Community Corner
Some Area Favorites Best Make 'Best of Detroit 2015'
Motor City Gas, Iron Horse and La Dulce in Royal Oak make the list, as do Mabel Gray and Cellarmen's next door in Hazel Park.
DETROIT, MI – Royal Oak scored some mentions on Thrillist’s “Best of Detroit 2015” list of new food and drink establishments.
Motor City Gas, 325 E. Fourth, was named the best new distillery. Focusing 100 percent on whiskey, the tasting room and cocktail bar offer “whiskey all day every day.”
“And while there are flavors like chocolate cherry single malt, the straight-up Royal Oaked rye is the way to go,” Thrillist wrote.
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Iron Horse, 316 W. Fourth St., won the best new tacos category. “Here, the corn tortillas are lightly fried so they stand up against all the ingredients inside without disintegrating and the tortillas are doubled up and fused together with melted cheese,” Thrillist wrote.
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La Dulce, 115 S. Main St., was named the “best new place that looks like it got lost on the way to the Somerset Collection.”
“It’s Spanish tapas meets the House of Versace,” Thrillist wrote. “But it works.”
Nearby Hazel Park got a couple of mentions, too, including acclaimed chef James Rigato’s Mabel Gray, 23825 John R Road. Thrillist said that what Rigato has accomplished there “is nothing short of remarkable.”
Rigato, who established himself at The Root Restaurant & Bar in White Lake, was featured on Season 12 of Bravo’s “Top Chef” and also was the Great Lakes winner in Food & Wine’s “The People’s Best New Chef” award.
At Mabel Gray, Rigato is “exhibiting a whole new level of culinary maturity, with carefully composed plates and flavor profiles gently teased rather than shoved in your face,” Thrillist wrote. “... Mabel Gray is the fullest realization of his vision so far, and the guy still has a 30-ish-year career ahead of him.”
Almost next door to Mabel Gray, Cellarmen’s, 24310 John R Road, was named the best new brewery in the suburbs.
“There is very little we don’t love about this place. Actually, there is nothing. There is nothing we don’t love about this place,” Thrillist wrote. “ ...We love everything about this wonderful, magical, stupendous, incredible place.”
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