A huge franchise that LA is completely lacking in is Buffalo Wild Wings, which I affectionately call Bdubs. Sure, there is one all the way out in Chino Hills, but fighting traffic to get there makes it seem easier to fly back to Michigan to get my fill of Bdubs.
I got my recent fix from the restaurant in Novi, Michigan and although I didn’t eat them at the restaurant, I’ve always enjoyed the general ambience of the place, with sports all over the place, but not too loud that you can’t concentrate.
Of all the great delis in Metro Detroit, Deli Unique in West Bloomfield has always been the deli of choice for my family. This is due, in no small part, to their delicious corned beef. They have a pretty big menu, but it’s the corned beef that keeps us coming back.
As always, I made sure to get a corned beef sandwich with simply beef and rye bread. Rather than get regular corned beef, though, I like to get it lean at Deli Unique. I’m not sure what they do there that is different from everywhere else, but when you get lean corned beef at Deli Unique, there is no loss of taste or increase in dryness that usual results from a loss of fat. Because of this, I really have no need for condiments on this sandwich. I also have no need for vegetables, which would ruin the experience entirely.
The Metro Detroit area seems to have been blessed with a number of great slider joints. Although Hunter House in Birmingham seems to get the most public acclaim, Greene’s Hamburgers in Farmington is no less worthy, if only for the fact that they are open 24 hours a day.
Greene’s resides in a little unassuming porcelain tile-covered building with the words Greene’s Hamburgers written in a basic black font, with the emphasis on Hamburgers. Inside, the place smells like burger heaven, with no large number of stools placed around the counter and against the windows. The menu barely contains more than hamburgers and fries, but there’s really no need to look beyond those items, because they are the real reason people come to Greene’s.
A friend of mine and I have a longstanding tradition that every time I head home to Michigan, we make a special trip to Buddy’s Pizza in Farmington Hills, a Detroit suburb. The most recent trip was even more special because I hadn’t been home for a solid nine months, and because Buddy’s had recently been ranked one of the top 25 pizza places in the country.
We took a seat at their relatively new outdoor seating. Being regulars, we had no need to look at the menu and ordered our usual, a large pepperoni pizza. To accompany our pizza, we ordered a round of drinks indigenous to the area. My friend got a Labatt Blue, imported from across the river in London, Ontario, Canada, while I ordered Bell’s Oberon, from the Bell’s Brewery in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Bell’s is a special brewery that doesn’t have too much distribution outside of Michigan, while their Oberon is only brewed during the summer. Combine those and you have a truly rare beer that I was especially happy to be ingesting at Buddy’s.
