Birmingham - Dick O'Dow's for very authentic Irish food and atmosphere. Dick O'Dow's was designed and built in Ireland then shipped here piece by piece. I've been there a number of times and have been very pleased every time.

I love Dick O'Dow's ^ Place makes me smile broadly every time I go there. Great bangers and mash. And I can find the irish soft drink, the orange rock shandy stuff.

Dick's is great. Cameron's (around the corner) is a great steak house. A good night out in Birmingham always finishes with drinks at DoDs.

I've never gone to Cameron's, because I usually prefer the Fish House (owned and operated by same folks)...and when I'm in Birmingham and looking for steak, I like the local Ruth Chris by Somerset. But I'll check out Cameron's :)

A couple other good Irish pubs around are the Baile Corcaigh, on Trumbull a few blocks south of old Tiger Stadium, and Stout in downtown Brighton.

I really like Cameron's. While one can never go wrong with Ruth Chris', Morton's, or the Capital Grille, its nice to stay away from the chains now and then.

You can always eat there on the road ;-).

I hate to tell you this, but Cameron's is a chain, and they were just purchased by Ruths Chris....

I like Cameron's much better than all of those others you mentioned, and hope that Ruth's doesn't change much in terms of it's food or atmosphere.

Oh wow, didn't realize Cameron's was a chain. They still have good food ;-).

I found my "first" Cameron's in Columbus, Ohio. I'm not sure where they've expanded to.

Jcherney...I didn't realize RC had bought them out.

I've noticed subtle changes at the Troy RC since it changed hands back to the corporate franchise from its prior ownership. E.g., they took the Michigan Salad off the menu til enough of us complained about it.

DD,

It happened right around the end of November or in that rough time frame. I've heard conflicting stories that either they bought the whole Cameron's chain, or they bought 19 stores. I don't know how many Cameron's were around, so 19 may be the whole chain!

As you, I found the offerings to be a bit weak lately at the Troy RC. One of my favorite soups was taken off the menu- turtle soup. It was a signature appetizer at Topinkas Country House on Telegraph and 7 mile until they closed. RC's was as close as anyone's come to duplicating it, and now they don't offer it anymore. I love their steaks, but I find the atmosphere at Cameron's to be much more enjoyable. I worry that RC will mess with success and we'll be out another good restaurant......

I went to Ajishin last week and it was... amazing.

It was about, I dunno, 2 degrees outside (maybe less) and there was a long line out the door. The place is small, but well worth the wait. Every employee I saw was a native Japanese speaker, including the sushi chefs. The place smells just like a ramen joint in Tokyo, and the sushi is fantastic!

In fact, I may just go there right now!

Some of my favs (in alphabetical order :)):

Cafe Zola (Ann Arbor) - French... in all honesty I found the food so-so (it's better if you eat meat) but they make this crepe that has bananas and nutella and raspberry sauce and ice cream.... and you get it for free if it's your birthday!!!! ^
Gratzi (Ann Arbor) - Italian, with yummy yummy butternut squash ravioli
Little Tree (Royal Oak) - Sushi... only ever had the veggie stuff, but it's all supposed to be great :)
Priya (Farmington Hills and Troy) - South Indian food, so good!
Sze-Chaun Chinese (Canton, on Ford Rd near I-275, in a strip mall across from a Meijer's) - Just some hole-in-the-wall Chinese place but don't laugh, this is the tastiest Chinese I've ever had!

Went to Buddy's the other night, it is Sicilian style pizza (very light airy 1.5" crust with light cheese and a great sauce). I really enjoyed it.

Client took me to a REALLY delicious pizza spot last night,

Tomatoes Apizza (yes that is spelled correctly)
http://www.tomatoesapizza.com/
there are two locations in the Farmington Hills area.

Apparently the owner learned his craft from one of the fantastic pizza places in New Haven CT.

The pizza is extremely thin crust with not a lot of cheese which I love.

--

Tony's at Birch Run....

check it out on Youtube

Biggest portion sizes ever..