Many of you new to the area may not be sticking around after earning your degree. While briefly here, I encourage you to experience the area's treasured ethnic food stores and restaurants. The following restaurant selections should ensure your diversions are money and time well spent, and please see the MSJ On-Line edition for further details regarding ethnic markets, barbecue joints and for the more lukewarm recommendations. Note--Since your A2 peers more likely have already scoped-out the west metro digs, I'll more detail the east side offerings, except where the west side has THE best thing going.
Chinese Sichuan - Hidden Dragon at 15 W Michigan Ave in Ypsilanti serves the most authentic Sichuan food you'll find in Michigan, though that is not meant strictly as an accolade. They offer numerous versions of tripe, kidney, etc., but I find chicken meat to be a good bet. Watch out for bones because the cook doesn't aim for joints when swinging his dull cleaver. When their Sichuanese customers (i.e., everyone else but you) order a "variety" of dishes, each dish arrives looking strikingly like the other--- fried, with fistfuls of ruby peppers, and sufficient prickly ash to leave ones' lips unequivocally numb. Unfortunately, traditional hot pot and fresh pickles are not available, but the offerings still are enough to transport your imagination to a satisfying Chengdu or Chongqing food court. Ignore the overextended Chinese American menu selections. Aside: One of Middle Kingdom's (Main St., A2) primary chefs is from Sichuan, so if you know what you want and can deal with the prices/crowd, you may be able to get it, there, too.
Chinese, Dim Sum in particular - While it's not SF, LA or NY, weekend fans have plenty of comparably respectable area choices (listed in alphabetical order):
- East Lake, 5087 Rochester Rd, Troy
- Golden Harvest, 6880 E 12 Mile Rd, Warren
- Golden Hoy, 25333 W 12 Mile Rd, Southfield (the food is better than the sparse crowd would suggest)
- Shangri-La, 6407 Orchard Lake Rd, West Bloomfield (closest proven option to A2)If you can't blow an entire morning, I'm told that Great Lakes Chinese Seafood Restaurant at 2910 Carpenter Rd in A2 also may be an option, but I have no reason to risk being served thawed dumplings, given all the other scrumptious alternatives. On the other hand, if you have a whole three hours. a Metro Detroit tradition is "the Windsor round trip," particularly when the exchange rate is favorable (oops). Bring friends, so as to spread the toll/gas costs. But, conduct a passport roll call before departing, as there's always one genius in every group who thinks White people get to cross back into the USA sans papers. It's great fun to pig-out at Wah Court, 2037 Wyandotte St (ancestor of May Wah Inn at 1689 University Avenue West.try both). Dress warm, as you may have to freeze street-side, until a table becomes available. I also recommend Jade at 157 Wyandotte Street West for thoughtfully prepared, weekend dim sum.open until 4am except Tuesdays, and located in a neighborhood of night clubs and various other risqué establishments, so the after dark dine-in and take-out clientele makes for some interesting people watching, as well.
Korean - Most Korean restaurants in Metro Detroit, other than a few grimy cafes, were started by a single investor, Jai H. Park. So, there's not much variety from which to choose. One of the only ones he's not yet flipped is Bibim Bab, located inside an office building (open eves, too) at 43155 Main Street in Novi. Since most of the places backslide after he sells them (ref. the various iterations of Seoul Garden) I'd recommend you try Bibim Bab, particularly if you like your meats selected by the restaurateur rather than whatever meat is pushed by Sysco Distributors Inc. The menu's Bul Ko Gi appears a little steep at $16.95, but you'll not leave feeling short changed. And, if you're in to upscale "hot" suburban nightlife, then this area (known as Twelve Oaks or Novi Town Center) may be your kind of place. Pay attention: That Michigan State grad in the late model lux' SUV is making eyes at you! I'll add that one of Mr. Park's chefs broke off on his own and started, on a shoestring, Korea Palace (irony?) at 34744 Dequindre Rd in Sterling Heights. He has no BBQ tables or liquor license (one might discretely BYOB; though, you didn't hear that from me), but the guy can cook! The Je Yook Kimchi (pork belly sautéed with spicy pickled napa cabbage and steamed tofu) is flawless. The best place unassociated with Mr. Park probably is Shilla, at 1119 W Maple Rd in Clawson, a couple miles away from the Somerset Collection mall where the auto executive families shop.
Vietnamese - Pho Hang at 30925 Dequindre Rd is the "Little Vietnam" (block defined by John R Rd and Dequindre Rd, from 12 to 13 Mile Roads) area's most decent no-frills Vietnamese restaurant. This hopping place may serve an underwhelming dish here and there. But, where else can one go in hopes of having pho made from stock of ox femur, that grandmother attentively simmered all morning?
Japanese - Ajishin at 42270 Grand River Ave in Novi is the ONLY place in Michigan serving truly good Japanese food. Emphasis first is on noodles, second on sushi. Nothing else is offered or needed. Quite affordable. No liquor license. Long lines.
Lebanese - If you don't come from a big food city (or a Middle Eastern family) then serendipity awaits. Historic, working class Dearborn has a plethora of authentic Middle Eastern food options. Expanding on these local Dearborn traditions, Restaurateur Talal Chahine took all of Metro Detroit by storm in the 90's, opening/franchising nearly two new "La Shish" restaurants every year, greeting customers with bread just pulled from a brick oven, served gratis with a "creamy" garlic - olive oil emulsion that was legendary. But, after 9/11 and the Hezbollah-Israel war, Chahine's loosey-goosey forays along legal boundaries finally caught him in an undertow of political tide, and the FBI chased him out of the country on charges such as under-reporting waitress tips to the IRS, giving to a black-listed orphanage, etc. (His MBA sister-in-law, also living at the extended family home in Plymouth, was a CIA interrogator of Al Qaeda prisoners in Iraq, so you know this family at least has the capacity for not playing nice). The now abandoned La Shish restaurants were seemingly sold in fire sales, and the new independent owners have been operating in a very inconsistent manner, under names such as Palm Palace, La Marsa, etc.. Thus, I'll steer you back towards the heart of Arab Dearborn, anchored by old local and less ambitious favorites Al Ameer at 12710 W. Warren Ave. Dearborn, and the even more unpretentious, gut-gorge oriented, Cedarland at 13007 W Warren Ave. Try the appetizer of raw lamb ground with cumin and cracked wheat (raw kibbeh). The meat packer provides it to the kitchen in individually vacuum wrapped, irradiated and mullah-blessed packages, for your safety, which the chefs then open upon order, spice and serve to you. Next, feast on the mixed kabob combo, like it's your last meal. If one is okay without table service, my favorite is New Yasmeen Bakery / deli, at 13900 W. Warren Ave, where I build my own buffet (cribbing off the other customers' orders, rather than the incomplete menu boards). The large platters of food in the counter cases at first appear only moderately enticing, at room temperature under the fluorescent lights. But, this is the real deal. The open-face meat pies come straight from the oven, and the pita sandwiches ($2.50 !!!) are so succulent that they must be double wrapped in the delicate fresh bread. Seating is communal. Just down the street is Shatila dessert bakery (12710 W. Warren Ave). You'll soon understand why it's required that one take a number and wait, to get a little piece of baklava, bassma or ossmalleya. Homemade kashta (rosewater) ice cream also seems to be popular. Please don't graduate and leave without eating on Warren Ave in Dearborn.
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