Once upon a time, Paul Revere rode through the streets of Boston, warning all patriots by shouting, “The redcoats are coming!” These redcoats, of course, were the British soldiers and the Americans knew that danger was coming. But when Redcoat Tavern came to West Bloomfield, Michigan, the people did not sense danger. No, they embraced it. That’s because the original Redcoat Tavern in Royal Oak had been serving up some of the most delicious food in metro Detroit for years. Yet, while I embraced the branching out of Redcoat Tavern, like the Founding Fathers, I also prepared to do battle against its famous burger.

I truly did not need to give the menu a long look, because my burger buddy Rev told me Redcoat was his favorite burger in the state of Michigan and I needed to see if he was worth listening to.

Although the menu failed to describe what this burger consisted of, aside from awesomeness, my awesome waiter was happy to let me know it came with tomatoes, lettuce and some special sauce that he described as pretty much mayo. Wow, none of this sounded good on my burger, so I took the base of patty and bun, then unveganized it by adding a fried egg and cheddar cheese from their long list of topping options. And for those of you who are wondering, no, I did not get the “zip” sauce. In fact, I didn’t do my research and did not know such a sauce existed until I talked to my buddy later that day. Alright, back to what I did order. I asked for the burger to be cooked medium rare, then ordered a side of onion rings, which my step-dad had said were delicious. And he knows delicious.

After a short wait, my grand meal arrived. “Get out of here, you stupid pickle,” I yelled in my head, then quickly removed the terrible pickle spear from my plate and sent it in the direction of my mother before taking a look at my creation. In a stark contrast to the gourmet burgers of the West Coast, my burger ingredients were encapsulated not by some fancy brioche bun, but by a fancy sesame seed bun instead. The toothpicks holding the burger together also screamed, “You’re not in California anymore,” because burgers in California are typically half-wrapped in wax paper to keep from falling apart. Without such frivolous wrapping, I could see the burger juices beginning to swell up the bun and took my first bite.

It was like burger bliss.

The meat had a medium grind to it and was packed together nicely. The juices produced by the meat made sauce unnecessary (although I’m still sure zip sauce would have been a welcome addition), and once I reached the yolk of the egg, the perfectly cooked, runny insides exploded and made the burger even juicier. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: fried egg just might be the greatest burger topping. The cheddar cheese did a great job of doing what cheese does, which is make everything taste better. And the bun, well was pretty much how you expect a sesame seed bun to be, yet it felt like a welcome breath of fresh air. Don’t get me wrong, I like brioche plenty, but combining gourmet ingredients with the patriotic (ironic) sesame seed bun was a concept that made itself at home on my taste buds.

Now the onion rings were a bit disappointing. I wouldn’t call them bad, because they didn’t have bad flavor. Instead, they were just pretty flavorless. Perhaps it was a bad batter day or my step-dad was just way off with his taste. But, he also felt they weren’t very good and declared them bland. To make matters worse, there was also no sort of sauce to dip them in except for ketchup or the egg-splosion on my plate.

Yet, fortunately these rings of onions were not the cornerstone of my meal – the burger was and it was a success. It was a great way to start out my day, which would end even better in Ann Arbor as I watched Michigan beat Notre Dame for the third year in a row. Every day like that should start with a burger like Redcoat’s.

For some brunch before my annual photo shoot with my grandparents, we headed to Zoe’s House of Pancakes in West Bloomfield, Michigan. Zoe’s didn’t exist before I moved out west, so going here wasn’t exactly a trip down memory lane, but I was glad to see a new business doing pretty well. Even on a Monday for brunch, they had a pretty good number of people, so I assumed they would have some pretty great food. I took a look at the menu and found some of the most inspiring breakfast food I’ve seen in a long time, with everything hovering around the $5 price range. They had tons of different pancake varieties, including one enticing option called the Fruit Explosion. Despite pancakes being the namesake of the place, my eyes drifted to the waffles section.

Two waffles specifically caught my eye. One was the Bacon Waffle, which was a Belgian waffle cooked with homemade bacon bits. For some reason, that didn’t seem meaty enough for me. Instead, I found they had Chicken and Waffle. I didn’t know this dish existed north of the Mason-Dixon Line (ok, that might be a lie because I had it in San Francisco), and here I was about as north as you can get without being in Canada, ready to order some Chicken and Waffle. My grandparents looked at me in disgust, but I ordered and eagerly awaited Michigan’s version of Chicken and Waffle.

When my food came out, it looked great. Resting upon one big Belgian waffle, was a heaping deep-fried breast of chicken. I spread a little butter over the breast and waffle, then poured on a comfortable dose of syrup. The result was beautiful looking, but it had to stand up to the taste test. And it did. The Belgian waffle on its own was really good. The batter was fluffy, crispy, and had just the right amount of sweet. The fried chicken tasted good too. Although the batter it was fried in was pretty generic, it had a good amount of saltiness to counter the sweetness of the syrup and waffle. It was also boneless, which is a big improvement upon Roscoe’s bone-in chicken. I understand that bones add flavor, but when you’re dumping syrup on chicken, I don’t really think the flavor is noticeable. Plus, no one wants to waste time picking bones out of a breakfast.

So to sum it all up, Zoe’s made a pretty tasty Chicken and Waffle. The waffle would have been great just on its own and while the chicken wasn’t some Southern-fried family secret, it did a pretty good job at making my unvegan stomach happy.

The Stage Deli of West Bloomfield seems a bit out of place. Sandwiches are named after Broadway shows and aside from the one picture of Eminem, everything reeks of New York. Nonetheless, The Stage Deli is a staple Jewish deli in West Bloomfield Township. Rather than limiting themselves to sandwiches named for classic shows and actors, The Stage has modernized itself by throwing in such shows as Mama Mia and even movies like Casino Royale.

Since pastrami and corned beef have always seemed to be the barometer for how good a deli is, my eyes shot to the sandwich called Lion King. Since I am often confused with the king of the lions, this was not surprising. The sandwich was a choice of pastrami or corned beef with swiss cheese. Instead of making that terribly difficult choice of meats, they offered to mix me up a batch of combined pastrami and corned beef. I also got a side of Russian dressing in case of emergency.

Shortly before my food arrived, I realized that I had made a grave mistake: I forgot to order without a pickle. At all other restaurants I would be upset because they did not warn me of the pickle on the menu, but at a deli, I could not be upset. Delis always serve pickles. This was terrible, because I knew that any moment my waitress would be walking out of the kitchen brandishing a plate of meat, cheese, bread and a pickle. How shameful I felt as an unvegan. As my plate arrived, not all of my worst nightmares came true. Yes, there was a pickle, but no, the pickle juice did not attack my sandwich.

As soon as I could, I passed this pickle onto a relative and took a look at my sandwich. Unlike the New York deli of a similar (same) name, this deli stacked my meat high, but to an edible level. I had to stretch my jaw all the way to take a bite, but didn’t have to remove any of the meat to do so. I knew I wouldn’t die of a protein overdose. The sandwich was pretty standard, but not in a bad way. The pastrami and corned beef both tasted good, but not great. Swiss cheese was a nice touch. The bread was especially good, but overall the sandwich just made me content and didn’t amaze me. The Stage Deli is a good stop for a good sandwich, but it’s not terribly special.

While in Michigan, one restaurant I had to visit was Olga’s Kitchen in West Bloomfield. The local chain has been around forever and has never attempted to veer away from the core factor that makes the restaurant a success. This core factor is Olga Bread and it is no ordinary bread. The closest thing it can be compared to is Greek pita, but to simply call it Greek pita would be an injustice. It is buttery and crispy and multiple levels of delicious. Olga’s uses it to make their sandwiches and as a side for their salads, but by far the best use of Olga Bread is in Olga’s Snackers.

This incredible appetizer/side is made from sliced up wedges of Olga Bread, toasted to a crisp and seasoned. They come with a Swiss almond cheese dip if you get the original or a marinara dip if you order them pizza style. You can’t lose with either choice, but I prefer the original style. I’m convinced that if Olga’s Snackers were served at any sort of peace negotiation, all issues would be quickly resolved. Trying to disarm Iran? Give them Olga’s Snackers and uranium enrichment will be halted at once.

While the snackers are the best reason to visit Olga’s, they also serve some great

sandwiches made with that amazing Olga Bread. Not really any of them are unvegan from the start, but they can be customized to fit unvegan needs. My favorite is the Three Cheese, featuring Cheddar, Swiss and Monterey Jack cheese. It also comes with onions, tomatoes and Olga Sauce. I ask for it without the offensive onions and tomatoes, but keep the sauce, which is like a Greek-style yogurt sauce without the cucumber flavoring that all-too-often makes its way into that sort of sauce.

The result is like a grilled cheese taken to the next level of awesome. The cheeses are melty and delicious, while the sauce keeps the sandwich from being too cheesy (if such a thing exists). The only concern here is the possibility that some of the melted cheese escapes out of the back end of the sandwich. It’s always good to keep some extra snackers on hand to scoop up the remnants in case this occurs.

Olga’s Kitchen is really a great and unique place. Were they just to offer Olga’s Snackers, it would be enough, but they didn’t just settle for that and created a restaurant full of joyous Olga Bread. It is definitely a place worth returning to again and again.

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.

As a child eating this sandwich, I couldn’t believe how much corned beef they stuffed between the two slices of bread. There was no way I could finish it. Now, as I rapidly polish off both halves of the sandwich, all I want is more.