Detroit/Windsor?

I recently have a reason to make fairly frequent weekend trips to the Detroit/Windsor area. I'll be spending most of my time in Canadia (at least I didn't say Canuckistan), but will often have a car and means of reaching Detroit.

Recommendations for the area, anyone? La Shish? Some good detroit-style pizza somewhere?

Thanks!

-ed

Here's a few place I wouldn't miss.

Roma Cafe: Old style Italian restaurant. Great NY Strip, Roma Salad. implicity and service at its finest. Highly recommended.

Roma Cafe
3401 Riopelle St.
Detroit MI
(313) 831-5940


Traffic Jam and Snug
511 West Canfield Street,
Detroit, MI 48201
313-831-9470
http://www.traffic-jam.com/

Greektown has several good places.

Don't forget to hit the Lafayette or American Coney Islands right off Woodward on Lafayette. Detroit has been changing and focusing on downtwon. I'm sure there are more options available. I had some great pizza on the Southeast side but I can't remember the name of the place at all. I could probably find it if I had a car and went looking.

Windsor:

My favorite Szechuan Chinese Restaurant in the world is Shin Shin's in Windsor on University Drive. They have the best Hot and Sour Soup I have ever tasted. The are located on University Drive on the North side of the street about 1/2 way between the Windsor Tunnel and the Ambassador Bridge. I drool when I dream about the meals I ate there years ago. I ate there about 3 years ago and was just as pleased. Besides the H & S soup, my favorite dishes were Szechuan Green Beans, Shin Shin's Special Chow Mein, Szechuan Shrimp, and Mu Shu Pork. There were several other great dishes we used to order but those come to mind right now.

I know there are others but these are places I know are still around.

I'd recommend two places:

New Yasmeen Bakery
13900 W Warren Blvd
Dearborn, MI 48126
313-582-6035
http://www.yasmeenbakery.com

More like an Arab deli, that makes a wide variety of dishes fresh. You can eat in or take out. New, clean, fresh, bright, and huge. Wish there was one in Chicago.

Shatila
14300 W Warren Blvd
Dearborn, MI 48126
313-934-1520
http://www.shatila.com

Every kind of Baklava you can imagine, plus a nice cafe to enjoy Turkish coffee.

Both of the above places seem to be filled with Middle Eastern immigrants, many off of their shifts at local car factories. My Lebanese friend who took me there tells me their accents give them away as Iraqis, Jordanians, and Palestinians. Not many 'tourists', and gives you a small look into their lives here.

No trip to Canada is complete for me without a stop at a Tim Horton's for doughnuts. I got hooked in my college days as a club hockey player. Despite their relatively recent corporate relationship with Wendy's, to me they are quintessentially Canadian--founder Tim Horton was a popular Toronto Maple Leaf who died in a car accident, returning from a game in Buffalo, I think. I am told the coffee is very good, but I am not old enough for coffee yet.

I can't tell you an address, but if you drive around at all, you'll have trouble avoiding them--they're all over!

The person I'm visiting in Windsor used to work for Tim Horton's, so I think I know far too much about what goes into the sausage, as it were.

Thanks for all the suggestions, though! I'm definitely considering hitting up shin shin and some of the others.


-ed

Tim Horton's -

Good doughnuts ...
Frozen bagels out of the box.
Muffins are OK, but not good by Canadian standards.

The coffee is a lot better than Starbucks at about half the price. Also, unlike Starbuck's, their cups don't leak.

I spent many a weekend in Windsor enjoying the various public gardens when I lived in Detroit and Cleveland.

Make sure that you make it to Windsor Public Market. They have a lot of fresh grown produce from sothern Ontario and some great butchers. Used to import a lot of meat from Windsor to Cleveland.

Various locations of a great Middle Eastern restaurant mini chain, La Shish, see: http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=89

If you are around this Sunday June 27, myself and another person are having lunch at 12:30pm. All are welcome! See: http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=377

Here's a brief rundown of the places I've eaten in the detroit/windsor area my past two trips (the past two weekends):

Shin Shin, Windsor: Very, very disappointing hot and sour soup. Not very sour, not at all hot. Decent mooshu. Very nice szechuan green beans, the star of the show.

La Shish (west), Dearborn: Incredible middle eastern. Friend and I had the sampler platter, or whatever it's called, which included: rice, shish tawook, shish kifta, lamb shawarma, chicken shawarma, lamb dolmeh, veg. dolmeh, hummus, babaganouj, jerusalem salad, felafel, tabbouleh, and a few other things I'm forgetting. Standouts: the wonderful fresh perfect pita bread, two types, that kept coming to the table. The felafel, fresh from the fryer, well-spiced, fantastic in the pita with tahini. The shish tawook and lamb shawarma were both also quite, quite good. One of the best middle eastern meals I've ever had. The felafel alone were worth the trip.

koto buki, windsor: very mediocre sushi (but I didn't expect much). Sitting at the bar let me see them constantly re-microwaving the rice to keep it warm, microwaving the unagi sauce, et cetera. It wasn't particularly bad sushi, just no better than, say, benihana. Miso soup was probably powdered, but free anyway, so no loss. "Iced tea" was lipton from a can. I shudder at the thought.

Sam's pizzeria and tavern, windsor: average pizza, on par with most "chicago-style" thin crust places here. Nothing special, nothing horrible.

Terra Cotta, windsor: One of the best pizzerias I've ever been to. Pizza on par with caponie's here in chicago, and also wood-fired. Lots of well-thought-out house combinations, very friendly service. Tuesdays are buy one, get one free, so my friend and I got: pesto/tomato bruschetta, a 12" 'calabrese' pizza (black olives and hot soppresetta), a 12" three cheese, garlic, and mushroom pizza, and three drinks for $24 canadian, tip included. The bruschetta was the low point -- rather than being good crusty bread, it was a pesto pizza with slices of fresh (and not half bad, given the time of year) tomato on top. It was passable, but I wouldn't get it again. My pizza was fantastic, a wonderful combination, especially when I drizzled the house-made chili-infused olive oil on it, which made it all the better. Check it out if you're on that side of the border.

El Mayor, Windsor: Pretty good lebanese. The felafel was a bit mushy on the inside and a bit bland overall, but fresh and decently tasty. Very good chicken shawarma from a massive spit. Friend loves the spinach pies.

-ed

Shin Shin, Windsor: Very, very disappointing hot and sour soup. Not very sour, not at all hot. Decent mooshu. Very nice szechuan green beans, the star of the show.

Sorry the H & S was disappointing. I haven't been there in quite a few years, but they were the standard I always measured H & S by.

I fondly remember the Szechuan Green Beans as being very good.

I hope you have better luck with other recommendations.

Little Italy in Windsor on Erie Street has many great locations.

Go see Joe at Il Gabbiano and you will not be disappointed. Try the Veal filet and make sure have some lemonciello shots with Joe downstairs at the bar.

Great place!

An interesting article in the Trib the other day that included some mention of La Shish:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nati ... 5552.story

Of particular note:

Chicago Tribune wrote:...federal prosecutors allege....Using a double set of books, the owner of La Shish chain of 15 restaurants evaded taxes while funneling some $20 million to the Lebanese militant force Hezbollah in recent years, according to an indictment returned in May.

...

In May, Dearborn restaurateur Chahine, 51, was charged with tax evasion in an indictment that connected him with the highest echelon of Hezbollah. Chahine and his wife skimmed $20 million of their profits to Hezbollah, prosecutors allege.

Chahine was photographed speaking at a 2002 fundraiser in Lebanon while seated next to Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, a Lebanese Shiite cleric identified by the U.S. government as Hezbollah's spiritual leader.

Chahine is now a fugitive in Lebanon. He fled after his restaurants and home were searched.His attorney did not return calls seeking comment. But Chahine said in a statement in May that he was only doing charity work and is not connected to Hezbollah, nor did he help fund the group.

I don't know how much comment there can be without sliding down the slippery politics-talk slope, but I thought this of interest.

This is very disturbing news regarding La Shish. We have enjoyed their food and made a point of stopping at one of their many outlets on almost every one of our frequent business trips to Ann Arbor and the Detroit metro area.

They serve excellent Middle Eastern food in a very comfortable, casual yet attractive atmosphere.

I eagerly await further developments regarding this story and hope that the allegations are incorrect. The combination of knowing that my money went to the funding of Hezbollah and the loss of a truly good Middle Eatern restaurant in the Detroit area, all in one ugly story, would be most upsetting.

Buddy

Here are some interesting guides to the Detroit area:

"Guide to Downtown Detroit"

"Guide to Mexicantown"

Yes, that is very disturbing news about La Shish.
Luckily, I was intruduced to a great Lebanese restaurant years ago by a dear friend of mine who happens to be from Lebanon.
The place is called Pineland, and for my money it is superior to La Shish in every way. The most important way being that everything at Pineland is made fresh. With la Shish, my understanding is that a lot of their foods are prepared in advance and delivered to the multiple locations by truck from their main warehouse.
Pineland has rotating daily specials, the portions are large and the prices are very reasonable. Although I've tried many items from their menu and all have been very good, the lamb shank is a stand-out - truly one of the finest Middle Eastern dishes served anywhere in the Detroit area.

Pine Land Restaurant
8207 N Middlebelt Rd, Westland, MI 48185
734-421-4084

For Detroit-style deep-dish pizza, you might want to try Buddy's. The original location on Conant in Detroit is still probably the best, and the closest to Windsor as well.

http://www.buddyspizza.com/

I second the recommendations for both New Yasmeen and Shatila. Two of my favorite spots in Dearborn. I try to stop by Yasmeens for lunch whenever I'm in the area, and Shatila is our go-to spot for pastries whenever we're visiting or hosting our Arabic friends. You won't find anything more authentic than this place.

Thanks for the tip on Pineland. We'll be in Detroit later this week on business. I already know one meal will be at Slows, a newish 'Que joint near old Tiger's stadium. We ate there on our last trip to Motown and were very impressed. It appears to be the current hotspot for both 'Que lovers and regular folks alike.

We will strongly consider Pineland for our other dinner.

Thanks again,

Buddy

Slows Bar-B-Q
2138 Michigan
Detroit, MI
(313) 962-9828.

Thanks also for the Slow's rec. We've been by there a bunch of times but have never ventured in. I must admit that whenever I'm in that area by myself, I'm usually looking for good tacos. Will have to check out Slow's one of these times.

Get there early or be prepared for a wait. Not knowing what we were walking into, we just showed up (don't know if they take reservations) one Saturday night to find a one hour wait. We arrived just in time because succeeding couples arriving after us were given increasingly longer wait times of up to three hours!

Although we were seated before the hour was up, that estimate was pretty darned close.

And before you ask, about half of those being told of a wait time of two hours or more stuck around and waited!

Buddy

P.S. I wrote a review of Slows over at Roadfood.com. If you'd like to read it before venturing down there, you'll find it at:
http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/topic.as ... hichpage=6

dare I even ask what Detroit style pizza is?

....also, I'll put another word in for the "Red Coat Tavern" ...one of the best burgers i've ever had. Its in Royal Oak, which is still very close by... http://detroit.citysearch.com/profile/5143742/

My mom lives in Detroit's suburbs, so I know a bit about city dining and a bit more about suburban dining. I agree with those who love and are shocked by the news regarding La Shish. Buddy's Pizza is also a good vote. There is a large Indian and Pakistani community in Farmington Hills, and good places abound, and if you just want to shop for food, Hiller's is kind of an international version of Treasure Island.

Specific restaurants:


The Whitney is famous, but it's mostly famous for the building. Building is historic and absolutely fabulous, food and service disappointing (though I will say the blue cheese souffle was rather nice -- just avoid the foie gras, which wasn't properly cleaned).

Tribute is an amazingly good restaurant -- but very high end. Maybe the best restaurant in the area. Fabulous food and flawless service -- at least when I was there. (Truffle ravioli worth trying, if they have it.)

Cafe Cortina is a great place for ambience and incredible service. The Italian food is very good. Not better than Chicago, but very good, and they really take care of you. Big wing-back chairs, handsome decor. Just a nice place to be pampered a bit.

The Lark is very highly praised in many quarters, but I found it to be a huge disappointment. It's attractive, but the service is only okay and the food, while good enough for, say, $40, is awful for $120. Having read that it was considered one of the best restaurants in the country (Conde Nast), I was prepared for splendid platiing, complex dishes -- then the waiter pushes up a cart and asks, "Do you want guacamole?" It was very good guacamole, mind you, but not better than that at Tacos del Norte. They also offered a nice duck salad -- duck, grapes, mayo -- but this is still not "best restaurant" fare. My mom's pasta course was flavorless, and while she ordered roast beef and I ordered veal, the two dishes were indistinguisable under their blankets of brown gravy. Not bad, had the price been lower, but I can have unremarkable service and pretty good food for a lot less than what The Lark charges. So avoid it, unless someone else is paying and you get enough mileage out of the pretty courtyard to not care about the price/food disonance.

It's a Matter of Taste is a delightful restaurant by the side of a lake. The food is very good -- sort of an Italian-leaning international menu. I was just there, and I had veal with artichokes that was outstanding. This place really could bank on its view -- exterior walls roll up to offer a gloriously unobstructed view of Union Lake, with tables spilling out onto the patio. Great food, fun service, reasonable prices for what you get.

If you don't mind driving a bit, you can head for the Five Lakes Grill, which could only be considered a destination restaurant if you read The Soul of a Chef by Michael Ruhlman. Because Five Lakes Grill is where one of the chef's profiled in the book (and, come to think of it, the chef with whom Ruhlman co-authored Charcuterie) -- Brian Polcyn -- calls this "home turf." Milford is a charming town and Five Lakes is a good restaurant. If you have time for a drive in the country, I recommend it.

The Whitney
4421 Woodward Avenue
Detroit, MI 48201
(313) 832-5700

Tribute
31425 West Twelve Mile Road
Farmington Hills, MI 48334
248.848.9393

Cafe Cortina
30715 W 10 Mile Rd
Farmington Hills, MI 48336
(248) 474-3033

Five Lakes Grill
424 North Main Street
Milford, MI 48381
248-684-7455

Almost forgot -- Fishbone's is good for cajun/Creole.

400 Monroe St
Detroit, MI 48226
(313) 965-4600

or

29244 Northwestern Highway
Southfield, MI 48034
248-351-2925

Miller's is definately my favorite place to go for a great no-frills burger when I go home to the Detroit area:

http://detroit.citysearch.com/profile/5180532

I'm a sucker for true dive bars, especially ones that serve just good food. And this place fits that bill to a 't'. also, i prefer their onion rings to their fries.

If you give it a try - let me know what you think....

Here is another suggestion if you are interested in upscale soul foof / southern cooking in the Detroit area.

Beans & Cornbread: A Soulful Bistro
29508 Northwestern Hwy.
(Sunset Strip)
Southfield, MI 48034

248.208.1680 phone
248.208.6144 fax

It is a bit on the pricy side but the food is well prepared and the restaurant has a pleasant atmosphere.

http://www.beanscornbread.com/infobeans.html

Jeff from Michigan wrote:Yes, that is very disturbing news about La Shish.
Luckily, I was intruduced to a great Lebanese restaurant years ago by a dear friend of mine who happens to be from Lebanon.
The place is called Pineland, and for my money it is superior to La Shish in every way. The most important way being that everything at Pineland is made fresh. With la Shish, my understanding is that a lot of their foods are prepared in advance and delivered to the multiple locations by truck from their main warehouse.
Pineland has rotating daily specials, the portions are large and the prices are very reasonable. Although I've tried many items from their menu and all have been very good, the lamb shank is a stand-out - truly one of the finest Middle Eastern dishes served anywhere in the Detroit area.

Pine Land Restaurant
8207 N Middlebelt Rd, Westland, MI 48185
734-421-4084

Well, I thought I was following this lead, when I went to the Pineland near my mom's home in Farmington Hills, but it turns out that the address above does not match the address of the place we went. I wonder if they are related, as the Pineland to which we went was absolutely fabulous, with excellent Middle Eastern/Lebanese cuisine. It seemed to be family run. The menu was extensive, and everything was better than La Shish -- great quality well prepared, but also more food for less money. And I loved the fact that there were dishes I hadn't tried before. The ghallabah (a lamb and veggie "stir fry") in particular won my heart. So thanks for the tip, even though I ended up at a different place.

Pineland
33320 12 Mile Rd
Farmington Hills, MI 48334 US
Phone: (248) 324-1163

Im headed to Detroit/Windsor this wkd for the sweet 16 and will be staying in Windsor. It wont be by my 1st or even 2nd trip across the river to Canada so im familiar with the city but in previous trips it was more about the gambling and the clubs and I never really went exploring for the food gemmers.

I do remember they had at least 4 or 5 different fish 'n chip places with "Sir Cedrics" being the best we sampled but I cant remember much else...how is the little Italy neighborhood there? any roadfood type spots not to be missed? I will have a car and as long as Wisco holds off Davidson on Friday night, I will be there Friday morning thru Monday morning so I got time. Thanks to all.

Actually, it has been a while since I have crossed the border. When I did cross the border, it was more to grocery shop than to dine.

The area adjacent to the Ambassador Bridge along University toward downtown is the most chow-significant area of Wibdsor and has a good variety of Asian restaurants.

Sir Cedric's Fish & Chips
Cuisine: Fish And Chips
468 University Avenue West
Windsor, ON N9A 5P8
519-253-4044

I'm so surprised I've never seen this post before. I travel to Detroit for business at least once a month and can honestly say (no offense to Motorcity residents), but downtown Detroit is colorfully referred to by me and my fellow associates as "the armpit of America." There are great outlining areas and most will be covered in the trib article link. However, if you must stay downtown (and pay up to $40 in taxes per hotel room), I agree with the previous posts that Greektown is the only way to go. I recommend Mosaic, a steak house, for finer dining and stop by the famed Astoria Bakery for dessert.

And here's another Detroit-area "find" that I posted separately (largely because they're considering coming to Chicago, so it wasn't purely a "dine in Detroit" post). It's a place I look forward to enjoying when I visit my mom.

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.ph ... led+cheese

As a former Detroiter, I am sorry to report that my personal Greektown favorite, New Hellas, has closed after a long run.


http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008803220368

McClane wrote:(no offense to Motorcity residents), but downtown Detroit is colorfully referred to by me and my fellow associates as "the armpit of America."

it's all about knowing where to go.

if you're in actual downtown detroit... i enjoy sweet georgia brown's fried lobster.. in the greektown casino parking garage of all places... http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t= ... rgia+brown

i went to Slow's and found it to be overrated... my brisket wasn't very well done ... seemed like a "lets take a field trip to the ghetto" type place to many... but i'd go back just to know if it was worth the hype. (and after a visit there, i wish more places had banned smoking in restaurants... a few patrons were just plain rude about blowing smoke in your face)

opus one--a restaurant i had heard some rave about--was like being stuck in an 80s time warp. not very exciting, or good.

the new MGM casino has some supposedly great restaurants (a celebrity chef restaurant or two), but i haven't heard much feedback on them. (and when i was there to gamble, they looked empty--guess detroiters can't afford it).

to me the best restaurants in the area are actually not in detroit proper... the good food:bad food ratio is FAR better in adjacent ferndale/royal oak/birmingham....

In September or so, Ryan Odette, formerly of MamO, opened up Smoke 'n' Spice, a barbecue place, on Ottawa. He's using a Southern Pride with just a little steam (as far as I could tell) and is lately using mostly maple. I'd say the whole place is most directly comparable to Smoque, except sit-down with a full bar. Industrial waffle fries, but served in a sort of 'all-dressed' Canadian style, with flavors of salt, vinegar, barbecue, cheese, and jalapeno -- very addictive; great beans with pulled pork; decent mac-n-cheese and perfectly fine cole slaw. The corn bread seemed to be of the cooked-in-cast-iron variety, and was very good. Also on the menu, and tasty: fried pickle spears.

The meats (st. louis spares, chicken, pulled pork, and brisket) ranged from very good to just fine in that order. The ribs still had a good amount of resistance and a great dry rub+bark. The chicken and pork were both nice and smoky. The brisket was fine, but it had been sliced thinly and then chopped and held, and was the only meat to come to the table with any sauce on it. Still, it was more than edible.

Three sauces on the table, a mustard-vinegar carolina sauce, a chipotle sauce, and the regular. The carolina sauce was the clear winner of the bunch, but none of them were bad.

Prices are a little high, but the 1.22 exchange rate makes that melt away. A half slab of ribs, quarter chicken, pulled pork, brisket, mac and cheese, fries, beans, cole slaw, corn bread, fried pickles, and a bourbon-triple sec-iced tea "sweet tea" ran us about CAD$51 after tax but before tip, and was way too much food.

Anyway, if you're ever in Windsor for a few days, you should give it a shot. I'll be back for sure... maybe even tomorrow.

Smoke & Spice Southern Barbecue
Phone: 519-977-0112
Address: 1515 Ottawa St.
Windsor, ON