Sidetrack Bar and Grill - Ypsilanti, MI

Linda and I were looking for some place different to eat lunch today and decided to try Depot Town in Ypsilanti. We've driven through the area a few times in the warm weather months and the restaurants in that area are always packed to capacity. Today we stopped by Sidetrack Bar and Grill.



I attended evening classes at Eastern Michigan University nearby a few years back, but aside from grabbing a bite here and there from a local run-of-the-mill franchise place near campus I never had the time before or after classes to explore the local hangouts. (Definitely my loss.) Apparently the movie about Betty Anne Waters titled Conviction starring Hilary Swank was actually filmed at Sidetrack. And last but not least, the 1/3 lb hamburger was ranked #19 on Oprah.com.



Linda had the macaroni and cheese with andouille sausage. I had the handcrafted hamburger with a side of sweet potato fries. Both selections were delicous. The burgers are not the one-size-fits-all variety. You can choose from a large selection of add on condiments for the burger including a large selection of cheeses, raw or cooked onion, Ranch dressing, salsa, mushrooms, bell peppers, avocado, marinated portabello mushroom and even a fried egg.

Cheeseburger and sweet potato fries

Cheeseburger close-up, 1/3 lb

The Moose on the Wall

 

And lest anyone forget that this restaurant is situated very, very close to the railroad tracks in Depot Town...hence the name Sidetrack...it's likely an Amtrak train will fly by at speed when you least expect it and make you wonder if it's actually coming in through the huge picture window near the dining area.



A Visit to Zingerman's Roadhouse in Ann Arbor, MI

We were in Ann Arbor today for some Christmas shopping.  After a trip to Sears and Macy's we headed across town to the Hallmark store.  Before making the trip back to Bellville for stops at Dunham's, Dick's, and Kroger, we decided to find a place to eat lunch.

As luck would have it, the Hallmark store shares a shopping center that includes Zingerman's Roadhouse. Click here to read more about Zingerman's.

The front door area at Zingerman's Roadhouse on Jackson Road.
This cell phone picture doesn't do justice to the sign.
I wish it had been dark outside. It must be amazing at night!

Here is a view of the drive through area aka Roadshow constructed from a vintage Airstream trailer.

 

Here's another view of the drive thru at Zingerman's Roadhouse.
 

And in case anyone doubts the authenticity of the bbq served at Zingerman's,
here's a picture of their smoker behind the restaurant.

 

This alternate view of the bbq smoker includes a bag of Kingsford charcoal.

The menu includes many comfort food choices including chicken,
smoked ribs, bbq pork and beef, and grits of course. I thought about
trying the whole hog, but opted for the pork sliders.

  

The Traffic Light Pulled Pork Sliders were excellent.
They are the perfect choice for sampling the variety of bbq pork
 on the menu. They were served with all three choices of bbq sauce with
a side dish of mustard coleslaw. I also ordered the twice
cooked sweet potato fries. They are baked in the oven and fried. Ummm...
Linda had the Grilled Cheese a Go-Go with cheddar cheese.

I didn't take any pictures of them, but the walls are decorated with hundreds of salt and pepper shakers stored in glass cases. Click here to read more about the salt and pepper collection.

I enjoyed reading about how the collection was built, especially those that arrived at the roadhouse via Jim Metzler of Elkhart, Indiana.

From the Zingerman's website:

If you head back through the hallway past the entrance to what we’ve come to call the “fireplace room” you’ll be looking straight at an entire case of shakers that came courtesy of Jim Metzler of Elkhart, Indiana.
 

And...last but not least here are a couple of pictures of the pork slider sandwiches:

The sliders are small bites of bbq goodness.
I detected a healthy amount of vinegar on the pork.
It definitely reminds me of the first time I ate bbq pork
more than 20 years ago in Dickson, TN.



If you look closely past the slider, you can see the
 mustard coleslaw and twice cooked sweet potato fries.

For the non-believers who can't travel to Michigan to check it out first hand, here's a list of awards for the restaurant:

James Beard Award, Best Chef Great Lakes – Alex Young, 2011

James Beard Nominee, Best Chef Great Lakes – Alex Young, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010

Current 2011 Dining Guide – Friendliest Wait Staff, Friendliest Bartenders, Best Place to Dine Alone

Alton Browns’ Food Network Show Best of – Best Comfort Food in America, Macaroni and Cheese

Bon Appetit – Top 10 Barbecue Restaurants in 2010

Open Table Diner’s Choice Award Winner – Fit for Foodies, Most Booked, Great For Lunch, American

Lifetime Achievement Award, Bon Appetit 2007 – Paul Saginaw and Ari Weinzweig, co-founder of Zingerman’s Community of Businesses

Coolest Small Company in America, Inc. Magazine, 2003 – Zingerman’s

Union Woodshop - Clarkston, Michigan

Traditional signage is rare on mainstreet in the 2000's

We took a short drive to Clarkston, Michigan yesterday to eat at Union Woodshop, at 18 South Main Street. This bbq restaurant was recently featured on Diner's, Drive-in's and Dives on Food Network in an episode featuring Kid Rock, a Michigan native.

We arrived at 1 p.m. hoping to avoid a large lunch crowd, but due to the popularity of Guy Fieri and Kid Rock a lot of people must have had the same idea. We ended up waiting 40 minutes for a seat and met some nice people while waiting (standing room only) including a friendly couple who drove up from Toledo, OH. They made a day trip to the Detroit area for a motorcycle show in Novi (she is employed by Harley-Davidson), to eat some bbq, and then drive to Michigan Brewing Company in Webberville, which happens to be the brewer of Kid Rock's Badass Beer.  If you want to try the beer, here's a list of distributors:  AmericanBadassBeer

I'll admit right up front that I missed the original episode on Food Network, but I hope to check it out soon in re-runs. I'll keep looking for a clip of the show to add here, but until I locate one I've added some pictures of the restaurant and menu items below.

When I check out a barbecue restaurant for the first time, I almost always order beef brisket if it's on the menu. It's been my experience that the quickest way to judge the overall ability of the pitmaster is whether he or she can cook brisket well.  Linda usually gets pulled pork because she's a Tennessean and she loves traditional pork bbq.  Union Woodshop Menu

Linda had the Shop Burrito (black beans & spinach in a flour tortilla topped cheese, stuffed with a choice of pulled pork, smoked chicken, or smoked shrimp) and I had the Beef Brisket with sides of collard greens and barbecue baked beans. 

Union Woodshop beef brisket, baked beans, and collard greens

Union Woodshop Shop Burrito

Drinks are served on these unique beverage coasters

And if you're like me and are cautiously suspicious about bbq restaurants who profess to be the real deal, but who don't actually cook the bbq over wood flame the way it's meant to be cooked, here's a picture of the Southern Pride pit behind the restaurant.


Southern Pride smoker behind the restaurant

Even if you are not into barbecue, Clarkston's mainstreet is worth a look.  It's on the National Register of Historic Places. The area is known for several fine examples of Queen Anne-style homes and the mainstreet is very pedestrian friendly.

Chef Noodles - Wixom Michigan BBQ Man

Chef Noodles: MyFoxDETROIT.com

This morning the Detroit Fox Affiliate ran a feature story about Chef Noodles, a bbq man that sets up his bbq booth in a Wixom shopping center. 

I found another article about Chef Noodles from the Detroit CBS affiliate.  I used to read about a lot of parking lot bbq entrepreneurs a few years ago on various bbq discussion forums, but it seems like the desire to start a bbq business from a grass roots or boot strap effort is on the decline. 

As someone who has been toying with the idea of a drive thru - carry out style of bbq restaurant for several years after I caught the bbq bug 10 years ago, I admire his effort. I favor a lower and slower style of rib cooking, but a parking lot chef has to improvise, right?

He's been at for four years and he's not giving up yet. Way to go Chef Noodles! Good luck to you. If I'm ever in Wixom, I'm definitely going to stop by for some ribs or pulled pork. 

Here's another video about Chef Noodles:

Chef Noodles - Detroit Rib Man by tedcantu

Great Lakes Regional Chili Cookoff

Linda and I attended the Great Lakes Regional Chili Cookoff today in Plymouth, MI.  It's been a long standing tradition in downtown Plymouth for more than a decade.

From the GLRC website:

Winners of the Great Lakes Regional Chili, Inc cook-offs qualify to compete at the International Chili Society (ICS) World's Championship Chili Cook-off.  The ICS is the largest food contest, festival organization in the world.

We sampled five different samples from various cooks. We tried a mild chili with ground beef and beans that was obviously made for sampling only since it didn't follow the rules for ICS. It was similar to what we make at home.  There was a medium hot traditional red chili with tri tip and a relatively hot (for me anyway) traditional red chili with tri tip. We also sampled two chili verde offerings with a lot of green peppers and chicken for meat.

My favorite chili from a contest perspective was the traditional red sample of hot chili, but if I was going to eat a big bowl for supper, I would lean toward the chili verde with chicken.  A contest sample isn't the kind of thing you can sit down and eat a bowl of.

For People's Choice I voted for MM Chili.

And if you want to try your hand at contest chili, Chili.org has a listing of recipes from the winners of the last several Terlingua International Chili Championship events.

Michigan Rocks BBQ Nationals

I received the following press release today and wanted to share it for those in the area or anyone else that might want to travel for the event. I won't be competing in the event this year, but I plan to attend as a spectator.  (For those that don't already know -- I'll be moving back to Michigan later this year.)

Detroit (June 14, 2011)…Townsquare Live Entertainment and 104.3 WOMC - Detroit’s Greatest Hits station have teamed up to bring the debut of Michigan Rocks BBQ Nationals to Heritage Park in Taylor, MI. on Saturday, July 23.

BBQ Teams from Michigan and the surrounding area will go head-to-head in a contest to determine the regional Grand Champion. The competition will be fierce as the Pit Masters and their teams vie for cash, trophies and prizes in four categories: chicken, pork, brisket and ribs, as well as best all around. Festival attendees will have the opportunity to sample tasty BBQ recipes from the various teams.

The musical portion of the festival includes some serious rock tribute bands playing the hits of the Beatles (BritBeat), Aerosmith (Toys in the Attic), Led Zeppelin (Led-Hed), plus local favorite, Fifty Amp Fuse and a soon to be announced Jimmy Buffett tribute band.

Tickets, set at the family friendly price of just $10 (plus applicable service charges), can be purchased in advance at www.detroitbbq.eventbrite.com. All tickets purchased in advance will include $4 worth of food and drink tickets. Children twelve and under get in free when accompanied by a ticketed adult. Tickets are also available on the day of the event at the box office.

There’s something for everyone at Michigan Rocks BBQ Nationals as people of all ages can enjoy everything from a Beer Garden (21 and over) to a Kids Zone, all while sampling world class BBQ food.

“We are interested in giving folks a unique experience by combining delicious BBQ with great music and fun for the whole family,” according to Brian Rucker, Managing Director of Townsquare Live. “The teams are very serious about their cooking and the result is the best BBQ the region has to offer.” Arlie Bragg, America’s premier BBQ Promoter and head competition coordinator for the event brings 20 plus years of BBQ competition experience to the table. “Great BBQ, great entertainment, and professional-level production gives the BBQ Nationals a fresh look at an old tradition.” Arlie says. I look forward to making this series become THE premier BBQ competition series in America.”

Teams can register for the July 23rd Michigan Rocks BBQ Nationals at: https://missinginkshop.com/bbqnationals/store.

The winners will get the chance to participate in the BBQ Nationals Championship in Laughlin, NV on Oct. 22, 2011 where the first “BBQ Nationals Grand Champion” will be crowned. Michigan Rocks BBQ Nationals is produced by Townsquare Live Entertainment, a division of Townsquare Media.