Places I used to like to go to eat in metro Detroit-Windsor

[Ststannies]

The Soup Kitchen and The Woodbridge Tavern in the warehouse district, Benno's in West Village, Koreana on Gratiot north of 7 mile [[best korean food I've ever had outside of Korea), Cardinalli's [[on Jos Campau just off Gratiot), The Money Tree and Ponchartrain Wine Cellars downtown and, of course, Charlotte's house on Christmas eve.

[Ststannies]

While I admire the guys who created Slows and I credit them with bringing renewed life to a previously desolate strech of Michigan Ave, the bottom line is the food just isn't that good, certainly not good enough to wait more than 10 minutes to get in. I used to like sitting at the bar and exploring the selection of beers_ Actually, the beer selection rated higher in my book than the food did. Now, it's simply a place the hipsters want to be seen in but, good for them. If it brings folks into my city, then all the power to them!.

[Detroitnerd]

Yes I'm sure DNerd will tell you that he has no problems waiting more than 45 minutes for restaurants in the suburbs such as Applebee's. That's pretty much his M.O. A very suburban-centeric celebrator of the interchangeable menus and atomospheres of those places you, not to mention the scenic drives up the freeway to get there DNerd often speaks of fondly.

Wha... ? Ahahahahaha. Thanks, bartock. Boy, do you have MY number.

[Detroitnerd]

Oh, are we talking about places that closed as well? I miss the burgers at the old Third Street Saloon. And even more so the burgers at the now-defunct Ramp Room. Anybody ever have a Ramp Room burger? Excellent.

[Alley]

3 bocks outside Detroit, but I really miss Sparky Herberts... What a great bar/restaurant!

they had good hamburgers and, as teenager, I also enjoyed their valet parkers

[Alley]

The Old Place in GP. Lums and The Hungry Penguin.

Wow, I hadn't thought about The Old Place in a lonnnnnnng time! I grew up [[and actually again live) on Beaconsfield at Jefferson... everything at that corner has now been replaced by overpriced condos with a pretty lame view, but the street's a bit safer for our cats

[adamjab19]

I'm going to go out on two limbs; first, the people bitching about waiting at Slow's are probably from the suburbs; second, the vast majority of hungry people are not exactly thrilled about waiting more than an hour to be sat, whether it be for BBQ or an endless bowl of pasta.

Honestly your limbs are correct for me. I don't wait longer than 30 minutes at ANY restaurant. It's just not efficient or an enjoyable way to spend the evening. Especially with a little one now and the fact that it's cluster to wait in most restaurants it's just not doable to drive down there [[because I live in the suburbs) to see if I can get a seat there.

[East Detroit]

Slow's was crowded tonight... ready to start skipping them and going to... Slows To Go.

Got our order at Slows To Go in 15 minutes. Excellent. Food just as good as the original. Love the Macaroni & Cheese, the Brisket, the Genius [[best vegetarian around). 1:45 is a no-go, but 0:15 is great.

[Detroitej72]

The Old Place in GP. Lums and The Hungry Penguin.

Lums? I used to love the location on 8 Mile, just east of Hayes. As a kid, I loved their fish & chips!

[gnome]

Good Girls was fairly crowded this afternoon and 3 of us were in, ordered, fed and on our way in 23 minutes.

For not being a fast food place, that was pretty fast..

[John]

Surprised that nobody has mentioned Backstage Deil [[on Woodward North of McNichols). It burned down in the early 90's.

[jackie5275]

I just saw that Thai Palace in west Dearborn is closed. Don't know how long, but couldn't have been too long. I was there in the spring. Anyone know what happened? They always had a steady business.

[DetroitTeacher]

Thai palace II in East Dearborn is still open. Not sure what happened to the one in W. Dearborn! I know they were doing construction over that way in the back a week or so ago. Might be temporary?

I just saw that Thai Palace in west Dearborn is closed. Don't know how long, but couldn't have been too long. I was there in the spring. Anyone know what happened? They always had a steady business.

[Downtown Dave]

Softailrider - that's soo cool that Ira Samuel is still around. He had some real characters working at his Eastern Market cafeteria, but the food and setting was the real attraction. I introduced my parents to this market - and a breakfast stop there was always part of our routine.

[jackie5275]

Thai palace II in East Dearborn is still open. Not sure what happened to the one in W. Dearborn! I know they were doing construction over that way in the back a week or so ago. Might be temporary?

I hope so, but I don't have much confidence about it since there's a big FOR LEASE sign in the window.

[daft]

i recall the backstage when it started out as a small all-night restaurant on 7 mile, just east of woodward, next door to a bar that held weekly crab races [[honest).

the bagel on woodward in highland park [[good for a huge sandwich or a meal that should have cost twice what it did), and the prezel bowl next door [[a blue cheese burger -- with the cheese inside the burger)

verne's on forest

lou's

anybody recall charlie red's, a chicken wing place on hamilton?

[Don K]

Surprised that nobody has mentioned Backstage Deil [[on Woodward North of McNichols). It burned down in the early 90's.

I've been meaning to mention Backstage. It was just the place for a late sandwich with friends after Friday night at Menjo's.

Now for a couple of favorites from my years living in Plymouth.

Hillside Inn
Cafe Bonhomme

[Dave70]

Oh yeah, thai... The Thai House! Gratiot and 10 mile. By far that place served the best thai food that I ever had. Now I think it's still a thai place but I didn't like the pad thai nearly as much as when chef Pipop ran it. Plus you could get Singha thai beer!

[GPCharles]

The Collonade Cafeterias - both in the Penobscot and the FIrst Federal building.

[PaulGall]

The Collonade Cafeterias - both in the Penobscot and the FIrst Federal building.

Some people called it the Colon-Aid, but I liked it just fine.

[gazhekwe]

Talking about Seva on another thread made me remember Healthy Jones. It was on Northwestern just north of 12 Mile. There's a Sero's there now. Healthy Jones was great, vegetarian with really good recipes, and they had a nice market inside, too.

[vjean46]

Turtle Soup was on McNicols but I always got Ribs there.

[ferntruth]

Have to agree with GPCharles, Sparky Herberts had it all. Fine and funky. Another place over on that side of the world was the Sunrise Saloon. Is it still there? Charlevoix ave I think, Jan Lasher ran it, nice guy. Vietnam vet, gaffer.

Yes, they did have it all, including hair in the food. I used to work in the area and would frequent them for lunch. That stopped when my last 3 visits each resulted in my finding hair in the food - perhaps they never heard of hairnets?