Motor City Brew Works

**pics to be posted shortly**
December 9, 2011
Motor City Brew Works,  www.motorcitybeer.com

This is a fun little brewery that makes some popular Detroit beers such as Ghettoblaster and Motown Bohemian lager.  I have been wanting to return to try some of their gourmet pizzas.

I really enjoyed their "elixer fixers" in strawberry cucumber and lemon lavender, I recommend trying them.  They are so good, light and fizzy.

We try multiple pizzas and there is not a bad one in the bunch:  The Bronx Bomber, the Godfather, bbq chicken, maui wowie....see the complete menu on the website.  We also had the Fuego, and I'm giving it a separate mention because I love spicy food.  This is HOT, that's a warning.
We also like the salads very much and the cheese plates.
Some of the pizza crusts were slightly burnt, but not so bad that it bothered us.  The service was decent.
Total bill $143 plus tip, not bad for six people and drinks!
Our scores average a 4.

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Mr Pauls Chophouse

November 11, 2011
Tonight we are Mr. R, Scarlet, The Greek, Master P and me.
Master P loves Mr. Pauls and has been trying to get us all out here to this strange part of Groesbeck for a while.  The restaurant is in a rather industrial section and pop's up out of nowhere somewhat.
What we love about this off-the-beaten path joint is it's old school vibe.
There is live piano, professional staff and a cozy atmosphere.
I highly recommend asking for a seat in the front room. The back room lacks the atmosphere and is very loud.

The number one best thing you MUST have here is the table-side caesar salad.  They create the dressing from scratch at your table and the guarantee it will be the best caesar you have ever had.  It's true.
PLEASE try this.

Our server tonight is Tracey, and she definitely goes into the top ten of our best servers ever.  We also enjoyed awesome bar service.

Our entrees were as follows:
Master P and I had the chateaubriand  for two.  It is carved tableside.  I actually found it simple and boring, but that is what some people like, I guess!
Scarlett had the crab legs, The Greek had the rack of lamb and alfredo noodles, Mr. R had the curry encrusted chicken.  They all loved the food.

The total bill was $332 plus tip.
We gave it an almost unanimous 5 rating.  Scarlet says, in spite of the plastic table clothes that was initially a minus for her.

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Cass Cafe

**pics to be posted shortly**
So I'm a little behind in getting my posts up...
like 3 months..
back in October we went to the Cass Cafe, www.casscafe.com
in Mid-Town.
This place touts itself as an art gallery/cafe and it does have a large open space gallery feel.  What The Greek refers to as a "beatnik" atmosphere...whatever that means.  Does that mean he is old?
It was very loud this evening.  It was busy but we were able to snag a table in the corner.
It is only four of us, Master P, The Greek, Scarlet and Myself.
I'll make this short and sweet.
Apps:  Asian spicy wings...I'm not usually a wing person, but these were GOOD with a spicy sauce and also came with yummy peanut sauce.
The artichoke dip wasn't so impressive, it was made with a greasy yellow cheese.
Master P IS however, impressed with the 2 buck Miller High Life.  He also has the clam tomato florentine soup, and is just "eh".
I have a salad with a mustard seed vinaigrette that I love. I have the veggie lasagna, and find it bland and a little dry. Master P has the linguine bolognese, which has a slight curry flavor...interesting combo but it works.  Scarlet has a grilled cheese, can't really go wrong.  The Greek has the mushroom tortellini and loves it.
For dessert, we share a pumpkin praline cheesecake...so good The Greek is having pillow talk with it.  We also have the death-by-chocolate cake.  Scarlet thought it was a little dry, but I disagreed and enjoyed it.
Total bill, including wine, $107.
Service was average, nothing to write home about, but not horrible.
Our average score was 3.5, I do recommend it for a less expensive but tasty meal in an unusual atmosphere.

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24 Grille

  Friday, Sept 23rd 2011.
The 2nd Detroit Restaurant Week of the year.
http://www.spa1924grille.com/

Tonight we are just Three:  The Greek, Scarlet and I are only graced by the presence of Lulu long enough for one glass of wine...sigh.
24 Grille is located in the historic Westin Book-Cadillac building.  The decor is lovely and the outside patio looks like a fun option on a warmer day.
We drink bottles of lovely malbecs off the wine list, I forget which ones....but this isn't a wine review blog!
Our server for tonight is Roger.  I like him.  Our service overall was very good this evening.  We had heard some other reviews by friends saying the service was shakey here, which simply was not true in any way. 

The restaurant week menu is posted on the website.  For those who don't know restaurant week, it is an app, an entree and a dessert for $28.
Our choices:
The Greek:   Chinese BBQ pork app, lamb leg entree and banana bread pudding.
Scarlet:  Pulled pork taco app, Florida skate entree and scoops (gelato/sorbet/ice cream).
Pippi:  Cracklin sausage (on Roger's recommendation), Pork tenderloin entree and apricot cheesecake.

For apps, the Chinese BBQ is glazed pork belly - the Greek was in love with this.  Very good, recommended.  The tacos were cute little mini-tacos, flavorful.



mini tacos



  The cracklin sausage was interesting.  The sausage itself was a very small portion, served in vermicelli "nests"  and floating in an awesome sweet chili sauce.  All components were better eaten together.  I really loved the sauce. 



Cracklin Sausage



Entrees:  The Greek was disappointed that what he thought was leg of lamb was a really a small kabob.  However, it had good flavor.  The portion was small.





Lamb



My pork was very good with lovely bleu cheese, huckleberries and port reduction. 



Pork



The skate....oh, the skate....I had to look up on my ipad to confirm that skate is a sting-ray type creature.  I'm not a seafood lover, remember, but I cannot see how anyone would like this.  The texture was mushy.  We don't know if that is normally how skate is or if it was the preparation.  Scarlet says it had way too much butter/oil. 




skate

 Desserts:  The bread pudding had absolutely no flavor.  Seriously, I've never tasted such a bland dessert.
The cheesecake was a light airy concoction served in a cup.  It did not wow me.  We recommend the scoops.  The chili lime lemongrass sorbet will shock you out of your food coma.  The chocolate gelato is good and Scarlet loved the strawberry lychee. 

We thought the portions for restaurant week overall were rather small, however, we can't compare to the normal menu having never been here before.  We loved the apps and most the entrees were decent.  The desserts weren't blowing us away.  They do have cappucino (that is important to us!) but Lulu tried one and deemed it watery.  She suspects it was an instant mix of some sort....sacrilege!

Our scores average to a 4.

HOW did we miss Detroits only champagne bar?  According to the website it is adjacent to 24 grille?  This would normally be right up our alley. 

We walk over to the David Stott building after to check out Sky Bar.  This place is nice and we enjoy some lovely sangria.  We are rather early so the place never gets bumping.  The basement is cool, would be fun if we had a larger group.  I can't wait to come back and check out the 35th floor when they open it...which the bartender is saying another 4 weeks?  See you then.

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The Oakland

This is just a quick sidebar, as I am sure we will mention this bar during the next review we do anywhere near Ferndale.
Master P and I stopped into the newest Ferndale drinking establishment last night just for one quick drink.
You may not have heard of The Oakland because I do not think they are advertising, on purpose!
The concept here is hidden speakeasy.  The door says something about art supplies.  But once you get inside, OMG this place is so freakin cool.  Its dark, swanky and crammed with antique-looking furniture and chandeliers.  The prohibition era cocktails are like nothing I've ever seen.  I mean, we have mentioned places with some similar type drinks, but you have GOT to see this.  The bartender as multiple bottles of fresh-squeezed juices and house-made concoctions.  There are mysterious dropper bottles of things that he meticulously counts out drops into the shaker.  The garnish is artfully flourished.  If you go, I recommend you sit at the bar so that you can witness the work that goes into your drink.  And the drinks were absolutely delicious.
Find it if you can!  I'll give you a hint, it is the location where Nami used to reside.   I will not be keeping this place a secret.  Tell them you heard about them here, they like to know how their word is spreading!

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Atlas Global Bistro

Friday August 19th

www.atlasglobalbistro.com

Tonight we are all the usual players, Scarlet, Lulu, Thad, The Greek and Pippi.  We have a new guest star tonight, another Ms. L.  

Our Server tonight is Will.  I have to say that the service here was very good and everyone from the person answering the phone, to the host, bartender, everyone was very friendly.  Will was also extremely knowledgable about the menu and over-the-top knowledgable about the wine selections.  

The drink menu is very creative.  There are some pre-prohibition style cocktails.   There is a lot of cool stuff to try.  We recommend the mango fusion and the pomegranate fizz.  Unfortunately there seems to be a fruit fly infestation in the bar area as 3 of the poor suckers were found drowned in our drinks this evening.

For apps we try the trio of artisan cheese platter...which was great, hard to go wrong with good cheese with some bread.  We also try the teppanaki pork belly, which we found rather bland.

Teppanyaki pork belly

And the Lamb Bhuna, which we also found rather bland.  

Lamb Bhuna

Scarlet has the hearts-of-palm salad, which she says is bland, not much flavor going on there.  For her entree she orders the pan roasted duck (this is pheasant on the menu, but the role of pheasant this night is played by duck).  She liked the duck.  But we decide overall that the flavors of this menu are turning out to be so subtle, that we are feeling there is no "wow" factor or zing.  

pan roasted duck

Lulu has the asparagus ragout off the app menu as her entree, she also enjoys the tomato basil soup and the atlas salad.  Thad has the Bourride, which is poached corvina and prawn, and finds it "delightful".  Len also has the fattoush salad, see more below.

Bourride

I have the Moroccan grilled quail.  This dish wasn't bad, but again, the flavors were so subtle.  There was also a lot of chickpeas and patty pan squash which could have used a little seasoning of some sort.

Moroccan grilled quail

My favorite item of the evening was my fattoush salad.  It had pistachio stuffed dates and feta, very delightful.  

Fattoush

Ms. L had the vegetable paella.  While she said is was just fine, I remember it also tasting somewhat bland and now that I'm looking at the menu, why is this priced at $25?

Seasonal Vegetable Paella

The Greek had the Osso Bucco.  He absolutely loved this dish.  He ate it with gusto and guarded it from others.  I would have to say that this is recommended for the meat eaters.

Osso Bucco

For desserts:  lavender vanilla creme brulee, we didn't taste any lavender.  Will seemed very surprised we couldn't taste it.  Again, flavors sooo subtle you wonder if they are there at all?

The chocolate mousse cake tasted store-bought.  The carrot cake was ok, the frosting was very good.  Our favorite dessert was the wild berry sorbet with champagne.

The total bill worked out to be about $80 per person with all the cocktails and wine included.  Our scores averaged a 4.  The food left something to be desired at times, but the lovely atmosphere, good drinks and impeccable service made up for it.  I would love to come here for pre-event drinks in the future, and maybe a cheese plate and fattoush salad!

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South Bar

 

http://www.southbar.us/


Saturday, August 6th

Tonight we are Lulu, Thad, The Greek, Scarlet...me....and a new guest, Mrs. B. 
Although we enjoyed our company, we did not so much enjoy South. 

First, lets mention the reservation negotiation.  Scarlet called and asked for a reservation at 7:30..was told flat out no way.  The closest to that was 6:15.  But when she said that wouldn't work, they said, ok...how about 6:45?  She asked about getting anything later than the original request for 7:30...was told no way, totally booked.  They finally settled on allowing us to have a 7:15 reservation.....thanks!  At 8:00 the place was still more than half empty!

Now, as for the drinks.  I paid $12 for a shot of blueberry vodka with some club soda, cucumber, a few blueberries and lime.  It was mostly ice.  In a short glass. This is the drink everyone was recommending?  Having been to many establishments in the past year, I normally do not balk at paying $12 for a drink, but this was ridiculous.  Same for the $12 shot of valentine vodka with cherry juice and club soda.

Our service was best described as meek and slow. 

Apps:  We have the tuna sashimi, which was ok.  The seaweed salad had good spice.  We liked the chips and salsa.  The guacomole is very bland. We tried the blue corn crab cake, and hated it.  We described the texture as gross. The Greek has the gazpacho, and deems it a salsa slurpee.  Too frozen. Not good.  I have the black bean soup, and like it.  It has a chunkier texture than most, but that isn't a bad thing in my book. 

Crab Cake

Entrees:
Mrs. B has the linguine with shrimp.  She says the sauce is spicy good and the artichokes are very good.  She said they are stingy with the shrimp.
Scarlet has the fish tacos, which she really liked.  The rice was dry and refried beans canned, but she recommends the tacos.  She said it was the best fish taco she has ever had.

Fish Tacos

The Greek had a giant burrito. He hated it.  It was bland and just plain nothing special.

A giant burrito

I had the jerk chicken, it was just ok, again...nothing too special.
Lulu has a predictable quesadilla and Thad had the grilled prawns. 
We come to the conclusion that the food here is on par with Applebee's.....shudder. 

For dessert:  We try the lime vanilla creme brulee.  It had no lime flavor and a grainy texture.  We try the banana crepes.  The banana was good, like bananas foster, but the crepes were folded on the side and hard to use.  The chocolate cake was predictable and the kaula fried ice cream was forgettable.

The score averages to a 2.  Usually I feel a little bad when a restaurant scores so low on our rating system, but this one I feel truly deserved the title of "the pit of mediocrity".

Total bill $277 plus tip.

After hitting a couple other bars in Birmingham we come back to check out the night club scene.  I'm trying to be generous and say something good about this entire place.  But I just cannot.   I'm not impressed with any of it.

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