WSJ Article:Chef Craig Lieckfelt Brings Michelin-Level Dining to Detroit

[Warrenite84]

http://online.wsj.com/articles/chef-craig-lieckfelt-brings-michelin-level-dining-to-detroit-1403811524

Found a good article about Detroit Restaurateurs in the Wall Street Journal Magazine: Chef Craig Lickfelt Brings Michelin-Level Dining to Detroit: Motor City's fine-dining ambassador wants to change the way the world sees his downtown.

[compn]

awesome, another fusion chef.

oh and he dabbles in gastro cooking. i would like to try that one of these days.

[Lowell]

Ha. I about salivated to death while reading that. Well-written description of yet another innovative Detroit event and person. This snippet was nice.

That's not to say hipsters with ideas serve as the city's sole panacea, but they have been successful in carrying out a kind of long-overdue branding exercise that casts Detroit in a more positive light. There's international fascination with the city's well-being—its historical contributions, sad trajectory and future potential. "There's a little Detroit in everyone," a longtime resident once told me, explaining its magnetism. The menswear designer John Varvatos is from here and helped design a sleek, special-edition Chrysler sedan. The artist Matthew Barney's latest film, River of Fundament, was shot in the area. And Shinola—a leather goods, watch and bicycle manufacturer—has bet its entire business on the fact that Detroit, the brand, is both aspirational and profitable. Currently, the Bruce Weber photographs from their most recent advertising campaign, as well as shots he has taken in the city since 2006, hang in Detroit's hallowed Institute of Arts.

[nain rouge]

The food is great in Detroit. Hell, in terms of coffee, I think Detroit is one of the top cities in the US. We must just have the perfect combination of rents, weather, and people. Seattle has gloomy winters, too, and their coffee pedigree is well known. You need that pick-me-up.

It'd be great if we could figure out a way to bring our fishing industry back, to really capture our past identity. Dang those quagga mussels. Since humans are so good at overfishing, I wonder if we could eat all the quaggas? We could have big shacks with buckets of fresh mussels for a $1. How bad could a quagga taste?

[DetroitPlanner]

I'd rather eat a coney at a table full of strangers!

[Honky Tonk]

The food is great in Detroit. Hell, in terms of coffee, I think Detroit is one of the top cities in the US. We must just have the perfect combination of rents, weather, and people. Seattle has gloomy winters, too, and their coffee pedigree is well known. You need that pick-me-up.

It'd be great if we could figure out a way to bring our fishing industry back, to really capture our past identity. Dang those quagga mussels. Since humans are so good at overfishing, I wonder if we could eat all the quaggas. We could have big shacks with buckets of fresh mussels for a $1. How bad could a quagga taste?

How about a Quagga Taste Fest???? We could sell them in Midtown off of "Food Trucks", and tell the yupsters they're escargo!

[nain rouge]

Everyone says quagga and zebra mussels are dangerous to eat, but how are those species any worse than other mussels? Or are the Great Lakes really that polluted? You'd think Lake Superior quaggas oughta be safe.

[Mackinaw]

Great article. I have been saying this, but I think that great restaurants [[both of the Michelin-starred variety and of the cheap eats variety, as long as they are delicious) and a great overall food scene can be powerful perception-changers. In Brooklyn and Jersey City, this has enticed a lot of people out of Manhattan to live in what were previously sketchy areas, if not for the food itself, then because of the perception that a great food scene meant that the neighborhood was going in the right direction and had life, energy, and creativity. In Minneapolis, the budding food scene has garnered national attention has at least corresponded with the city's rise as a suitable place, up there with Chicago, for young people to want to live post-graduation. Basically, the perception of 'cool' was somehow established in that nice, clean little city thanks to food. Without food and culture, it would basically be like a big Grand Rapids.

It doesn't take much more than what we've already got-- great mainstays, great access and food landmarks [[Eastern Market and Mexicantown, most prominently), and a steady stream of new, acclaimed openings both pricey [[like Joe Muers) and humbler [[like La Feria, Slows, Craftwork etc etc.). And I have only scratched the service. With Selden Standard, that new place on Merchants Row [[forgetting the name) and the permanent Guns+Butter coming soon, we could easily eclipse Minneapolis on the national radar [[it is, perhaps, not far ahead of us and possibly overrated food-wise). But most importantly, the good press that is generated and the Jersey City/ Brooklyn effect I describe could really confirm and enhance the revitalization of many areas, and attract a few new people.

As for Michelin, to get a starred place would be huge. There are none in the Midwest outside of Chicago. It's a very coastal thing, and if Guns/Butter, or heck, even Marais in GP, steals a star, then the game has changed in the Detroit food world. Half the battle is perception and getting the right people to notice these restaurants, however. Those in a position to market Detroit restaurants ought to look at New Orleans and Brooklyn's food scenes for how to create the requisite positive vibes using the City's story.

[Jimaz]

Everyone says quagga and zebra mussels are dangerous to eat, but how are those species any worse than other mussels? Or are the Great Lakes really that polluted? You'd think Lake Superior quaggas oughta be safe.

I like the spirit here of trying to turn a negative into a positive but I found this at the end of the Wikipedia article:

Although quaggas are edible for humans, eating them is not recommended due to the accumulation of toxins, pollutants, and microorganisms within the mussels' bodies.

Yeah, maybe Lake Superior would be better.

[313WX]

The food is great in Detroit. Hell, in terms of coffee, I think Detroit is one of the top cities in the US. We must just have the perfect combination of rents, weather, and people. Seattle has gloomy winters, too, and their coffee pedigree is well known. You need that pick-me-up.

Detroit has a ton of positive attributes.

It just hasn't learned:

1. How to market those positive attributes.

2. How to minimize the negative attributes.