TAQUERIA MI PUEBLO

For a satisfying taco, look no further than Mi Pueblo Taqueria in Southwest Detroit. While Mi Pubelo Taqueria is in Southwest Detroit, it isn't in "Mexican Village", which should be part of the allure if you usually don't venture past West Grand Boulevard on Bagley or Vernor.

Although Mi Pueblo might seem off of your usual path, the restaurant is anything but a hole in the wall. Instead, it's a large stand alone structure that looks more like a chain restaurant than a Mexican restaurant started by a brother and sister in a neighborhood home and bordered by a rail yard. Don't be fooled though, while additions have been made to the original structure over the years, the restaurant is still mighty tasty and in my completely non-Mexican Jewish American opinion, as authentic as any other Mexican restaurant around.

Meanwhile, the place is packed at peak times and while it seats up to 150, a line forms in the waiting area, especially during Sunday brunch. The restaurant opens with the waiting area to the right and a counter to the left where patrons can purchase Mi Pueblo t-shirts and other paraphernalia. One of the dining rooms is through the door to the left, while a gazebo style bar and another dining room are straight ahead. The clientele at lunch time consists of business men and women from downtown on their lunch breaks, while Spanish speaking locals consistently frequent the restaurant no matter the time of day.

Before the meal you are greeted with two different kinds of salsa, which are both great. I've heard that they taste like some bizarre spicy variation of spaghetti sauce, but if that's the case, I don't taste it. Even if they do, I'm not conceding the fact that the salsas are top notch.

Mi Pueblo Taqueria has any Mexican dish you can think of. Items include burritos, gringas, quesadiallas, torta, tosdadas, meats "a la parilla" aka on the grill, seafood, traditional Mexican soup, chiles rellenas, milanesa, tamales and Mexican breakfast including huevos (eggs) and chorizo, potatoes and ranchera sauce. Everything is cheap, except for the drinks. Even ordering Coca Cola can add up in price, as soda comes in individual cans ie no refills.

Although all of the food is very good, the main reason for choosing to eat at Mi Pueblo Taqueria over Mexican Village staples such as Los Galanes or Xochimilco are the tacos. Mi Pueblo calls itself a taqueria and it lives up to its name. Not every Mexican place on the Southwest side has cheap, good tacos, but there is no doubt that Mi Pueblo does. A place in Chicago called La Pasadita makes the best tacos that I've ever had. Although the tacos at Mi Pueblo can't live up to the legend that is Pasadita, the tacos at Mi Pueblo definitely hit the spot and are well worth the trip.

Taco choices include ham (jamon), beef steak (suadero), Mexican sausage (chorizo), chicken (pollo), deep fried pork (carnitas), shredded pork loin (lomo deshebrado), beef tongue (lengua), marinated pork (al pastor), pig stomach (buche), beef head (cabeza), spicy chicken breast (tinga de pollo), marinated chicken breast (pastor de pollo), and marinated beef (birria).

Not only are the taco filling choices inclusive, but you can get a three corn taco dinner which includes rice and beans for only $5.20, or $6.05 with cheese. You can get flour tacos for a more expensive price, but in general I would never recommend flour over corn, nor would I recommend getting anything else on the tacos besides onions and cilantro.

The meats are moist and tasty, although I'm not necessarily sure that I can tell the difference between the spicy chicken and the marinated. The chorizo is top notch, as is the al pastor. Interestingly enough though, Mi Pueblo Taqueria does not have carne asada as a choice for taco filling. Instead, they have marinated beef (Birria) and beef steak (Suadero), in addition to beef head (cabeza), which at this point, I'm not willing to try.

Mi Pueblo Taqueria is a very good restaurant, and it is worth leaving the confines of "Mexican Village" to indulge in a few tasty tacos. With gas prices so high, it's hard to recommend going out of your way to visit any restaurant, especially if you have a long trip. Yet, with very few Mexicans in the metro area in general, and a dearth of good Mexican restaurants, I'm going to go ahead and tell you to go anyway. The food is good, the tacos are satisfying, the clientele is real, and everything is cheap. It's hard to argue with a combination like that.

Taqueria Mi Pueblo
7278 Dix Rd, Detroit, MI 48209
E-mail contact@mipueblorestaurant.com
Phone: (313) 841-3315
Taqueria Mi Pueblo

MI Pueblo Taqueria

Dining Room

Chillen

Tasty Tacos
Including
One chorizo, one marinated chicken, one spicy chicken

Bar Area and Second Dining Room

For the complete Flickr set click here Taqueria Mi Pueblo Flickr Set
Detroit Army

IRON CHEF PLANS TO OPEN RESTUARANT AT REVAMPED BOOK CADILLAC HOTEL

The Detroit Free Press is reporting that a chef from the television show "Iron Chef" on the food network, plans to open restaurant at revamped Book Cadillac hotel.

"Michael Symon, a star of television’s “Iron Chef” food show and one of the nation’s fastest-rising celebrity chefs, will open an upscale restaurant this fall at the Westin Book Cadillac Detroit hotel." The Free Press goes on to state, "The Culinary Institute of America graduate was named one of the Ten Best New Chefs by Food & Wine in 1998."
Source: Detroit Free Press

While I have been told that Mr. Symon's restaurants in Cleveland are quite good, I still can't decide whether this announcement is exciting or just completely unimpressive. To me, an upscale chain restaurant or steakhouse in the vein of Ruth's Chris or Capital Grille would have solidified the Book Cadillac as a premier hotel destination within the city. On the other hand, an upscale unique/independent restaurant opened by a nationally known chef or even a well known local chef would also have been intriguing.

Somehow though, what seems like a low brow pseudo celebrity chef from a television show doesn't get me motivated to take out a pen and paper and write home about it. I wonder if I'm out of line?
Detroit Army

URBAN BEAN CO.

In the near future, Josh Greenwood, owner of Urban Bean Co., sees Capitol Park as a prosperous location , and you can't help but share his cautious, but readily apparent optimism on the issue. Located at Grand River and Griswold, Urban Bean Co.'s huge windows overlook Capitol Park in all of its glory, which as of right now, isn't much. In 2001, the downtown Detroit bus center was moved to Capitol Park after the former center was torn down to make way for the Campus Martius Park. Along with the temporary relocation of the bus center came masses waiting for their rides, homeless people looking for a place to stay, derelicts looking for a quick fix.

Yet, while Capitol Park's glory doesn't add up to much these days, Greenwood is depending on the area making a complete turnaround once the new Rosa Parks Transit Center opens a few blocks away, supposedly in September 2008. This turnaround will be aided by the long awaited redevelopment of the Book Cadillac Hotel. The hope is that along with the Book Cadillac, entrepreneurs like Greenwood will jump at the opportunity for successful business ventures in the area, whether it be lofts, stores, or restaurants.

With regard to the actual substance of Urban Bean Co., the place jumps out at you the minute you see it. Its bright orange exterior is of complete contrast to the gloomy exterior of Capitol Park. Its design and color scheme invites foot traffic inside, which there will hopefully be more of in September.

Once inside, Josh is the first to greet you from behind the barista counter. I'm pretty sure it's a one man operation at this point, so for a while at least, Josh is always going to be behind the counter. I talked to Josh for ten minutes and I already had judgments about his personality (which apparently, or at least I've been told, is not a healthy way to interact with people). Josh is my kind of guy. He was outwardly cynical, but behind the exterior, an opportunistic and optimistic side continually sneaked through, letting you know that there is more of him to be recognized than what he initially presents. You can tell the guy has pride in his store and believes in what he's doing.

The inside of the store is a combination of bright orange and yellow. The darkest color in the place was that of the black cat roaming around inside. On the main floor, more bar stools would be nice. but in the meantime, you can stand at the barista bar, or at the tables in front, while looking out at Capitol Park through the huge ceiling to floor windows.

The upstairs has multiple tables and places to sit within every corner. It's a small upstairs, but there's enough room for close to 15 people to comfortably hang out and enjoy a cup of coffee. Additionally, what makes this a hipper coffee shop than most, is that their are open turntables upstairs. Josh schedules known DJs when available, but he also has open turntable slots for unknown DJs trying to improve their craft and make a name for themselves.

As for the actual product, there are plenty of drink options including your normal espresso drinks, soda, Vitamin Water, Arizona Iced Tea, Gatorade, Crush, Red Bull, smoothies, and Frappuccinos. Snacks are available including muffins, bagels and pastries. He also has antacids, cigarettes, aspirin and cigars. For that matter, smoking is pretty much allowed throughout, and while I don't know if that's even legal, it adds to the ambiance.

When I was there, I got a double latte, which was fine, but to me, the place isn't about the drinks or the food. Urban Bean Co. is a place to hang out downtown, drink some caffeine, and possibly drum up a conversation that you wouldn't have normally had. Whether you do that while reading a book, doing some light work, or listening to someone spin on the upstairs turntables is up to you.

When Capitol Park cleans up, Urban Bean Co. is going to be sitting in a prime location, and instead of hearing bums asking for a quarter from across the street, hopefully, you'll be able to hear Josh Greenwood laughing all the way to the bank.

Below are photos of the scene at Urban Bean Co. and a link to the complete flickr set:

Main Barista Counter

Front of the Bar

Looking Out Onto Griswold

Heading Upstairs

Upstairs-Turntables Towards the Far End

Upstairs

The Intersection-Seen Through the Upstairs Windows

Complete Flickr Set At: Complete Urban Bean Co. Flickr Set

Urban Bean Co. is located at:
200 Grand River Ave.
Detroit, MI
48226
313-962-9898
Website: www.myspace.com/urbanbeanco
Normal Hours: 7:00 a.m. -10:00 p.m. weekdays, and 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. weekends.
Detroit Army

Dutch Girl Donuts

My father has told me many times, "Forget Krispy Kreme, Forget Dunkin, the best donuts you'll ever have are at 7 mile and Woodward." Dutch Girl Donuts. Before just recently, I had never been fortunate enough to taste the legend. Luckily, last month I was able to stop at Dutch Girl Donuts. The place looks seedy, and for that matter it is seedy, but in a good way. If you want to watch the girls who work there mix batter to make the donuts you can do so early in the morning, but you'll have to watch through the bulletproof glass. You want to get a donut after dusk?, well you might be asked if you're looking for a good time by the lovely girls who don't work there but who are hanging out on the corner. Like I said, seedy in a good way.

The place looks like there's nothing to it and that it hasn't changed in fifty years. It probably hasn't changed since it opened in 1942, but once you take the first bite of one of their warm, creme filled donuts, you will understand how the legend of this place arose. While I'd like to, its not like I'm stuffing my face with donuts everyday, so its somewhat hard to do a legitimate taste test between the Dutch Girl Donuts and national chains. Even so, I can't imagine that any donut is better than the donut I had from Dutch Girl. You'll have to try these donuts yourself. Take a trip to Dutch Girl Donut and you too will understand why everyone says that these donuts are the best.



Dutch Girl Donuts
19000 Woodward Ave. (Just south of 7 mile.)
Detroit, MI
48203
Detroit Army