Fast Eddie
When Edward “Fast Eddie” Lezuchowski was but a kid, his mother, Pauline, guided him down to the basement of the Norwalk Bar with a live chicken in hand. Her intent was to teach young Eddie where chicken soup came from. This was a time when milk and eggs were delivered by horse-drawn carriage, when bars…
Civic pride
Best movie line about Detroit in Airplane! Detroiters have become accustomed to Hollywood’s cheap smack-talk. Jabs at Motown come via a boatload of mainstream films such as Working Girl, Grosse Pointe Blank, True Romance and The Goonies. But this line from Airplane! tops ’em all: Ted Striker: [flashback] I remember when we first met. It…
Shatila
On Friday nights during Ramadan, this bakery is take-a-number packed with ravenous break-fasters. Other nights you can comfortably linger over coffee and pastry at one of six tables. One long series of cases carries a dozen types of baklava, burma, bassma and fingers with walnuts or pistachios. They are sold by the piece, half-tray or…
People’s Picks
Civic Pride Best museum: Detroit Institute of Arts, 5200 Woodward, Detroit, 313-833-7900 Best museum to take kids: Detroit Science Center, 5020 John R, Detroit, 313-577-8400 Best art gallery: The Detroit Institute of Arts Best place to see a blockbuster film: Star Southfield, 25333 W. 12 Mile Rd., Southfield, 248-353-STAR Best place to see an independent…
Best brew pub
More than a beer-geek hangout, Arbor Brewing Co. typifies everything you hope to find in a pub: a nice selection of well-prepared food that transcends pub grub, good local music, and, oh yes, beer, most of it brewed on the premises. It varies season to season, but you can always find Red Snapper Special Bitter…
Don Luciano’s Place
Just a 20-minute drive from the bridge, Don Luciano’s patio is on the river, a stone’s throw from Bob-Lo Island. No canned music, no umbrella drinks, just serenity and local wines. Don or Luciano (the partners) may emerge and share a tumbler with you. Nothing here feels mass-produced. You can sense the touch of an…
Basham bashes & Kwame ducks
State Rep. Raymond E. Basham fights plans to dump hazardous waste into Romulus wells.
Celebrating capitalism
Best place to have your tea leaves read Boston Tea Room 121 Elm St., Wyandotte 734-281-2244 The sages here will never miss a prediction if they say they see a mild, warm beverage in your future. That’s because at the Boston Tea Room you can get a reading — and some swell tea. Also complementary…
J. Alexander’s
J. Alexander’s is the kind of place where chicken fingers and coleslaw get all the attention that [insert fancy food of your choice] or [another fancy food] might get at some gourmet joint. The lime chicken with garlic smashed potatoes looks like a meal that can’t be finished. But you eat all of it and…
Aerial scare, mayoral prayer
Screamin’ Rebel airshow scares Renaissance Center employees on 9/11.
Party loyalty
Best venue to catch a band on the way up Lager House 1254 Michigan, Detroit 313-961-4668 Much like London’s Roxy, LA’s Anti-Club, and San Francisco’s Mabuhay Gardens (cq), Corktown’s Lager House has all the makings of a legendary rock dive. It relentlessly books local next-big-things — its calendar reads like any major-label wish list (the…
City by the Sea
Robert De Niro, one of the industry’s most veracious actors, is a veritable source of sincere passion that this Hollywood contrivance orbits around. He doesn’t let the tired subject matter, plot and characters affect his performance; the man is just so good at what he does, it’s like watching one of the family.
Juice bar squeezed out
Atom’s Juice Bar set to close doors after years of legal hassle.
Playing Nice
DJ K-Nice (aka Ken Fisher) experienced an epiphany upon the first Fresh Fest concert in 1987. While watching Run DMC and Whodini, and DJs Jam Master Jay and Grand Master D, he knew that he was destined to move crowds through music. "My roots are in that era," says the 6-foot-2 DJ, grinning. "I’m kind…
Dog-eat-desperation
Stray Dog
(1949), the third collaboration between director Akira Kurosawa and actor Toshiro Mifune, is a rarely seen neo-realist take on the noir topic of low-life ambiguity — essential viewing for anyone with the slightest interest in Kurosawa, or world cinema, or just solid entertainment with serious overtones.
Judiciary for sale
Judiciary bias for special interest groups raise serioous questions about impartiality.
Lafayette Coney Island
Head downtown to Lafayette Coney Island when you’re looking for a Coney Island hot dog. Though not as thick as a porkaphile might hope, they’re the real deal — not from the “they’ll never know the difference” school of cereal-and-filler production At many coneys, chili cheese fries come with iridescent liquid cheese. Lafayette heaps on…
The Last Kiss
The Last Kiss
takes a breathless tour around the world of relationships — intimate, agonizing and wonderful — in less than two hours, putting an alternate spin on melodrama and intimacy where every kiss, for so many reasons, may be the last.
Where house
A crumbling warehouse at 1947 W. Fort is in need of a face-lift. Built around the turn of the century, the one-story structure features red brick and green trim with tall banks of partially intact windows. Weeds and wildflowers have begun climbing the exterior walls, and untended tree branches have broken through windows on the…
Strong bodies
Best soul food Franklin Street Restaurant 1440 Franklin St., Detroit 313-393-0018 There may be a wait, but it’s the place to be after church on a Sunday afternoon. It’s the same food you ate coming up: catfish, pork chops, meat loaf, fried chicken, ribs. But it all tastes so good and you don’t have to…
Sex with Strangers
Half psychological study, half soft-core porn, Joe and Harry Gantz’s documentary follows the sticky, complex lives of three couples who are swingers. The film offers lots of graphic sex, but also many moments of poignant, raw emotion — definitely not easy to watch, but compelling and engrossing.
Letters to the Editor
Screen saver I read Ann Mullen’s article about Geoff Gowman and the Alger Theatre ("Reel activism," Metro Times, Sept 4-10). Thanks for doing that story. I was not familiar with him or the theatre. but am now. I live in Southfield but have a greater appreciation for the city now. I think what his group…
The Ham Shoppe
If your life depended on your ability to obtain a ham and cheese omelet the size of a hubcap, the Ham Shop in Greektown would be your salvation. The chef slices the ham off the bone as you look on, salivating. The succulent meat is wed with fluffy eggs — apparently very big eggs —…
Stealing Harvard
Director Bruce McCulloch (of “Kids in the Hall” fame) cooks up a weird "funny" that works, not because of what his characters are saying but how they say it, transmogrifying the film into a charming, moronic foray worth your time — with Jason Lee and Tom Green.
Letters to the Editor
Screen saver I read Ann Mullen’s article about Geoff Gowman and the Alger Theatre ("Reel activism," Metro Times, Sept 4-10). Thanks for doing that story. I was not familiar with him or the theatre. but am now. I live in Southfield but have a greater appreciation for the city now. I think what his group…
Milk Coffee Bar
Once in a while it’s nice to escape the rigors of city life by grabbing a friend and heading to Windsor. Despite the crackdown since Sept. 11, getting across the river isn’t all that bad as long as you have proper ID and leave your box of weapons at home. Even when crossing is a…
Barbershop
Though writer Mark Brown’s characters verge on the stereotypical, he mostly manages to twist his clichés, intelligently parody them or play them off of each other in an interesting, but flawed comic portrayal of one of black America’s cultural institutions.
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): No more sour desserts for you; no more lovable danger or stylish sickness. Once you get the hang of rejecting all the double binds that have squeezed you recently, I predict you’ll also say no to crippling luxuries, barren discipline, stupid truths, wasteful desires and irrelevant courage. The liberation that erupts…
Abandoned Shelter of the Week
A crumbling warehouse at 1947 W. Fort is in need of a face-lift. Built around the turn of the century, the one-story structure features red brick and green trim with tall banks of partially intact windows. Weeds and wildflowers have begun climbing the exterior walls, and untended tree branches have broken through windows on the…
McCarthy’s Pub & Grill
For postal employees and newspaper workers, McCarthy’s is a home away from work. It’s your basic working-class Detroit bar, but there is a catch: the french fries. Crispness without greasiness is tricky. But McCarthy’s strikes the perfect balance: these light, snappy little fries are just what you were looking for. Fresh from the deep fryer,…
Son of the Bride
Son
was an Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Film and, as is too often the case with such movies, there’s an enervating strain of sentimentality that runs through it, guaranteeing that any rough questions bought up will be smoothed over — for people whose feel-good buttons are easily pushed.
Playing rough
Q: I am a guy who enjoys rough nipple sex with other guys, both giving and receiving. The harder the play, the harder I get. The problem: most of the guys I do this with have well-developed nipples that are a half-inch long or more and are very hard, while mine are flat as a…
Two Sisters Polish Family Restaurant
Hamtramck hipsters old enough to remember the Workmen’s Co-op #1 restaurant on Yemans will feel right at home in Rochester at the Two Sisters, which offers down-home Polish cooking and the no-nonsense ambiance of grandma’s kitchen. Specialties include pierogi, kielbasa, stuffed cabbage, and naleshniki (blintzes or crepes, depending on your ethnicity), as well as Polish-American…
Margarita’s Mexican Restaurant
Located right smack in the middle of the Woodward corridor suburbs is a Mexican restaurant that would never even dream of pandering to the Chi-Chi’s crowd. This is authentic Mexican cuisine that is heavy on the veggies and true to its roots. This place is right under your nose — don’t miss it a second…
El Cafetal
El Cafetal, an unde-recognized spot, focuses on making the second half of your day better than the first. The chips are perfection and the salsa is mild with a cool fresh tomato base. The Mexican sandwich is a construction-worker’s dream: three soft echelons of flour tortillas with layers of rice, homemade beans, veggies and cheese.…
Don’t rubber the wrong way
Q: My marriage of nearly 30 years is grinding to a slow and painful death. Since my wife had her tubes tied before I met her, I have never used a condom. When I am going to have sex with a woman, when do I put the condom on? Right before I put it in?…
New Hellas Cafe
The New Hellas is Greektown’s oldest — founded in 1901 and still in the family. It’s one of the few that serves rich, tangy, house-made Greek yogurt — with a pitcher of warm honey on the side. The bean and vegetable soups are superior, as is the omelet with feta. Most ordered: lamb chops and…
Athens Souvlaki
Who knew that a little Greek-coney spot, long loved by Southfield lunchers, was the home of the most consistently satisfying gyros in Michigan? You can’t be blamed for missing it, it’s so cozily hidden in the corner pocket of a strip mall. Although the longtime brains behind the operation, ace gyro-master Vacili, has moved on…
Salt of the earth
For someone who lives on the north side of the city, the Downriver landscape of metropolitan Detroit is mystically nostalgic. Instead of Lake St. Clair abruptly narrowing into the Detroit River and flowing, pushing, even surging toward you, the current flows away and leaves you. The river widens and divides around historic Fighting Island and…
Cedarland Restaurant
When the three brothers who own Cedarland converted the large bank building on the corner of Warren and Hartwell into a restaurant, they retained the drive-through window for quick orders. Whether eating in or taking out, the baba is creamy in consistency, with a roasted, earthy aroma and just the right bite. You can order…
Sydney Bogg Chocolate
Sydney Bogg’s is one of Detroit’s oldest chocolatiers. Mr. Bogg began his career as a streetcar driver and made candy as a hobby. He sold it to his passengers. Bogg apprenticed to a Highland Park candy maker, Harold Vair, who made his fortune with a patent on poppycock. In 1936, when Bogg began his business…
Sept. 18-24, 2002
19 THU • MUSIC Mega Mahler— Those who like their music huge, transcendental and flaming won’t want to miss the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s launching of Gustav Mahler’s "Third Symphony," a celestial mothership of a work. Running almost two hours, marshaling such major forces as an oversized orchestra, the women of the UMS Choral Union, the…
Plaka
Who knew that a tiny 24-hour diner in Greektown would have not only the best French toast in the city, but in the entire universe? All the food at Plaka is good, and moderately priced, but the French toast is truly inspired. A consistency that is not too eggy but not too dry. The perfect…
Dot & Etta’s Shrimp Hut
The spot on Mack is Dot & Etta’s original location, and it has been there since before the ’67 riots. One regular patron had this to say: “The chicken? Oh my God. They’ll make Col. Sanders pack up their bags and go, baby.” And the Colonel — now KFC — doesn’t do shrimp. Batter-fried shrimp.…
Development for dummies
Evidently, the main problem Wayne County residents face is having too much money. Detroiters, on the other hand, suffer from not having enough abandoned buildings or enough empty space on which to build new ones. And if that makes you think my blood sugar is out of whack, it’s a lot worse than that. What…
Avalon International Breads
The biggest seller at this Cultural Center mainstay is the farm bread, a traditional French white sourdough. But if you like your sandwiches made for you, show up at lunchtime as the focaccia comes out of the oven. It might be topped with organic roasted zucchini, tomatoes, basil and parmesan. Avalon has branched out from…
Josef’s French Pastry Shop
Josef Bogosian began working in pastry shops just out of high school. He opened his own little storefront bakery in 1971, turning out fine pies, cookies, cakes, mousse torts, roll cakes, fruit flans, almond tea rings, and other goodies. He sells only what he likes, “though I don’t really eat pastries” (just enough to check…
Letters to the Editor
Getting the crumbs Congratulations to Lisa M. Collins on the excellent article honoring Avalon International Breads ("On a roll," Metro Times, Sep. 4-10). They do deserve acknowledgement for their enhancement of the Cass Corridor and this community. The history of the support they received from others, and the delineation of their Zen philosophy of business,…
Best of Detroit 2002
Fanatical enemies stalk from without. Venal corporate executives and their crooked bean-counters plunder from within. The market is shaky. The ice caps are melting. The cops just booted your car because you have 37 unpaid parking tickets. Clearly, now is the time for all good men and women to come to the aid of their…
Give Thanks Bakery & Café
An oasis of Old World taste and ambience in downtown Rochester, the pastries are made with European butter and the breads are all cold-risen via a traditional process that takes several days. You can’t rush such pure goodness. Check out the exquisite tortes and be sure to take home a loaf or two of the…
