The Search for Al Pastor Ends in Detroit's Mexicantown

When 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, but by pounds of meat. And every once in a while, you’d stumble across the holy grail of Mexican grilled meats – al pastor cooked on the spit. 

Unraveling the Mystery of Coney Sauce for a Detroit/Chicago Dog Throwdown

When 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 Detroit Coney. 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.

An Extended Look at All Square: A History of Detroit-Style Pizza

Buddy's "Detroiter" Pizza

As an addendum to my post on Detroit-style pizza featured on the Pure Michigan blog, 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.