No Reservations

**jcole** · July-12-09, 10:24 PM

I looked for the old thread regarding this topic and couldn't find it, so sorry if this is a repost.
The Rust Belt episode of Anthony Bourdain's show airs this month:

Rust Belt
Premieres Monday, July 27, at 10 E/P

Episode Description
In the bleak, cold winter, Tony meets up with his good friend Zamir and the two travel to the heart of America's Rust Belt with stops in Baltimore, Detroit and Buffalo. After visiting this misunderstood region, Tony realizes that it's not just home to auto factories and cold weather, but it's also full of kind people and delicious food.

http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Show...uide_Rust_Belt

**Whaler** · July-13-09, 11:28 AM

I remember reading a thread about Anthony Bourdain . He was having lunch in West Bloomfield. I wonder what shows up on his show ?...What Places???..Any thoughts

**jcole** · July-13-09, 11:46 AM

I think most of the places he went were ethnic. If I recall, there were Chaldean and Arabic places and a couple others.

**aoife** · July-13-09, 12:29 PM

Originally Posted by Whaler

I remember reading a thread about Anthony Bourdain . He was having lunch in West Bloomfield. I wonder what shows up on his show ?...What Places???..Any thoughts

I know he went to Polonia in Hamtramck & Cadieux Cafe. For some reason I am thinking he went to a Middle Eastern bakery, but that just might be my own unconscious desire for baklava sneaking into the conversation.....

**filup** · July-13-09, 12:59 PM

sweet, thanks for the heads up. i missed it when it aired earlier in the year!

**jcole** · July-13-09, 01:11 PM

Originally Posted by filup

sweet, thanks for the heads up. i missed it when it aired earlier in the year!

It hasn't aired before. The new season starts tonight.

**filup** · July-14-09, 01:01 AM

well thats cool. for some reason i thought i remembered going to polonia and seeing a sign saying that it had aired on bourdain's show. i probably misread it.

**Crystal** · July-27-09, 10:53 AM

No Reservations's episode about the Rust Belt airs tonight at 10:00 PM on the Travel Channel.

**Cushkid** · July-27-09, 10:59 AM

My dad ate with him at Polonia in Hamtramck, Anthony surronded himself with laid off workers for dinner.

**Enduro** · July-27-09, 01:39 PM

Awesome, thanks for the heads up. I love this show.

**Gingellgirl** · July-27-09, 01:47 PM

From Tony Bourdain's blog, regarding tonight's show:

Detroit. Where just about everything cool originated. As angry as one gets looking at block after block of abandoned row houses in Baltimore and wondering how the hell that happened, it's mind boggling to see how far Detroit has been allowed to fall. But what a truly magnificent breed of crazy-ass hardcase characters have dug in there. Of all three cities we visited, Detroit, oddly enough, even while looking the jaws of death straight in the face, remains closest to being a true culinary wonderland. This is due entirely to the successive waves of migration and immigration from all over the world, when people came to MAKE things in America -- each group bringing their own food and traditions. Detroit IS the story of America, for better -- and worse, and I think we've missed that, allowed ourselves to look away. Detroit, after all, made us who we are. Literally. A country of cars, highways, car culture, upward mobility, rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and what were once, unlimited dreams. Whatever happens next, Motown, Eminem and the Stooges' "Fun House", at least, shall surely outlast the automobile.

**rjk** · July-27-09, 02:16 PM

Nice heads up. I was wondering what happened to that segment. When he was in town last winter the newspaper articles in both papers stated that it would air in May.

I wonder if he was able to get a second beer at Polonia. Just commenting on the lousy service we've experienced when we've been there.

**Maxine1958** · July-27-09, 02:58 PM

Wonder who made the choice of restaurants he visited?

"Under the Eagle" is my personal favorite, but I would have chosen "Polish Village Cafe", right across the parking lost, over "Polonia" both for food and service.

**Enduro** · July-27-09, 03:27 PM

I've been to Under the Eagle [[great) and Polish Village [[great) but not Polonia yet. I heard someone raving about the duck, a half duck dinner for less than 10 bucks. I've been meaning to go, hopefully I'll still be able to find a seat after this airs.

**Maof** · July-27-09, 05:14 PM

Originally Posted by Maxine1958

Wonder who made the choice of restaurants he visited?

"Under the Eagle" is my personal favorite, but I would have chosen "Polish Village Cafe", right across the parking lost, over "Polonia" both for food and service.

agreed maxine. hubby say it probably has to do with the "hot" polish waitress'

**rjk** · July-27-09, 06:44 PM

The last time I went to Polonia was when there was a line at PVC that was out the door. There had to be 25 people waiting to be seated. I went over to Polonia to get a takeout order and there were 5 people in there occupying two tables. Whoever runs Polonia needs to pay attention to what PVC is doing and copy it.
Maybe it makes sense that a show called "No Reservations" would show up at a place that is never crowded.

We've learned to go to PVC during the non-rush hours. The Polish plate, kielbasa soup and a couple of Zywiec and I'm one happy person.

I think the food at Under the Eagle is just as good.

**Detroitej72** · July-27-09, 08:38 PM

I've always been partial to Polonia because its less crowded and I know the owner's wife pretty well because she'd frequently sit with me and discuss Hamtramck politics.

Both restaurants have excellent food, are great bargains on the wallet, and are well worth the trip for folks from the suburbs.

**Gingellgirl** · July-28-09, 10:24 AM

I've been going to Polonia since it was the Workman's Cafe. I get a kick out of FDR's photo on the wall [[look for it!). My aunts and uncles used to eat there. The kitchen hasn't changed in 70 years. Check it out next time you visit the powder room. They should put a photo of Tony and Zamir on the wall now!

**Pam** · July-28-09, 11:50 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkKx7CfTMZk

Clip from the show.

**tarkus** · July-28-09, 12:13 PM

PVC is for the tourists who are looking for Polish food. No housemade made sausage it's Kowalskis and only a small piece and Campbells Tomoato soup over the stuffed cabbage. Yuck. Go to Polonia for the good duck soup and housemade sausage.

**Maxine1958** · July-28-09, 12:23 PM

Originally Posted by tarkus

PVC is for the tourists who are looking for Polish food. No housemade made sausage it's Kowalskis and only a small piece and Campbells Tomoato soup over the stuffed cabbage. Yuck. Go to Polonia for the good duck soup and housemade sausage.

PVC makes the best Dill Pickle Soup
Polonia makes the best pork roast with potato dumplings
Under the Eagle everything else but I like their czarnina the best - closest to Grandma's for me

**dbc** · July-28-09, 01:03 PM

Went to Polonia for the first time about a month ago. I've been to Polish Village many times and Under the Eagle a few, so I'm familiar with the food from all three. Anyway, I had the dill pickle soup and Polish Plate, and everything was delicious. [[Also had an Okocim OK and Zywiec porter. To me, the Zywiec porter is ambrosia.)

I liked their dill pickle soup better than PVC's and the farmers cheese pierog was the best I'd ever had, and I've had a lot of farmers cheese pierogi. The golabki had mushroom sauce on it, which you don't see as often as the tomato sauce. [[By the way, my first-generaton grandmother used Campbell's tomato soup as the base of her golabki sauce, so I don't have any problem with that. Her golabki were fantastic.) The sausage was fresh, as opposed to PVC's smoked. It was delicious, but - Kowalski or not - I'm partial to the smoked.

Overall, I thought Polonia was fantastic. I almost wanted to cry because, for me, nothing beats home-cooked Polish food and Polish beer, and it's hard to get anything like that out here in DC. [[DC and Baltimore each have an Eastern European restaurant, though.) Anyway, I think all three are excllent places - as is nearby Krakus on Jos Campau just across Carpenter in Detroit - so I don't see any reason not to rotate and visit each.

That all said, I really enjoyed the No Reservations episode. Although I think Anthony Bourdain would have really enjoyed Lafayette, he chose great places. And, I knew he would love Detroit because it is a hard-working, proud, unpretentious, friendly place with delicious, hearty food and drink. What's not to love?

**Novack** · July-29-09, 03:10 PM

Good show. I was surprised by the restaurants he chose. Al Ameer in Dearborn is excellent. I also enjoyed that when he brought up Detroit and the other cities he called them F@$$% UP!! At least five times. And I was further surprised that no one on this thread complained about that.

**jcole** · July-29-09, 03:45 PM

I think that was because he wasn't blaming the city or its people for f'ing it up. He was blaming the death of manufacturing.

**Gingellgirl** · July-30-09, 08:06 AM

Here's the missing scene from this week's "Rust Belt" show: Tony and Zamir eat burek and donuts while learning how the Family Donut Shop in Hamtramck, Michigan has been affected by the economy.

http://www.travelchannel.com/Video_&...Id=17744921001