Margherita in the D" pizza with slices of fresh tomato, fresh basil, roasted garlic, red onion and a scoops crushed tomatoes.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8ckREjouuPrq5XVJmWpYMg7obpJD5l3jjSkDMX0fgzjnzb7sUz_kQxbbMa2-LXK0t06Bw80o9_rC9kWQGd5LEvlrqtPsmFkD6AhYDUE6nc5WpkahxESyN_wY31b13gyBwQi4XII5YhxHZ/s1600/_MG_8682.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8ckREjouuPrq5XVJmWpYMg7obpJD5l3jjSkDMX0fgzjnzb7sUz_kQxbbMa2-LXK0t06Bw80o9_rC9kWQGd5LEvlrqtPsmFkD6AhYDUE6nc5WpkahxESyN_wY31b13gyBwQi4XII5YhxHZ/s640/_MG_8682.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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The crust of this pizza may have been the best in the bunch. Perfectly crispy along the sides and bottom, yet light and doughy on the interior. I was also a fan of the traditional Margherita toppings of plain crushed tomatoes and fresh basil, and I can never get too much roasted garlic. The drippings of crispy cheese rising from the edge of the pizza are worthy of their own exhibit at the <a href="http://www.dia.org/">DIA</a>:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj7jtI5fjLDwLpCswvPmG3jrnkey6neXACKqVBABT-8n8evoFTTxX3SWkI9SfTsPnmngoevMSFp3GKelozjtOTUDN4yQBSw0omej75DkbYV-wkQ7BOuTdGnd0Q9DnHJjeYnoxF74sGYwUM/s1600/_MG_8684.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj7jtI5fjLDwLpCswvPmG3jrnkey6neXACKqVBABT-8n8evoFTTxX3SWkI9SfTsPnmngoevMSFp3GKelozjtOTUDN4yQBSw0omej75DkbYV-wkQ7BOuTdGnd0Q9DnHJjeYnoxF74sGYwUM/s400/_MG_8684.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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The Detroit Style Pizza Company location in St. Clair Shores has a couple tables, but is mainly a take-out location, I am not sure about the other location in Clinton Township. The take-out location did have an open kitchen, which allowed me to get a glimpse of the baking process. Unlike the conveyor pizza ovens at <a href="http://jetspizza.com/">Jet's</a> and the ones I believe Buddy's uses, they use the traditional "deck" oven seen off to the right here:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZfS1vZ0l9oTWuEHcZmQxTjww_wy-u-iIGge5HwoB9FZoiFd6C01axv41m6Bcg5HJxux6okGf9h-Z_u5mhzW0GUlDv99vvX0OBfWC607HRu3kGXFHcy_plpdTsP920Br22R0MFyxUJNjzk/s1600/_MG_8680.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZfS1vZ0l9oTWuEHcZmQxTjww_wy-u-iIGge5HwoB9FZoiFd6C01axv41m6Bcg5HJxux6okGf9h-Z_u5mhzW0GUlDv99vvX0OBfWC607HRu3kGXFHcy_plpdTsP920Br22R0MFyxUJNjzk/s400/_MG_8680.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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The waitress at Loui's told me about the deck ovens as well. At Detroit Style Pizza Company, I saw the pizzzamaker open one of the drawers, pull a pizza pan out, and lift up the pizza to look at the bottom to assess its done-ness. In contrast, pizzas cooked in a conveyor oven are placed at one end of the oven, pass through the oven on a conveyor belt, and come out the other side, thus ensuring each pie bakes for the same amount of time. Some say this improves consistency, others say that cooking them in a deck oven and checking the bottom is the only way to ensure a proper level of crispiness. I do have to admit that the pies at Detroit Style Pizza Company and Loui's were perfectly crispy everywhere where the dough touched the pan.</div>
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<b>The Final Verdict</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEASY97kMcuALv7vLJuw5GT0dNzOkemwRY0bUFCgR9jpMgQtlVlEbYhNpDE98syHHrfug159MtEJjfrt7UhD1cRN07TsGagMNC0-7ARyj1c-FGpq_lyozupRmt6LD3joK1NyLBQqzy14_j/s1600/_MG_8672.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEASY97kMcuALv7vLJuw5GT0dNzOkemwRY0bUFCgR9jpMgQtlVlEbYhNpDE98syHHrfug159MtEJjfrt7UhD1cRN07TsGagMNC0-7ARyj1c-FGpq_lyozupRmt6LD3joK1NyLBQqzy14_j/s320/_MG_8672.JPG" width="320" /></a>This is the part where I declare a champion and who has the best pizza. I'm not going to do that though as that misses the point. These places are all worthy of a visit, if only to form your own opinion. Or give you an excuse to cruise around parts of the Detroit that you probably haven't been to. While driving around, we spotted an old Italian bakery and grabbed some cannoli (like we were going to have room for dessert) and passed several old school burger, barbecue, and coney island spots that looked worthy of a visit. </div>
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I'm also not going to try to tell you how much better Detroit-style pizza is than any other style of pizza. I love everything from the classic, extremely thin crust Neapolitan-style to the lasagna-like stuffed Chicago-style. Good pizza is good pizza, and Detroit's variety is up there with the best. </div>
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For you displaced Michiganders out there, I've tried to track down pizza places across the country that are serving Detroit-style pizza. If you know of a place, leave it in the comments and I'll update the list! (sidenote: how have none of the Detroit places opened up a location in Chicago? With all the displaced Michiganders living in Chicago, it would be an instant goldmine. You can thank me later with royalty payments.)</div>
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If you don't live close to any of these places, stay tuned for an update on how to make Detroit-style pizza at home!</div>
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<b>Detroit-style pizza outside the mitten:</b></div>
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Via 313<br />
Austin, TX<br />
<a href="http://via313.com/">http://via313.com/</a><br />
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Pizza Squared<br />
Tampa, FL<br />
<a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/pizza-squared-tampa">http://www.yelp.com/biz/pizza-squared-tampa</a><br />
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Brown Dog Pizza<br />
Telluride, CO<br />
<a href="http://browndogpizza.net/">http://browndogpizza.net/</a><br />
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Northside Nathan’s<br />
Las Vegas, NV<br />
<a href="http://northsidenathan.com/">http://northsidenathan.com/</a><br />
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Norm’s Wayside<br />
Buffalo, MN<br />
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Tony’s Pizza Napoletana<br />
San Francisco, CA<br />
<a href="http://www.tonyspizzanapoletana.com/index.php">http://www.tonyspizzanapoletana.com/index.php</a></div>
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<b>Detroit-Style Pizza elsewhere on the web</b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Serious Eats Roundup: </span></div>
<a href="http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2010/09/livonia-michigan-mi-great-detroit-style-pizza-at-buddys.html">Great Detroit-Style Pizza at Buddy's</a><br />
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<a href="http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2010/09/louis-pizza-hazel-park-michigan-mi-detroit-thick-crust.html">A Taste of Detroit at Loui's</a><br />
<a href="http://austin.eater.com/archives/2011/12/15/whats-detroitstyle-pizza-via-313-explains.php">The Guerra Legacy Lives on at Cloverleaf</a><br />
<a href="http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2011/01/nikis-pizza-detroit-michigan-review.html">Niki's Pizza Is Not Detroit's Best, But It's Not Too Far Behind</a></div>
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<a href="http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2011/03/united-states-of-pizza-michigan-best-pizza-in-detroit-ann-arbor-upper-peninsula-flint.html">United States of Pizza: Michigan</a><br />
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Austin Eater: <a href="http://austin.eater.com/archives/2011/12/15/whats-detroitstyle-pizza-via-313-explains.php">What's Detroit-Style Pizza? Via 313 Explains</a></div>
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<a href="http://detroitstylepizza.com/history/">Detroit-Style Pizza: An American Institution Since 1946</a></div>
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Wikipedia on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit-style_pizza">Detroit-Style pizza</a><br />
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">*There are actually three types of Chicago-style that you’ll find at most pizza places in Chicago, and even in Chicago they are not consistently defined. I go with the terminology used at the pinnacle of Chicago-style pizza - <a href="http://www.theartofpizzainc.com/artofpizza_pizza.html">The Art of Pizza</a>. Stuffed – the deep dish pie filled with cheese & toppings, with sauce on top - this is what people typically mean when they say "Chicago-style." Pan – cooked in the same pans as Stuffed, but with a ~1" thick crust with sauce and cheese applied in a normal fashion. Thin crust – I try to not discriminate when it comes to any particular style of pizza, but Chicago-style thin crust is just the worst type of pizza I’ve ever had; I’ve had it plenty of times from a variety of places and it’s consistently awful.</span></span></div>
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</div>Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137907415131232555noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1223593402020793504.post-37924631888839219572012-08-05T23:54:00.000-04:002012-08-05T23:54:37.129-04:00[Up North]: Gone Fishin' (and Drinkin') in Ludington<i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Our Up North series highlights good eats to seek out on your weekend roadtrips as you head Up North – that ambiguous, nebulous region in Michigan where everyone has, or has a friend that has, a cottage on a lake somewhere.</i>
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After the <a href="http://greatlakesbetterfood.blogspot.com/2012/06/up-north-great-lakes-seafood-boil-fish.html">success of the fish boil</a> we did earlier this year, I decided that I needed to go fishing on the big lake and cross another thing off the bucket list. My cousin, a former camp counselor at <a href="http://www.mysticlakecamp.com/">Mystic Lake YMCA Camp</a>, had chartered boats for groups of campers in years past and arranged a charter for six members of our family. Being the novice angler that I am, I did not realize I'd be facing a 3am wake-up call to make it to Ludington in time for our pre-sunrise departure. All was not lost as I managed to snap the pic above, not too often do you get to see the sun come up over Lake Michigan.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>The day started out a little slow, but we were fighting with king salmon and steelhead in no time.<br />
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The final tally was six king and four steelhead, not bad for a morning's worth of work. The fish were filleted onsite and divvied up among the six of us that went on the trip. Mrs T. - not a fan of either early wake-up calls or 6 hours on a boat - met up with us after the trip. With the salmon safely on ice in the car, we strolled through quaint downtown Ludington en route to <a href="http://mittenbar.com/">The Mitten Bar</a>, which serves nothing but Michigan-made beer, wine and liquor. It was recently named one of <a href="http://draftmag.com/features/americas-100-best-beer-bars-2012/">America's Top 100 Best Beer Bars</a> by Draft Magazine.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ludington loves murals, there were at least two others like this</td></tr>
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Below the big mural and inside The Mitten Bar is a fantastic space with creaky hardwood floors, wine barrels for tables, and a chalkboard full of great Michigan beer. We decided on a couple of beers from the relatively new Brewery Vivant, a brewery from Grand Rapids focusing on Belgian ales. We had their Solitude, a Belgian dark ale, and Zaison, their take on a Saison. Don't be fooled by the Zaison's light body, it checks in at a hefty 9% ABV.<br />
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From Ludington, we headed north to Arcadia, where our Chicago-turned-Champaign friends F&K had rented a house on Lake Michigan, which we both invited ourselves to and crashed on the couch for two nights.<br />
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The scenic lookout on M-22 just north of Arcadia might be the best lookout point I've come across in the state, make sure to go up the stairs for the <strike>million dollar</strike> free view.<br />
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Not wanting to be total moochers, I dipped into the salmon stash and grilled up a couple filets. I did raid the kitchen pantry for some Cajun spices, a drizzle of oil, and just a little brown sugar for a touch of sweetness. I set up the grill for indirect grilling, threw a hunk of wood on top of the coals to get some smoke going, and set the salmon on the cool side of the grill for about 20 minutes.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">#PureMichigan</td></tr>
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That is Great Lakes and even better food.Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137907415131232555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1223593402020793504.post-62197049458606226582012-08-03T00:00:00.000-04:002012-08-03T00:00:46.582-04:00[Friday Night Bites] The Other Side of the Tracks: Wurst Bar & Sidetrack in Ypsi<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Looking for something to do this weekend? Friday Night Bites has you covered.</i>
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It doesn't feel like that long ago that I was heading to Ypsi to go to BW3 for quarter wings, $2 tall boys and karaoke before heading back to Ann Arbor to close out the night at Rick's. I got a hangover just from typing that sentence. In the 8 or 9 years since I've done that, B-dubs is long gone (replaced by Korey's Krispy Krunchy Chicken) and a solid Friday night now consists of a good meal and a couple craft brews. With that in mind, we headed to Wurst Bar for some elevated sausages and then to Sidetrack for one of the best MI beer lists around.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The best... forget it, the puns write themselves at Wurst</td></tr>
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In case the pun is lost on you, Wurst Bar focuses on gourmet sausages, all made in house and all using natural casings. The <a href="http://www.wurstbarypsi.com/menu.html">menu</a> includes items like spicy rattlesnake chorizo, alligator & crawfish boudin, and some great snacks like curry wurst corn dogs. On my couple visits, I have not been able to peel myself away from the sausages to try the fresh-ground beef brisket burgers.<br />
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On my most recent visit, I went for the special wurst of the day - the hopwurst - on a pretzel bun with kimchi-kraut, while Mrs. T got the <a href="http://redrockypsi.com/">Red Rock</a> smoked kielbasa with caramelized onions and spicy peppers. The kimchi-kraut, a blend of pickled carrot, cabbage, and broccoli, is a great topping that I could see working well on a lot of sausages. Mrs. T's kielbasa with onions was straightforward and delicious. I hit it with a bit of creole mustard - one of about 5 sauces on the table. Meat isn't the only focus at Wurst - they also have a good beer list and extensive whiskey collection.<br />
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Down Cross Street across the river in Depot Town is Sidetrack Bar & Grill.
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">your trivia for the day: what two antlered-animals are on Michigan's flag?</td></tr>
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Sidetrack is quickly becoming one of my favorite bars in the area. It has some of the best patio seating around, a beer list full of MI craft beer, and a burger that made GQ's list of <a href="http://www.oprah.com/food/The-20-Best-Burgers-in-America-Discovered/2">The 20 Hamburgers You Must Eat Before You Die</a>. The bar gets its name due to the nearby railroad tracks, which became an issue back 1929 when a train derailed and took out a corner of the building. That portion of the building was never rebuilt and a patio now sits at the point of impact.<br />
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Ashley's in Ann Arbor gets deserved praised for their tome of a beer menu. However, when it comes to local craft beer, it's tough to beat Sidetrack's rotating selection, which includes smaller breweries like Grand Haven's Odd Side, Sawyer's Greenbush, or Fernale's meadery B. Nektar, along with all of the usual suspects.<br />
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I was there during a takeover event by <a href="http://www.shortsbrewing.com/">Shorts Brewing</a> (Bellaire, MI). I had their Evil Urges, a dark, strong Belgian Ale that would be perfect on a cool fall day. Mrs. T tried their summer seasonal Beach Wheat - an easy-drinking, fruity Hefeweizen. Finally, I couldn't leave without trying Strawberry Short's Cake, a golden ale brewed with strawberries and sugar for sweetness and a certain variety of malt to give a hint of biscuit flavor to complete the shortcake taste.</div>
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Ypsi does not get the hype it deserves. With a burgeoning food scene and established member of the<a href="http://mittenbrew.com/2012/07/big-name-breweries-highlight-big-brews-at-summer-beer-fest/"> craft beer movement</a>, it certainly belongs in your weekend rotation.</div>Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137907415131232555noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1223593402020793504.post-90287641022065723492012-08-02T07:09:00.000-04:002012-08-02T07:09:21.742-04:00Great Lakes, Better Food is Pure Michigan!<a href="http://www.michigan.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/PureMichigan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.michigan.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/PureMichigan.jpg" /></a>A couple weeks ago, the good people behind the Pure Michigan campaign asked me if I'd like to write a guest blogger entry for the <a href="http://www.michigan.org/blog/">Pure Michigan blog</a>. After thinking about it for about two seconds, I decided I would do it. I just submitted my write-up and it should be posted to their blog sometime this week. If you've been monitoring<a href="https://twitter.com/GetBetterFood"> my Twitter feed</a>, you should have a good idea of what it's going to be about!<br />
<br />Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137907415131232555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1223593402020793504.post-30549774101547189012012-07-29T12:15:00.000-04:002012-07-29T12:16:22.243-04:00On the Barbecue Trail: Mid-Michigan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white;">If there is one food group that I can be justly chastised for being snobby about, it is barbecue. I grew up thinking good barbecue was rubbery babyback ribs drowned in a thick, sweet sauce. I was never a fan. It was years before I was exposed to low and slow barbecue smoked over real hunks of hardwood. I was a huge fan.</span></div>
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Barbecue seems to be like healthcare - everyone has an opinion on how it should be done. <a href="http://www.seriouseats.com/2011/02/what-are-the-barbecue-regional-styles-cooking-carolinas-kansas-city-tennessee-st-louis-ribs-pork-chicken.html">Enjoy a layer of thick, sweet tomato and molasses Kansas City-style sauce with your pulled pork? Then you probably won't be a fan of South Carolina's mustard sauce.</a> I try to stay away from declaring an allegiance to any particular barbecue region, but I'd be lying if I said I don't prefer the vinegar sauce of Eastern Carolina on my pulled pork and the dry-rubbed ribs of Memphis.</div>
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Although barbecue tends to be a Southern affair, there is a barbecue revolution happening and there is now plenty of good barbecue north of the Mason-Dixon Line. I'm determined to try them all, so let's get it started in my hometown of Lansing, MI.<br />
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<b style="background-color: white;">Meat - Lansing, MI</b></div>
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<a href="http://meatbbq.com/">http://meatbbq.com/</a>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXKygtaDsnyBbBoz_aUNvjcAbDmlvru6qFCb_VryRR_KqSbxnV1g3oMEZ1dle0wY42ntLUJW9OWdpElt6Ay4yDT6fnk829Ic6ipKVlQWc5HPp9Xr4I-7rLHGdsh5KsAb6uMch2Go-7l6-b/s1600/_MG_8389.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXKygtaDsnyBbBoz_aUNvjcAbDmlvru6qFCb_VryRR_KqSbxnV1g3oMEZ1dle0wY42ntLUJW9OWdpElt6Ay4yDT6fnk829Ic6ipKVlQWc5HPp9Xr4I-7rLHGdsh5KsAb6uMch2Go-7l6-b/s400/_MG_8389.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Meat Southern BBQ and Carnivore cuisine is located in Lansing's rejuvenated Old Town neighborhood. As I walked in and looked at the blackboard behind the counter, I knew I was in good hands.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh82MMfozsUVqm2ZwrUZng-HMw9NoQtORr1j4k_oGvXHoaRtpP7vF0VDTa_vU4U-oiAuy6jQfgbtkudrtnSRgmRnsGZQoE7xXObhDulIgqEu-DVxzsjSMwrJfT-tCcHTGpzDmtW3rAVwCN/s1600/_MG_8388.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh82MMfozsUVqm2ZwrUZng-HMw9NoQtORr1j4k_oGvXHoaRtpP7vF0VDTa_vU4U-oiAuy6jQfgbtkudrtnSRgmRnsGZQoE7xXObhDulIgqEu-DVxzsjSMwrJfT-tCcHTGpzDmtW3rAVwCN/s400/_MG_8388.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I scream, you scream, we all scream for pig butter</td></tr>
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Meat uses lard in their fryer. I've been <a href="http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/lard-the-new-health-food">singing lard's praises</a> for a while now and they were listed on the blackboard: no trans fats, lower in saturated fat than butter, plenty of monounsaturated fat ("good" fat) and more polyunsaturated (another "good" fat) than olive oil. If you've been thinking lard is disgusting and the most unhealthy thing in the world, you can thank Crisco's marketing department for that misconception. </div>
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Let's get onto the good. I ordered the chopped brisket sandwich (hold the cheddar though - cheese doesn't belong on barbecue), while Mrs. T ordered the pulled pork sandwich. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpP7EShzVTRZH5EKmXXlRfvo6VOn2YWciA6cYRGG9tIwAsAXIUTy0_sj0Zj4fUz4Ri0yri5WXnsTu7PVwWirnTPEtEAdd4_5lXAED6ISdHnraY6WHc-zNmx8Tmig8Ozxe8Wf3tt6MRAumE/s1600/_MG_8392.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpP7EShzVTRZH5EKmXXlRfvo6VOn2YWciA6cYRGG9tIwAsAXIUTy0_sj0Zj4fUz4Ri0yri5WXnsTu7PVwWirnTPEtEAdd4_5lXAED6ISdHnraY6WHc-zNmx8Tmig8Ozxe8Wf3tt6MRAumE/s640/_MG_8392.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">barkalicious</td></tr>
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Look at that bark (the exterior of the meat that caramelizes to a crunchy, chewy crust as it smokes). Brisket is the toughest of all the barbecued meats as it has a tendency to dry out quickly, but this pile of beefy goodness was tender and incredibly juicy. No sauce necessary at all. The sandwich was served on a toasted light sourdough bread, not the typical doughy white bun. Although untraditional, I was a fan, it held up well to the meat and slaw. The lard fries were solid, nothing spectacular, but good. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinLUM1mIS8e1jLM9575ZnHRq6t1-Vy-BxeuoygRIobfsy9wjuJrnLcGLUSw5VvRDp-QBrVopdbqmlU0bcvcuZJDNxVOU8_drj2Fq4Mb8q_pxwfsJBUk7ActycXN0dAoIkkSo-wgK_Mgxs6/s1600/_MG_8391.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinLUM1mIS8e1jLM9575ZnHRq6t1-Vy-BxeuoygRIobfsy9wjuJrnLcGLUSw5VvRDp-QBrVopdbqmlU0bcvcuZJDNxVOU8_drj2Fq4Mb8q_pxwfsJBUk7ActycXN0dAoIkkSo-wgK_Mgxs6/s640/_MG_8391.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Mrs. T's pulled pork was almost as good as the brisket. Plenty of bits of bark and evidence of a solid smoke ring - the layer of meat just below the crust that turns slightly pink after a proper smoking. Slices of jalepeno added a little extra kick, another untraditional twist that I liked. The slaws on both sandwiches were of the tangy, vinegar variety - not the creamy, mayo variety.<br />
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I peaked around the kitchen a bit and didn't see an indoor smoker, so I asked the guy that seemed to be running things. He said they have a pellet smoker out back and use apple and cherry wood for fuel. Whatever they're doing, they're doing it right. I came away thoroughly impressed and can't wait to go back to try the smoked wings and hot links.<br />
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<b>Sure Shot BBQ - Mount Pleasant, MI</b><br />
<a href="http://www.sureshotbbq.com/">http://www.sureshotbbq.com/</a>
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I am always looking for pitstops along 127 for my trips Up North. I came across Sure Shot in an<a href="http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2012/06/michigans_best_bbq_2012_top_10.html"> article about some of the top barbecue places in Michigan</a>. I knew I was in the right spot when I saw the menu written on the blackboard - the only better indicator of good eats than a goofy cartoon logo is a goofy cartoon drawing written in chalk.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIja4mont5vUmMhflms29NQMXkmq9AAz9rmvwf45kR6oK66b944r5I8Zc_5ETGcQaKD4F7ue8CRPPQoP9r9Najj4C3cKec2QP09-Wpq7m6L_Dp7igWht6SRJ-VI4HrHHzxV6BfSuSX9cOe/s1600/_MG_8183.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIja4mont5vUmMhflms29NQMXkmq9AAz9rmvwf45kR6oK66b944r5I8Zc_5ETGcQaKD4F7ue8CRPPQoP9r9Najj4C3cKec2QP09-Wpq7m6L_Dp7igWht6SRJ-VI4HrHHzxV6BfSuSX9cOe/s400/_MG_8183.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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The pulled pork was decent, no real signs of bark or a smoke ring, but a hint of smoke still made its way into the meat. I drizzled a little bit of the thin, sweet sauce that had just a little bit of a kick to it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQjgj2_gQKXqXA3IbfT8dO27eQXTDzUl_2w4EusQrUCGNlrbxkIfddtV0nWtlXfL3F5-kT4BEl8B38D7EnbsnN5ln2CBvbEu2c2xzuJ3_rt67W_0RDzzVLo38kBMEjTYKhRXXDKVqa-EYJ/s1600/_MG_8184.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQjgj2_gQKXqXA3IbfT8dO27eQXTDzUl_2w4EusQrUCGNlrbxkIfddtV0nWtlXfL3F5-kT4BEl8B38D7EnbsnN5ln2CBvbEu2c2xzuJ3_rt67W_0RDzzVLo38kBMEjTYKhRXXDKVqa-EYJ/s400/_MG_8184.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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The ribs were probably a slight step up from the pulled pork. They had a good texture - tender with just a bit of chew to them. There was a mild bark from what I assume was a shorter smoking time than what you'd typically see for spare ribs.<br />
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As I dove into the mac-n-cheese, it was a WTF moment. What is with those bright orange crumbs sprinkled on top? Surely this was going to be a disaster. After my first bite, I realized they were crumbled up Cheez-Its. I tried to resist, but I couldn't help myself - this was delicious. It was the crunchy texture you get from toasted breadcrumbs, with the added benefit of adding a salty, cheesy crunch.<br />
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Sure Shot isn't exactly a life-changing experience, but you could do a lot worse in this part of the state that can be somewhat barren when it comes to good eats. I'll definitely keep it in my rotation of pitstops on my way Up North.<br />
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<b>Smokey Bones BBQ - Sears, MI</b> (intersection of US-10 and US-66)<br />
<a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/smokey-bones-bbq-sears">http://www.yelp.com/biz/smokey-bones-bbq-sears</a>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Home of the... spotted dog with hooves?</td></tr>
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Smokey Bones sits at the corner of US-10 and US-66 in a part of the state where the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/24/mitt-romney-michigan-trees_n_1299937.html">trees start becoming just the right height</a> and the landscape starts to transform from farmland into Northern Michigan woodlands. There is a gas station across the street with a simple billboard that sums up the area fairly well - "Beer, Booze, Bait, Bullets" - what else do you need?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiidSbwaxGKZ5PYIvcB8IZDhivmFwIVnPkvBEfNxvsnOeUq3IeQAdI6O3bS2RzghMI4gvd1GxQvYv-Blc8KHGWJEZVMbEvWZZmCSGRkH_G-PgVPwW-WXBIz37jZev9tjSOPprD7Ee4l-NEU/s1600/_MG_8292.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiidSbwaxGKZ5PYIvcB8IZDhivmFwIVnPkvBEfNxvsnOeUq3IeQAdI6O3bS2RzghMI4gvd1GxQvYv-Blc8KHGWJEZVMbEvWZZmCSGRkH_G-PgVPwW-WXBIz37jZev9tjSOPprD7Ee4l-NEU/s640/_MG_8292.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Despite my best efforts to order sauce on the side, my sandwich was hit with a heavy dose of the housemade barbecue sauce, which was a tad sweet for my taste. The meat was juicy and tender, almost too tender if that's possible - it wasn't quite meaty enough.<br />
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Not pictured, was the brisket sandwich that my mom ordered. As I mentioned before, brisket is very difficult to cook and serve properly if you're not turning over a lot of it, and I was skeptical Smokey Bones could pull it off. I was wrong, very wrong. The thick slices of brisket were unbelievably tender and perfectly smokey.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That's where the magic happens</td></tr>
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<b>Big R's Hogs & Dogs - Farwell, MI</b><br />
<a href="http://www.bigrshogsndogs.com/">http://www.bigrshogsndogs.com/</a>
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Big R's is located on M-115 just west of downtown Farwell, home of the annual Lumberjack Festival and Figure 8 Demolition Derbies on Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day weekends. Big R does one thing and he does it well - pulled pork. I visited Big R's shortly after they opened earlier this year and they were still working the kinks out a bit, but the pulled pork was on point, possibly the best pulled pork of any listed here. They are planning on doing special items on the weekends (ribs, fish fries, etc), so I will keep my eye out for those.<br />
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Know of any places that I missed? With plenty of new barbecue spots popping up around Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, a barbecue tour of Washtenaw County is in the pipeline. </div>Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137907415131232555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1223593402020793504.post-50673801791815321142012-07-23T22:00:00.001-04:002012-07-23T22:00:33.189-04:00The Jerk Store Called... for more Jamaican Chicken & Pork<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizEgU9iifpF7hm7hgYVtXOGqv37xFErqqwzCEaG8qeJPuq65KSAX1ulADulFXa0UMvWKg1cddNl7hKmY0pXGXPCYYlgROsCPXBQikbWTmWnvbOtbQwh4Vzr4ISZUmKzQzpgnHKg1Dy_nU0/s1600/_MG_8324.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizEgU9iifpF7hm7hgYVtXOGqv37xFErqqwzCEaG8qeJPuq65KSAX1ulADulFXa0UMvWKg1cddNl7hKmY0pXGXPCYYlgROsCPXBQikbWTmWnvbOtbQwh4Vzr4ISZUmKzQzpgnHKg1Dy_nU0/s640/_MG_8324.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">When our good friends P&B returned from their trip to Jamaica a few weeks ago, Mrs. T and I were tortured with stories of </span><a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotos-g147311-d1232835-Pork_Pit-Montego_Bay_Jamaica.html#40220860" style="background-color: white;">real deal Jamaican jerk chicken and pork at the Pork Pit in Montego Bay</a><span style="background-color: white;">. I can't say I've ever really had authentic Jamaican jerk, at least not anything like the spicy, smoky, barky goodness that P&B were describing. We had no choice, we had to figure out how to recreate the magic of the Pork Pit. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Our mission almost got scrubbed before it got started. The cooking method at the Pork Pit involves grilling the chicken and pork over lit charcoals with a layer of wood on top to provide a heavy dose of smoke. It turns out that this is the most critical component of making authentic jerk - and the part that is impossible to replicate in the US. The key ingredient for jerk is pimento, or allspice as we refer to it stateside. The pimento tree - the tree from which our allspice berries come from - is indigenous to the Caribbean, but does not grow in the US. Allspice berries are loaded up in the marinade, while pimento wood is used to add a smoky layer of flavor onto the meat.</span><br />
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Buying pimento wood online turned out to be prohibitively expensive. We knew we could just use another fruit wood for smoking (e.g. apple or cherry), but it would not be the real deal. Just as we were ready to admit defeat, our buddy CLB came to the rescue. He had just read an <a href="http://www.cooksillustrated.com/recipes/article.asp?docid=37675">article in Cook's Illustrated</a> outlining a workaround for this exact problem.<br />
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The workaround that the always ingenious Cook's Illustrated team came up with was so obvious that I was ashamed that I hadn't thought of it - create a packet of whatever wood chips you have around and add a ton of dried whole allspice berries to them, along with some dried rosemary and thyme. The smoke from the allspice berries and herbs would closely resemble the smoke generated from the pimento wood.<br />
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Although we have all heard of jerk chicken, my buddy P kept telling me that the jerk pork was on another level due to the bark that developed on the pork from smoking. The next piece of the puzzle was figuring out what cut of pork to use. Given the presence of bark in the finished product, I knew it had to be something that could cook for a longer period of time. Most online recipes called for loin, but I figured loin was too lean and would dry out with the longer cooking time. I ended up settling on the pork shoulder (<a href="http://culinary-arts.wikispaces.com/file/view/port-cuts.gif/32395627/460x249/port-cuts.gif">boston butt</a> to be exact) due to its higher fat content. The pork at the Pork Pit is cooked in big chunks and then chopped with a cleaver into smaller pieces. I cut the shoulder into about 1 1/2" thick slabs and prepared the marinade.<br />
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I more or less followed the Cook's Illustrated recipe (multiplying it by 4 for 2 chickens and about 3 LBs of pork). I also erred on the spicy side by tossing in about 8 habaneros.<br />
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I let the meat sit in the marinade for a couple hours before grilling. When it came to firing up the grill, I faced the problem of limited grill space. I have a 22.5" charcoal grill and a kettle electric smoker. I decided to smoke the chicken parts in the smoker for about 2.5 hours and grill the pork over indirect heat on the charcoal grill.<br />
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(Let's have a come to Jesus moment about chicken. <span style="background-color: white;">I *hate* cooking chicken breast, it is impossible to cook appropriately due to the lack of fat in it and it dries out the second it stays on the grill too long. The first time I smoked chicken, I was shocked at how juicy it was - breasts included. </span><span style="background-color: white;">Smoking the chicken in a hot smoker provides a much larger margin for error and turns out juicy chicken breasts easily. </span><span style="background-color: white;">Although jerk chicken isn't technically smoked, I figured smoking it over a relatively high heat</span><span style="background-color: white;"> (~250 degrees or so) for about 2.5 hours and then finishing the chicken over a hot grill to crisp up the skin would be a solid alternative. I was right - this is now my preferred method for cooking chicken.) </span><br />
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The pork turned out great, though I probably overcooked it a tad. You can see the faint signs of a smoke ring on the pork hunks. The spicy bark created by the thick marinade was excellent, just enough heat to get your lips tingling.<br />
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It wasn't an all-meat affair though. P&B dialed it up with some sides - fried plantains and rice & peas.<br />
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And of course there was plenty of ginger beer and Red Stripe to go around.<br />
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The Jamaican cookout didn't end there though. Already the savior of the entire operation by tipping us off to the Cook's Illustrated article, CLB played mixologist and developed a menu of Jamaican-inspired cocktails for the crowd. No, literally, a menu:<br />
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Stay tuned for a further breakdown of CLB's creations.Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137907415131232555noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1223593402020793504.post-8885116170869433422012-07-19T21:19:00.001-04:002012-07-19T21:19:36.296-04:00Hut-K Chaats Tastes too Good to be Healthy<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the Rock & Rye was my choice, not Dr. Bhojani's. Don't judge me, it's delicious.</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Swaroop Bhojani is a molecular cancer researcher in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Michigan Medical School. He has authored articles with titles like </span><i><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16258269?itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum&ordinalpos=1">Nuclear localized phosphorylated FADD induces cell proliferation and is associated with aggressive lung cancer</a> </i><span style="background-color: white;">and </span><i><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16109772?itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum&ordinalpos=2">Phosphorylated FADD induces NF-kappaB, perturbs cell cycle, and is associated with poor outcome in lung adenocarcinomas</a></i><span style="background-color: white;">. But that's not the impressive part of his resume. Bhojani, along with his wife Sumi, run Hut-K Chaats, which serves up casual Indian streetfood with a healthy twist.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">I had been meaning to check out Hut-K </span>Chaats<span style="background-color: white;"> for a while now and on my last trip to </span><a href="http://markscartsannarbor.com/" style="background-color: white;">Mark’s Carts</a><span style="background-color: white;">, I decided to stop by for a snack. “Chaat” is a Hindi word describing savory </span>streetfood<span style="background-color: white;">, typically made with a fried dough filled with ingredients common in South Asia. I will state my bias upfront – I could eat samosas by the shovel full, so I was already looking forward to the samosa roll at Hut-K </span>Chaats<span style="background-color: white;">. The samosa roll is essentially the common ingredients of a samosa – potatoes, lentils and peas – along with a chutney made from mint, cilantro, spinach, dates, and mangoes all wrapped in a </span>multigrain<span style="background-color: white;"> wrap and topped with a crispy chickpea flour topping. I ordered mine hot, which was just the right level of heat. The familiar taste of the samosa filling was there, along with the right </span>herby<span style="background-color: white;"> notes from the chutney to put it over the top. The wrap provided enough structure to eat with your hands (everything tastes better when eaten with your bare hands) and the crunchy topping gave a little needed texture. I wish I could eat one of these every day for lunch.</span></div>
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Mrs. T went with the papdi chaat, which disappeared before I could snap a pic. The papdi chaat was a mixture of chickpeas and crunchy pieces of baked flatbread, topped with yogurt and a chutney similar to what was in the samosa roll.<br />
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Bhojani describes his food as both delicious and nutritious and calls it “<a href="http://www.hut-k.com/">nutrilicious</a>” - I don’t think I can disagree with him. With another location out on Packard, it will fit nicely into my weeknight takeout rotation.</div>
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Hut-K Chaats</div>
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3022 Packard Rd.</div>
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Ann Arbor, MI<br />
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Hut-K Chaats @ Mark's Carts</div>
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211 W. Washington</div>
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Ann Arbor, MI<br />
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<a href="http://hut-k.com/index.html">http://hut-k.com/index.html</a></div>Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137907415131232555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1223593402020793504.post-8048208533302847492012-07-15T21:53:00.001-04:002012-07-15T21:53:39.772-04:00[Up North] Barbecue, Blue Moon, and Blueberries in South Haven<i style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Our Up North series highlights good eats to seek out on your weekend roadtrips as you head Up North – that ambiguous, nebulous region in Michigan where everyone has, or has a friend that has, a cottage on a lake somewhere.</i><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">(Editor's Note: If you're wondering why a place called South Haven located in west Michigan is considered Up North, I can't help you there, that's just the way it is.)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Another weekend of summer fun at Lake Michigan in the books. This time, we headed west to South Haven for an alliterative weekend of beach, barbecue, blueberries, and of course, <a href="http://greatlakesbetterfood.blogspot.com/2012/06/up-north-4th-of-july-weekend-elephant.html">Blue Moon</a>.</span></span></div>
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<a name='more'></a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">While driving north along M-140 past Paw Paw Lake and the small town of Covert, we came across Ranch House Ribs - a small, nondescript, roadside bbq shack. I suddenly remembered that I had read about this place at <a href="http://chibbqking.blogspot.com/2009/06/exploring-eating-sw-michigan.html">Smokin' Chokin' and Chowin' with the King</a>, an excellent source for good eats from Michigan through Chicago and into Wisconsin. We immediately pulled in to check it out. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Score another one for the goofy cartoon logo postulate - check out that giddy little pig tending to the fire up top</td></tr>
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You don't go to a roadside bbq shack for the decor and ambiance; however, I thoroughly enjoyed the <a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/RnoNkpo6jru32aVnQrkkSw?select=51PL_MX5T1MhUpLJlkEENQ#XOU4T_0twq6t_mKLI7LaSw">crayon drawings</a> of pigs that lined the walls inside Ranch House Ribs. The menu at RHR was fairly extensive - ribs, pulled pork, smoked chicken, baked beans, mac-n-cheese, shrimp, fried okra, etc - but with more planned stops ahead, we went with a half slab. </div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">I had committed my #1 sin of ordering barbecue - I did not order sauce on the side. Too often, the sauce covers up the flavor of the smoked meat. However, one bite into these ribs, I knew tragedy had been averted. I liked the sauce at RHR - first, it was not the sweet, sticky, Kansas City-style that you find at a lot of barbecue places north of the Mason-Dixon Line. It was a thin, spicy sauce that lightly covered the ribs. Second, the sauce did not cover up the smokiness of the meat - there was a slight bark on these guys and just the right amount of smoke. They disappeared rapidly.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">After a couple of questions about the ribs, the female pitmaster offered to show me their smoker. It was a large unit built into the back wall of the kitchen that had a rotating rack inside. She said they smoke their spare ribs over apple wood until not quite fall-off-the bone tender - the way spare ribs should be cooked (barbecue purists would tell you they should have a slight bit of chew to them and definitely not fall off the bone). She even offered up a taste of the mac-n-cheese and pulled pork. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">After a couple hours at the beach, it was on to the Idler Riverboat for drinks located downtown in the harbor. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH_dsDE-RGr9We6ADWQexbtPWeVusEZq9TeYC0k4J8wblXpuHqnvZTEwA9KiPLD-Tkv12OSnFwbciFs81qo6lePMnrZNhyphenhyphenRTS8sl7nJ0KNrlXCdX1_6Gr22tmM0RcShl0A18UfwaOKN2zx/s1600/_MG_8373.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH_dsDE-RGr9We6ADWQexbtPWeVusEZq9TeYC0k4J8wblXpuHqnvZTEwA9KiPLD-Tkv12OSnFwbciFs81qo6lePMnrZNhyphenhyphenRTS8sl7nJ0KNrlXCdX1_6Gr22tmM0RcShl0A18UfwaOKN2zx/s640/_MG_8373.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">High on summertime</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLbIW5BqjlZmUvI_a95feinNFbiJ7CW-5fJjHW9DTT-JunFD0SBNknI454HXdGm2rtXHv5fJ76YaLCz1843BzhD0x90vsYt165RWnlB0hPjXe0fCve4y4fwL4kqYUEZfFhIEDXum7d3XM1/s1600/_MG_8344.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLbIW5BqjlZmUvI_a95feinNFbiJ7CW-5fJjHW9DTT-JunFD0SBNknI454HXdGm2rtXHv5fJ76YaLCz1843BzhD0x90vsYt165RWnlB0hPjXe0fCve4y4fwL4kqYUEZfFhIEDXum7d3XM1/s320/_MG_8344.JPG" width="195" /></a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">There are worse ways to spend a blistering hot Saturday afternoon in mid-July. I can't comment on the food offered at the Idler as this was strictly a rehydration effort. The Idler has a solid list of Michigan craft beer - Bell's, New Holland, Arcadia and Short's are all on the menu. My first choice - New Holland's Mad Hatter IPA - was out, so I took a step down on the hops scale and went with Arcadia's Angler's Pale Ale. Mrs. T and a few others went with Oberon, which was appropriately served with an orange slice (it should be at least a misdemeanor in MI for an Oberon to be served with a lemon). After one round of beers, the crowd quickly switched to drinks served with umbrellas, the highlight being Mrs. T's frozen Pompineapple Mojito. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">After the Idler, it was on to the Sherman Dairy Bar, which has been <a href="http://www.shermanicecream.com/">churning out great ice cream since 1916</a>. Sherman's is served at a few places around town, but it's best to go to the creamery for the real deal. Conveniently located just off exit 20 off of 196, take Phoenix Street west until you see the big blue cow.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blue Moo!</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Don't be scared of the massive crowd spilling out of the doors - there's a reason there is a big line and it moves quickly. Plus, you'll need the time to study the menu.</span></div>
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For me, there really isn't much to debate, I'm going straight for the classic - Blue Moon. For Sherman newbies, it can be a daunting task. How can you choose between yellow cake batter or chocolate cake batter? Chocolate covered pretzel or chocolate peanut butter? Black raspberry supreme or red velvet delight? These are not the types of choices people should be forced to make on a hot summer's day. </div>
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The good news is that you can't lose. Sherman's did throw me a curve ball this time though - a new menu item appeared. Hint: those aren't grains of sugar on that cone, those are crystals of salt. For the first time in my life, I ordered my ice cream in a pretzel cone - has this existed all this time and I never heard of it? In any event, it was a life-changing experience. The combination of the sweet ice cream with a little salt from the cone is a sweet/salty combo that can only be rivaled by the french fries dipped in chocolate shake move.</div>
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I can also say a little more definitively that the flavor of Blue Moon is something in the nut family. My friends and I were discussing it in line and the woman behind us strenuously claimed that the secret flavor of Blue Moon was, in fact, pistachio. I'm still going with almond. </div>
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You can't come to southwest Michigan without loading up on blueberries. Heading south down M-140 out of town, we saw numerous roadside stands and u-pick berry farms and stopped to pick up a 5 lb box. Life is good along the <a href="http://www.bluestarhighway.com/">Blue Star Highway</a>.</div>
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Ranch House Ribs</div>
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23090 M-140</div>
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South Haven, MI</div>
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<a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/ranch-house-ribs-south-haven">http://www.yelp.com/biz/ranch-house-ribs-south-haven</a>
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Sherman Dairy Bar</div>
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1601 Phoenix Rd.</div>
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South Haven, MI</div>
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<a href="http://shermanicecream.com/default.aspx">http://shermanicecream.com/default.aspx</a>
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Idler Riverboat</div>
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515 Williams St.</div>
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South Haven, MI</div>
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<a href="http://www.millenniumrestaurants.com/idler-riverboat/menus.php">http://www.millenniumrestaurants.com/idler-riverboat/menus.php</a>
</div>Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137907415131232555noreply@blogger.com3