Am rolling into Detroit in about a month's time for my brother's graduation there. Was planning on taking him and a few of his friends out for drinks & dinner on their graduation nite.. He quite like's live music (jazz, classic rock) any places you could recommend where the food is great and there's a good live band as well to listen to ...??

I have not been there but friends have recommended this:

http://www.cliffbells.com/index.html

Managed to go down to CliffBell's..nice spot..with good live jazz

I saw an article on GGGP. I'm going to try it.

Pupuser�a y Restaurante Salvadore�o on Livernois has incredible El Salvadorian food and is very inexpensive. The spice slaw that comes with everything is delicious!

The Chop House. Excellent quality steak (filet), very good lobster bisque. Have eaten there twice. Once at the bar, once at a table. Great service both times. As a bonus, they serve Zingerman's bread!

Westend Grille. Couldn't find a link, but this one is more casual, a star or so less than Chop House. Not as expensive but it was still a very good meal. It's downtown AA, a block or two off of the main downtown strip.

Some thoughts from Grand Rapids

- Best in the city, by far: Grove
- Other favorites:
- Casual: Green Well (no reservations for less than 6), Bistro Bella Vita
- Best Italian: Tre Cugini (although I want to try the place in Comstock Park, forget the name; do not go to Notos)
- New American: 616 in the JW Marriott (although the chef left recently; also best hotel in the city)
- New place I really want to try: Trillium Haven (had CSA from them last year, amazing veggies)
- Best Brewpub: Founders (Brewery Vivant if you like Belgian-style, but food is pretty frou-frou)
- Best bargain: Dinner at The Heritage, the restaurant at the local culinary school

Detroit Free Press - 10 best new restaurants for 2012

http://www.freep.com/article/2012121...-metro-Detroit


I have only been to Crispelli's (just okay - not a fan of the concept) and Local Kitchen, which is very good as long as the place is not busy.

Thanks for the list!

BTW - Vivant has now added wine/champagne to its offerings (I'm not really a beer person) & the menu looked good (er, frou-frou) so I'm going to try it in January.

Cheers.

Any suggestions for East Lansing? Cheap eats: Mexican, other Central/South American, other ethnic?

Some recommendations:

Holland:

Butch's (www.butchs.net) - gets Wine Spectator Award every year, new chef from California, does wine tastings - and beer tastings. Food is excellent, but a bit pricey for dinner. Sometimes I just do dinner apps as they're quite imaginative & better price. Lunch is very reasonable. Whenever I have friends from out of town (including FTers) I always take them here. Butch's is the closest I've found to a LA/Chicago style restaurant in this small town. Also is a great location on 8th Street w/ people watching opps. And Holland has 'snow melt' on 8th street, so even if it's snowing there's no snow on the street/sidewalk. BTW - Butch's has 3 sections - the finer dining in the front, the wine/beer section in the middle where you can buy wine/beer from around the world, and the casual bar in the back (lunch/dinner menu can be ordered in the bar). And the owner does wine tours in Europe each year, if anyone is interested in that.

New Holland Brewing Company: (http://newhollandbrew.com) While I'm not a big beer drinker, this is a 'must-go' place for FTers that are. I've sat there while they've dissected all the ins/outs, IPE?s, etc, of different brews/brewmaking. They also have a good casual food menu. I'm amazed at how many people know of New Holland from out of town & out of state, so evidently in the 'brewing world' it's quite well known. If someone is interested in Irish Whiskey, the Curraugh Pub is directly across from New Holland & they have quite a few Irish whiskeys.

DeBoer Bakery (www.deboerbakery.com) - This is a combo restaurant/bakery. The baked goods are fabulous & lines out the door on weekends! The restaurant has fantastic breakfasts as well, and I usually eat here weekly or order take-out brekkie & bring it home since I live within 10 minutes of it. Again, a place I take FTers & other out of town friends. It's also on the street leading to Holland State Park for those who want to pick up some baked goods or lunch on the way. It's only open for breakfast/lunch (breakfast only on weekends), although the bakery section is open longer.

Saugatuck:

Phil's (www.philsbarandgrille.com) - This is a casual place w/ good food & drink at reasonable prices right on Butler Street in Saugatuck. Saugatuck is a charming village 10 minutes from Holland. You can't miss Phil's because it has a movie marquis in front! And it has THE best broasted chicken I've ever had, bar none. The 'white basket' is great.

Douglas:

Everyday People Cafe (www.everydaypeoplecafe.com) - Everyday People Cafe is located in downtown Douglas, which is across the bridge from Saugatuck. The food is great. Again, a bit pricey unless you go for appetizers, but definitely worth it. They don't take reservations & open at 5:30pm. People start lining up outside the restaurant at 5pm onward!

Fennville:

Salt of the Earth (www.saltoftheearthfennville.com/eatery/index.htm) Located in Fennville not far from orchards & other agricultural areas, this restaurant specializes in using Michigan grown products. The chef uses them in imaginative ways. A lot of times I order appetizers here, but entrees are good as well. Be forewarned - the "S'More" dessert is enough to feed 4! Went with some friends & we all ordered it. Had we known we would have ordered one & shared. PS - The S'More is really good.

Cheers.

our Holland-friend-in-common has had nothing but good things to say about this place.

The Free Press has started running a weekly "5 best" with a different catagory each week. Some of the places have already been mentioned in this thread, but if I remember, I will post the new list.

This week was pie:

A slice of pie can�t solve all our problems, but it can take our mind off them � which makes us grateful that so many small new pie companies are popping up to join the larger standouts we already have. Whether your tastes run to French Silk or Key lime ... chocolate or Michigan cherry � here are five places to find Michigan pie perfection.

Achatz Handmade Pie Co.
Born in Armada some 20 years ago when Wendy and Dave Achatz began baking pies in their home, Achatz Handmade Pie Co. now has eight shops and distribution in six states, but their pies still have that expert-home-baker touch. Achatz bakes 65 kinds, and you�ll find more than 30 regularly in stock in the shops. If you can only try one, make it the company�s signature: the juicy Michigan 4-Berry, bursting with Michigan tart cherries, blueberries, Marion blackberries and raspberries. Not too tart and not too sweet, it�s about as perfect as pie gets. (Ann Arbor, Armada, Beverly Hills, Chesterfield, Oxford, Shelby Twp., Sterling Heights, Troy; www.achatzpies.com)

Grand Traverse Pie Co.
Family-owned and based in Traverse City, Grand Traverse Pie makes it a priority to use local ingredients and suppliers. Every apple, cherry and blueberry it uses � and that�s tons and tons � is grown in Michigan. We love their apple pies, made with Northern Spys � the best pie apple of all. But the cream pies are dreamy, too. The award-winning company has 14 pie shops and cafes located around the state; in metro Detroit, look for them in Ann Arbor, Brighton, Plymouth and Troy. (www.gtpie.com)

Kate's Kitchen
People drive all the way to Flat Rock for the homemade pies at Kate�s Kitchen, a third-generation family-owned country breakfast and lunch caf� founded in 1978 beside the Huron River. The shop offers 13 kinds of fruit and cream pies daily and bakes 11 others by special order. You can see them being made in the little kitchen behind the cash register; select the one you want from one of the two glass display cases. Alexis Zornischenko manages the shop now, following in the footsteps of her mother, Catherine Zornischenko. The flaky crusts are a secret family recipe. The meringue looks a mile high, the fillings are delicious and everything is made from scratch. Kate�s takes cash or checks only, closes on Mondays and locks up at 2 p.m. the other days. (26558 W. Huron River Drive, just west of Telegraph: 734-782-3909)

Love's Custard Pie
Husband and wife Allen and Donnie Love are regulars at Eastern Market on Saturdays, where she sits patiently in the background and he stands by their table, courting customers with tastes of sweet, old-fashioned Southern-style custard pies. They offer 26 kinds, but the most popular is the classic chess � even though it�s unfamiliar to many Northerners. �It is a style of custard � a very eggy, rich, butter-and-sugar pie,� Allen Love says. Donnie Love does the baking in the kitchen of their former ice cream custard shop on McNichols. When business slowed three or four years ago, she began making pies as a side business � but the pies soon took over, and now it�s their only business, he says. Andrew Zimmern of the Travel Channel�s �Bizarre Foods� show, who visited Detroit last year, called Love�s pies �the best pie I have ever eaten in my life.� �Nuff said. (313-748-2654; www.lovescustardpies.com)

Dangerously Delicious Pies
One of the most unusual locations for a pie shop in these parts is the 3rd Street Bar in Midtown Detroit, where rock �n� roller Don Duprie and his manager, Sam Wood, have a counter and a kitchen and run Dangerously Delicious Pies. They may sound like rather unlikely pie-bakers, but the proof is in the tasting. The recipes are from Rodney Henry, founder of the nationally known Dangerously Delicious Pies shop in Baltimore; he�s a friend of Duprie�s and set him up in business here. The pies are made by hand and baked daily using fresh ingredients. Choices change frequently and range from strawberry to Key lime and lemon chess to the Baltimore Bomb, a house favorite made with chunks of dark chocolate and shortbread crumbs. (Delicious savory pies are also served.) The bar, which opens at 5 p.m. daily, is at 4626 Third; contact the pie shop at 313-727-7437.

They can bake in minutes in super-hot ovens, emerging thin and chewy and slightly charred at the edges. With their lighter but intensely flavorful toppings, thin-crust pizzas have won metro Detroit’s heart — no small accomplishment in a city whose name is synonymous with thick, square pies. Here are our picks for metro Detroit’s best thin-crust pizzas.

Supino Pizzeria
The waits can be long and seating is scarce, but that doesn’t deter the crowds at owner Dave Mancini’s shop in Detroit’s historic Eastern Market. There’s something about his thin, hand-stretched crusts and premium local ingredients that sets his pies apart. Mancini wasn’t the first to make thin-crust pizzas here, but his runaway success helped ignite Detroit’s thin-crust movement. (2457 Russell, Detroit. www.supinopizzeria.com )

Pizzeria Biga
Italian techniques, ingredients and soul give Pizzeria Biga’s Neapolitan-style pizzas a rustic, yet sophisticated style. Chef-owner Luciano DelSignore offers toppings that include numerous cheeses, meats that range from duck breast prosciutto to clams and house-made sausage, and an unmatched selection of fresh and roasted vegetables. The aromatic pies bake at 900 degrees in Italian wood-burning ovens and emerge, the Old World way, with lightly charred edges. (Southfield, Royal Oak and soon-to-open Ann Arbor. www.pizzeriabiga.com)


Crispelli's Bakery & Pizzeria
It’s hard to believe pizza this quick can be this good, but this stylishly casual caf� and bakery in Berkley nails both great flavor and speed. Customers tell their pizza-maker what toppings they want, watch their pie being assembled, pay at the end of the counter — and pick up a fragrant, delicious pizza in about 3 minutes. Everything is made fresh, and the prices aren’t bad. Crispelli’s does great breakfast pies, too. (28939 Woodward at 12 Mile. www.crispellis.com)

Tomatoes Apizza
Owner Mike Weinstein apprenticed as a pizza-maker with New Haven pizzaiolo Lou Abate, and Tomatoes Apizza’s giant pies with super-thin crusts are as close as you’ll come to the originals. Organic flour and aged Pecorino Romano cheese contribute to the great flavor. The 14 Mile Road location even has a rare coal-fired oven. Try the Naples Sampler, with a different topping on each quarter of the pie. (24369 Halsted and 29275 Fourteen Mile, both in Farmington Hills. www.tomatoesapizza.com)

Mani Osteria
Cool, sophisticated Mani Osteria in Ann Arbor is such a great place for shareable, modern Italian food, it’s hard to get a table. But go anyway for the distinctive thin-crust pizzas baked in wood-fired wall ovens. It’s the original topping combinations and flavors that set these apart. Try the Taratufo with Fontina, black truffles and egg, or the Sausage & Peppers, with smoked scamorza cheese, pepperonata and chile pesto. (341 E. Liberty. www.maniosteria.com)

I mentioned this place up thread a bit, so glad you too recommend it!Aren't there other breweries now in Holland?

Perhaps for the Flyertalk Dinner/Drink gathering on Monday June 24, we hit a couple@:-)