Originally Posted by
CLAUDE G
The one I miss most is the Old Top Hat that was right next to Tunnel BBQ when you got out of the tunnel on the Canadian side.
When the US dollar was up, you could get an entire slab of Baby Back Ribs with Fries for around $8, and the ribs and sauce where seriously the best in town.
On top of that, they usually had a live show ever few weeks, it was a top notch establishement which lived way beyond its time.
What ultamatly forced them to close down was the death of the owner, September 11th, Curranty exchange rates, and the Detroit Casinos.
9/11 Just killed the business from the customers like me who would go over once or twice per week just to eat. 30 minutes in customs when coming back home and then being harrassed for another 5 minutes with the fear of a possible inspection was just too much for alot of people.
The Detroit Casino's picked off a little more business, as they where more convient for most people to travel to
Then we can all blame the all mighty US dollar, with the Canadian dollar being about par with the US dollar, raised their prices over 50%. Didn't help much that they tried to off set their losses by raising prices even more!
Finally the owner did pass away a few years before the place closed, and eventhough the kids did an excellent job running the place for their mother, things just where never the same.
Good news is that I still got the guys email address and can get sauce :)