Bert's Marketplace

Anyone can show up here. Detroit's only late night jazz club serving up Cajun catfish and red beans and rice all night long. It's not common to find a bar where everyone seems to know each other and yet newcomers don't feel excluded. Dozens of regulars turn up Thursdays for the open mic jazz jam sessions. Bert's serves the music fans bargain-price soul food from rows of steam tables: meat and two sides for nine bucks, or up to $25 for a whole slab of ribs. In keeping with Bert's bare-bones, working-class atmosphere, their food is more down-home than much of the soul food you find in restaurants, which has often been upgraded from its humble origins.