Edmund's for City Pulse

Rarely has a place been so skewered.

(And yes, although it says that it was written by Mark Nixon, it is indeed my own.)

Grandma knows best

The Johnson family is sprawling. My father, the eldest of 13 big-headed, Black Irish children, is uncle to 40 plus. My grandparents, of the Kalamazoo Johnsons, have been inundated with waves of grandchildren. We range in ages from 40ish to 10, and for the last 5 years there has been another wave of babies being born.

With all those Johnsons, it's hard to keep track of who is going away for the summer, who is graduating from high school this year, who won student of the month. Hence, Johnson Jottings- the monthly newsletter that Grandma has been typing on her typewriter for the better part of 2 decades.

The latest issue arrived yesterday. The first paragraph is always Grandma's love note to the family, where she reflects on the weather we've had and, frequently, how blessed we all are to have each other.

This month's reads: Here we are in the midst of Summer. The weather has been very hot and humid but I hear that more comfortable weather is coming this weekend. I sure hope so. You know that hot and humid is not my favorite thing. I hear that many of you have been camping and traveling to many different places. I hope that everyone is able to have a fun time this Summer and to have a lot of family time together. Before you know it, the kids will be off to school, especially the college kids, and things will be changing for a lot of you. New babies are coming and grandkids are moving off into all different parts of the country and I guess that one thing is clear . . . that things will always be changing. Enjoy your time together while you can and have fun and be safe. Happy Summer to all of you. Be sure to take time for ice cream along the way, ok? Dad and I went to the Parlour the other day for a sundae and a malt. It was like old times. Be sure you give it a try. 

I've taken her advice.

Cugino's for City Pulse

This month I ate at Cugino's. You can read about it here.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pasta Rrrrrroma.

Guess.

Penne alla vodka.

Maru for City Pulse

Hot off the presses this week, my love affair with Maru flags a bit. Read it here.

Regardless, the food was gorgeous.

The sashimi that sent me over the edge.

Yellow Fever. Am I the only one who keeps thinking "The heat is on in Saigon!"?

Land and Sea tempura.

Soy Joy, my longstanding favorite.

Hamachi Kama. Funny name, serious fish.

Gracie's Place for City Pulse

Panna cotta.

Braised beef.

I have been eating and cooking delicious things. What I don't have, however, is much time to tell you about it.

My last City Pulse review was on Gracie's Place in Williamston. Read about it here.

Anthony Bourdain comes to East Lansing, for City Pulse

Anthony Bourdain is coming to the Wharton Center next Tuesday, and somehow I was lucky enough to be the one to call and interview him. Nervous doesn't begin to cover it. Read the article here.

Hamburgers in Royal Oak, Fish Tacos in Ann Arbor, and a week of transition

This week has been busy in a different way. Every day of the past 5 days has found me having lunch and dinner with friends who have been neglected of late. I've been getting into the gym and the yoga studio, watching things that have been trapped on my DVR for months, and reading a book about Northern Ireland.

Last week I quit my job in Royal Oak and will start a new job on Monday, a real lawyer job, at a firm in White Lake. That's north of Brighton. I hear there are good things to eat.

My last week in Oakland County found me doing some traveling and eating at some very popular area restaurants. One day I had to go take care of some business in Ann Arbor, so I stuck around for lunch and headed to Lena, which was one of the Detroit Free Press' top 10 restaurants of 2012. The hostess makes a girl feel welcome. "How are you, my beautiful lady? Would you like to get cozy by the fireplace?"

I did indeed sit by the indoor fireplace and ordered pineapple aqua fresca.

Oh I loved it. So sweet and refreshing.

For lunch I had fish tacos. The waitress suggested I have the fish battered and fried instead of grilled, which might have been a mistake. There were three tacos on my plate, flour tortillas topped with rice, beans, cilantro, fish, a chimichurri, and crema.

The tortillas were tasteless. A salty, grainy little corn tortilla would have been better. Every ingredient was fresh and flavorful, but there was nothing to lend any heat to the taco. No salt and pepper on the table, either. It was a satisfying lunch, but there wasn't anything for me to write home about.

The next day my birthday boy coworker and I headed north on Woodward and had lunch at Redcoat Tavern, the longtime standard-bearer of metro Detroit's best hamburgers. The place looks like a barn, and when you step inside your eyes have to adjust to the dim red light. We knew we wanted burgers, and I ordered mine with provolone cheese and caramelized onions. I accepted the tomato and lettuce that come standard but had to nix the tomato because I couldn't taste the meat.

And this meat begged to be tasted. It was juicy and tasted like a true burger, not like the plasticy, artificial garbage meat that's so prevalent in fast-food restaurants today. The bun was a cushion. The onion rings, which my coworker raved about, were too greasy for me.

I still ate a few, of course, in the name of research. A few days later I returned to Vinsetta Garage, where I'd destroyed a 3am burger a few weeks prior. It was the best burger I'd ever had. The Sriracha mayo absolutely knocked me out. I didn't even care that my hands smelled like meat for the rest of the day- it was worth it. On my return visit I tried the Vinsetta Burger, which didn't hold a candle to the 3am.

The burger sauce is reminiscent of a barbecue sauce, and was a little sweet for my taste. I wanted the kick of the Sriracha mayo. Matter of fact, I'd eat that mayo on just about anything. Maybe I will spend the last day of my spring break concocting a little of my own mayo.