Vodka and happiness — We're looking out for you. You want to attend this year's Vodka Vodka event. We want to offer you a discount. Just come to our Official Vodka Vodka Happy Hour, where they'll be on sale for just $40 cash. It happens 5-9 p.m. Friday, Jan. 11, at Fifth Avenue Royal Oak, 215 W. Fifth Ave., Royal Oak; 248-629-9423; fifthavenueroyaloak.com; limited availability.
American grows — Who says times are tough? Times are terrific in the hot dog business. Originators of downtown Detroit's American Coney Island are opening a new location in Canton, and — get this — it has a drive-through window. The new coney island location opens this week, and will feature a 50-seat restaurant serving such favorites as Greek salad, spinach pie and baklava. As part of the grand opening, American Coney Island will offer free coney hot dogs to the first 50 customers (one per person) starting at 9 a.m. and 99-cent coneys from 2 to 3 p.m. on Jan. 12. For each coney purchased, customers will receive an entry form for a drawing to see who gets a free coney dog each week for a year. The new restaurant will open at 8 a.m. Jan. 12, at 44532 Michigan Ave., Canton; open 7 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday to Wednesday, 7 a.m.-midnight Thursday to Saturday.
Heart donation — With Valentine's Day looming on the horizon, the good people at Hershey want you to know that their chocolate gift boxes have a designer look created by students at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. The design of the boxes, called the Pot of Gold Premium Collection Heart Box and the Hershey's Pot of Gold Truffles Collection Milk and Dark Chocolate Heart Box, prompted Hershey to donate $20,000 to the university.
View and chew — You don't need to hit a trendy gallery to see contemporary art. Just drop in at Detroit's Cass Cafe, where new art from Sydney G. James and Lamar Landers is going up this week. Drop in for the reception 7-10 p.m. Jan. 12, or come in any time before March 16 to see the work. Detroit-born visual artist James works with canvas and brush, Landers is a photographer and abstract multimedia artist. Oh, and the lentil burger ain't bad either. Cass Cafe is at 4620 Cass Ave., Detroit; 313-831-1400; casscafe.com.
Know of any upcoming food or drink events? Let us know! Call 313-202-8043 or email [email protected]
Fäviken
by Magnus Nilsson
Phaidon Press, $49.95
Imagine a restaurant located on a 20,000-acre farm in northern Sweden where 28-year-old chef-owner Magnus Nilsson is reinventing a style of primitive cooking and fiercely local sourcing, raising his own cattle, butchering sheep, goats, pigs and chickens and hunting for game birds, deer and rabbit. He plants and harvests his own vegetables and preserves, pickles and ferments them for use in the winter. At Fäviken, Nilsson eschews contemporary cooking equipment, instead using direct heat and cooking over open coals. The photos pay homage to the simplicity of the ingredients. Fäviken could change the way you think about food.
Designed by the folks at Williams-Sonoma, this Sauté Spoon is a cool tool, at once a spatula and a ladle — and good-looking to boot. Use it for scooping, stirring, basting and scraping. If it sounds pricey — $39.95 — consider the cost of four utensils needed to perform all of the tasks. It's a handsome addition to any kitchen: professional-quality, made of stainless steel and with an ergonomic design that makes it comfortable to handle. We like to flip the food and baste it without searching for another tool. And that leaves you less to clean up.
