All right, MCKers, we now are within a week of our meet-up:
Saturday, March 22, 6:00 PM, at a location TBD. We're gathering now to welcome Dave in Northridge, who has been to Detroit a few times already, but hasn't ever had the red carpet rolled out for him by us.
In the first diary I posted, I included a list of five potential venues to put them to a vote. We only received 4 votes in that poll, and two of the restaurants didn't get any votes at all. Too bad for them!
So we're down to three restaurant options, each of which received at least one vote. (We did have another option mentioned in the comments, but I'm omitting that one. It'll be on the list for our next downtown meet-up.) Can we get any more input? It's OK if you vote again, having voted the first time; of course, more participation is definitely welcome.
We have three five definite attendees so far:
1. Dave in Northridge
2. provokingmeaning
3. ICanDoThis
4. Mr. ICanDoThis
5. peregrine kate
and three maybes:
1. ChemBob
2. & 3. Amber6541 & sister
I'd like to see this list grow, too.
Of course, I'll keep promoting the event all week. One of the upcoming diaries will include a (very belated) report on our Jan. 9th meet-up, when some Motor City Kossacks got together with the three NN14 staffers in town (and some NN14 local host committee members, too). But that's a treat still in the works.
Thanks, everyone, for thinking about coming downtown next Sat., for voting for a restaurant, and for spreading the word.
Here are our possibilities:
Fishbones Rhythm Kitchen Cafe, 400 Monroe St. at Brush
Big, busy place, featuring New Orleans-style cuisine. Not inexpensive--though prices not given with online menus--Yelp says $11-30. Big menu, though, with lots and lots of less-expensive options. Reservations possible. My personal impression, might not be current: noisy, but pretty fun. Great catfish beignets (not sweet).
Golden Fleece, 525 Monroe St.
One of the very few remaining "original" Greek restaurants in Greektown. (Dare I say one of the few authentic Greek ones, too? Why yes, I do.) This is a hole-in-the-wall place, not pretentious, not fancy. The gyro meat cooks on a spit in the window. But if I get to put a thumb on the scale, at the moment I'd do it for this one. It is funkily, genuinely Detroit. I didn't say yet that it is inexpensive, but I suppose that info can be inferred. Reservations a possibility, by phone.
Grand Trunk Pub, 612 Woodward Avenue
Well, not so fast. This one looks good to me, too. And to a lot of others as well; it's probably the most highly-rated of the restaurants in this bunch. A big, varied menu, not too expensive, which includes many local items from bakeries and creameries in the area; a beautiful setting, in a rehabbed railroad ticket office in one of the regrettably rare 19th c. buildings in Detroit. And this might be the biggest selling point for some of us: they feature Michigan craft beers--over 170 varieties! Reservations possible for eight or more.