January 1, 2025 • 9 mins
Craving the best of Detroit’s vibrant food scene and rich culture? Join us for a delicious food tour through the Motor City! In this mouthwatering episode, travel to Dearborn to discover some of the best baklava in America, indulge in cheesy Detroit-style pizza with ties to the automotive industry at Buddy’s pizza, dine with a Top Chef contestant in Detroit’s West Village, and listen to live jazz at Cliff Bell’s, a Prohibition-Era speakeasy. Whether you're planning a trip or simply curious about Detroit’s culinary treasures, this episode will leave you hungry for more—offering insider experiences, unique flavors, and unforgettable experiences.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Calling all foodies! Where can you find some of the best baklava,
(00:04):
pizza made in an auto parts pan,
eat with a Top Chef contestant,
This is what Detroit tastes like.
Mmm.
and have cocktails in a prohibition speakeasy?
We're spending a day eating in Detroit, Michigan,
where bold flavors combine with unique twists
on some of your favorite classics.
We're taking you on a food tour to explore how Detroit's
(00:25):
rich history and diverse cultures come together
to create the motor city's culinary story.
We'll venture just outside of Detroit
to Dearborn, Michigan to see if Shatila Bakery really
has the best baklava in America.
Mmm. It's really good.
Then we'll get our frico on at Buddy's Pizza
in downtown Detroit
And what you have is like a cheese wall.
(00:47):
That's my favorite thing I've heard all week, the cheese wall.
and learn how this square pie has ties
to the automotive industry.
As a New Yorker, I hate to say it,
but Detroit may give the Big Apple a run for its money
when it comes to the best slice.
Then we'll grab a cocktail and listen
to some live jazz at Cliff Bell's where stepping inside
this 1920s Prohibition Era club is like stepping back in time.
(01:11):
It's the Travels with Darley podcast,
whereby traveling with the locals,
we give you the best food, culture, history, and insiders
experiences.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
A few miles west of downtown Detroit,
I'm stopping in Dearborn, Michigan.
In 2023, Dearborn became the first Arab-American majority
(01:35):
city in the United States.
Many residents cite Middle Eastern or North African ancestry.
Why Dearborn?
Part of the influx dates back to the 1920s,
when Lebanese immigrants came to Dearborn
to work in Henry Ford's automotive plant.
Today, Dearborn is home to a whole lot
of Middle Eastern restaurants and bakeries.
(01:57):
If you want to eat your way through the Middle East,
there are a lot of choices out here
and we're heading to a bakery that's
supposed to be one of the best.
Let's get some baklava.
Shatila Bakery has been serving up premium pastries
since 1979.
Started by a Lebanese immigrant,
it was a near-instant local success,
helping to draw people from across Detroit
(02:19):
and later Michigan and beyond for its superb pastries,
which are now shipped all over.
If you have a sweet tooth,
you might be in trouble here.
So, so many choices, but I have gone
with the classic pistachio baklava. Mmm. It's really good.
A little bit of honey. A little bit of crunch.
(02:41):
That pastry, mmm. From pastries to pizza,
another destination for foodies is Buddy's Pizza,
where Detroit style pizza dates back to 1946.
We're stopping in the original location
to dine with Wesley Pikula.
Mmm.
I can't wait to try this.
(03:02):
All right. Oh wow.
Ooh.
Enjoy.
This is it. Original Detroit style pizza.
It smells so good. Mmm.
You got the pepperoni under the cheese,
so just that, that's what makes this pie.
Made in kind of an industrial pan that was used
in the automotive industry or tool and die shops.
(03:22):
They used it as like a little scrap collector.
So it was this size and this shape.
So that's why the pizza is this size and the shape.
And then the pizza is built differently.
So you start with dough. Then the pepperoni is actually placed
on the dough, which is a little different in round pizzas.
And then we layer the sauce on top,
which again is different than normal pizzerias.
And then, of course, what happens is the corners
(03:42):
get crunchy and so the cheese gets baked
into the crust along the edges. Mmm.
And what you have is like a cheese wall.
That's my favorite thing I've heard all week,
the cheese wall. Well, I know.
I am a huge cheese lover, so this is like a dream.
Well, you need a cheese wall to hold all the cheese
into the crust or else it kind of falls over.
Let's try this pizza.
(04:03):
Let's do it. Mmm.
The cheese wall.
Or frico as they call it.
Mmm, it is so good.
It's much lighter than I thought it would be.
So you get the light crunchy crust.
That is really good.
You get the lightness of the dough itself.
The cheese, of course, has a little bit of bite to it.
That little burnt cheese flavor is off the charts.
(04:26):
Yeah.
I've got, I'm taking another bite.
So it would look like it would eat like denser,
like a bagel, let's say. But it doesn't eat that way.
It's very light and airy.
Yeah. There you go.
You got the cheese going now.
Because we don't put oil in the dough,
so it's just salt water yeast.
That's all that's in the dough.
This looks like this pizza would, you would take it and you'd go dum,
but you take it and you go, ah.
(04:46):
Yeah,
because it's actually, what happens with Buddy's
is we use a smaller dough ball and we proof the pizza,
which means it grows in size, letting the dough kind of proof
like when you make a cake or something at home.
And up until maybe, I don't know, 10 years ago,
people started realizing that it's kind of unique.
The flavor is unique.
It's part of the history because of the pan
having origins in the automotive industry.
(05:09):
It's our own product
and it's got its own category now, like Chicago or New York.
You're from New York.
New York style has been around a long time.
Detroit style is fairly new on the scene.
This is really good.
Thank you.
I love it.
Yay.
Yay.
I have landed in the West Village of Detroit, Michigan.
Where we're heading into Marrow restaurant, where
(05:29):
a former Top Chef contested is cooking up amazing food
using local and sustainable ingredients.
Marrow is located on the East Side of Detroit
in the West Village neighborhood,
where there's more than one reference
to my home area of New York City.
I'm stepping inside Marrow to meet Executive Chef Sarah Welch,
who made headlines as a contestant on season 19
(05:52):
of the Bravo series Top Chef and works
to make sustainable meals in this restaurant, which doubles
as a butcher shop.
Why is it important to you to strive to be sustainable here?
So we take inspiration from local goods,
but I think utilizing trim is what we call it.
It for us is like a creative engine.
There's always new trim.
(06:12):
There's some from vegetables,
there's some from meat.
It changes all the time
and it kind of functions as like a mystery basket
for your menu.
So thinking of new ways to use the same items
that are trimmed from meat or trimmed from produce,
you want to be inspired
and that's kind of the way that we stay inspired
by local goods that we get to work with every year.
We go to every farm that we source from.
(06:32):
We meet the farmers,
we kind of see how they're raising the animals
and make sure that that's in line with our standard practices
and that's kind of like the vetting process
before we work with a farmer.
So we're going to be making a peach and lomo salad.
The lomo is the loin of the pig that is cured in salts
and then hung to dry.
So I have not had lomo before.
Ooh. Yeah, it's delicious.
It's like prosciutto.
It dries a little bit more because it's not protected
(06:54):
by a bone anywhere.
So super tasty,
really great with peaches.
We're gonna toss the peaches in some housemade chili oil,
some giardiniera that we chop up as a dressing, hazelnuts,
and then a bunch of local herbs.
They change every day and they kind of just like reflect the season
so kind of like a Midwest spin on a classic dish.
(07:14):
Well, I'm excited to try this.
Let's make peaches.
Let's make it. Cool. Sweet.
I'm gonna watch you make it.
This looks great. Mmm.
The broth is cool,
the chili is hot.
The lomo is savory.
The nuts are crunchy
and there's the herbs that are so fresh.
(07:35):
This is really good.
I'll finish this.
Please do.
I'm like, that is a good peach.
I'm ending my day in Detroit with cocktails and jazz
in downtown Detroit.
I'm about to try the Cliff Bell's cocktail
here at Cliff Bell's in Detroit, an iconic jazz club
(07:57):
dating back to 1935, named after John Clifford Bell,
the man who is a legend in his own right,
and we are diving in to learn about that legend
and also see some live jazz.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Michael Brockway sits down with me at the bar, which
(08:18):
is a throwback to the days of prohibition.
With Cliff Bell back in the day it
was,
he would just open speakeasy after speakeasy during Prohibition.
So Cliff Bell, he was kind of a renegade, an outlaw.
There is like a big positive in the community
with music and food and everything like that
but he also had this thing going on the side
where he's, you know, smuggling booze around and stuff like that.
(08:39):
You have a lot of old photographs.
You have some memorabilia and like artifacts here.
These little tabletops, we call 'em sweetheart tables,
Cliff Bell invented them.
Once the renovations and stuff were going on,
then we made sure that came back.
How much of this is original?
We try to keep as much as possible. The bar is pretty much
the same.
(08:59):
And the ceilings, this rounded ceiling
is that part of the acoustics?
Oh yeah. It definitely gives a nice touch to the acoustics.
When you experience Cliff Bell's jazz club,
it's the upscale food, the amazing music,
the atmosphere, the community, and jazz.
The sweet, sweet jazz.
(09:21):
So many sweet sounds and flavors combining in Detroit,
the city where Motown and the motor industry
have influenced so many aspects of life, including food.
Thanks so much for listening
and if you like this podcast, please subscribe.
(upbeat music)
Calling all foodies! Where can you find some of the best baklava,
(00:04):
pizza made in an auto parts pan,
eat with a Top Chef contestant,
This is what Detroit tastes like.
Mmm.
and have cocktails in a prohibition speakeasy?
We're spending a day eating in Detroit, Michigan,
where bold flavors combine with unique twists
on some of your favorite classics.
We're taking you on a food tour to explore how Detroit's
(00:25):
rich history and diverse cultures come together
to create the motor city's culinary story.
We'll venture just outside of Detroit
to Dearborn, Michigan to see if Shatila Bakery really
has the best baklava in America.
Mmm. It's really good.
Then we'll get our frico on at Buddy's Pizza
in downtown Detroit
And what you have is like a cheese wall.
(00:47):
That's my favorite thing I've heard all week, the cheese wall.
and learn how this square pie has ties
to the automotive industry.
As a New Yorker, I hate to say it,
but Detroit may give the Big Apple a run for its money
when it comes to the best slice.
Then we'll grab a cocktail and listen
to some live jazz at Cliff Bell's where stepping inside
this 1920s Prohibition Era club is like stepping back in time.
(01:11):
It's the Travels with Darley podcast,
whereby traveling with the locals,
we give you the best food, culture, history, and insiders
experiences.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
A few miles west of downtown Detroit,
I'm stopping in Dearborn, Michigan.
In 2023, Dearborn became the first Arab-American majority
(01:35):
city in the United States.
Many residents cite Middle Eastern or North African ancestry.
Why Dearborn?
Part of the influx dates back to the 1920s,
when Lebanese immigrants came to Dearborn
to work in Henry Ford's automotive plant.
Today, Dearborn is home to a whole lot
of Middle Eastern restaurants and bakeries.
(01:57):
If you want to eat your way through the Middle East,
there are a lot of choices out here
and we're heading to a bakery that's
supposed to be one of the best.
Let's get some baklava.
Shatila Bakery has been serving up premium pastries
since 1979.
Started by a Lebanese immigrant,
it was a near-instant local success,
helping to draw people from across Detroit
(02:19):
and later Michigan and beyond for its superb pastries,
which are now shipped all over.
If you have a sweet tooth,
you might be in trouble here.
So, so many choices, but I have gone
with the classic pistachio baklava. Mmm. It's really good.
A little bit of honey. A little bit of crunch.
(02:41):
That pastry, mmm. From pastries to pizza,
another destination for foodies is Buddy's Pizza,
where Detroit style pizza dates back to 1946.
We're stopping in the original location
to dine with Wesley Pikula.
Mmm.
I can't wait to try this.
(03:02):
All right. Oh wow.
Ooh.
Enjoy.
This is it. Original Detroit style pizza.
It smells so good. Mmm.
You got the pepperoni under the cheese,
so just that, that's what makes this pie.
Made in kind of an industrial pan that was used
in the automotive industry or tool and die shops.
(03:22):
They used it as like a little scrap collector.
So it was this size and this shape.
So that's why the pizza is this size and the shape.
And then the pizza is built differently.
So you start with dough. Then the pepperoni is actually placed
on the dough, which is a little different in round pizzas.
And then we layer the sauce on top,
which again is different than normal pizzerias.
And then, of course, what happens is the corners
(03:42):
get crunchy and so the cheese gets baked
into the crust along the edges. Mmm.
And what you have is like a cheese wall.
That's my favorite thing I've heard all week,
the cheese wall. Well, I know.
I am a huge cheese lover, so this is like a dream.
Well, you need a cheese wall to hold all the cheese
into the crust or else it kind of falls over.
Let's try this pizza.
(04:03):
Let's do it. Mmm.
The cheese wall.
Or frico as they call it.
Mmm, it is so good.
It's much lighter than I thought it would be.
So you get the light crunchy crust.
That is really good.
You get the lightness of the dough itself.
The cheese, of course, has a little bit of bite to it.
That little burnt cheese flavor is off the charts.
(04:26):
Yeah.
I've got, I'm taking another bite.
So it would look like it would eat like denser,
like a bagel, let's say. But it doesn't eat that way.
It's very light and airy.
Yeah. There you go.
You got the cheese going now.
Because we don't put oil in the dough,
so it's just salt water yeast.
That's all that's in the dough.
This looks like this pizza would, you would take it and you'd go dum,
but you take it and you go, ah.
(04:46):
Yeah,
because it's actually, what happens with Buddy's
is we use a smaller dough ball and we proof the pizza,
which means it grows in size, letting the dough kind of proof
like when you make a cake or something at home.
And up until maybe, I don't know, 10 years ago,
people started realizing that it's kind of unique.
The flavor is unique.
It's part of the history because of the pan
having origins in the automotive industry.
(05:09):
It's our own product
and it's got its own category now, like Chicago or New York.
You're from New York.
New York style has been around a long time.
Detroit style is fairly new on the scene.
This is really good.
Thank you.
I love it.
Yay.
Yay.
I have landed in the West Village of Detroit, Michigan.
Where we're heading into Marrow restaurant, where
(05:29):
a former Top Chef contested is cooking up amazing food
using local and sustainable ingredients.
Marrow is located on the East Side of Detroit
in the West Village neighborhood,
where there's more than one reference
to my home area of New York City.
I'm stepping inside Marrow to meet Executive Chef Sarah Welch,
who made headlines as a contestant on season 19
(05:52):
of the Bravo series Top Chef and works
to make sustainable meals in this restaurant, which doubles
as a butcher shop.
Why is it important to you to strive to be sustainable here?
So we take inspiration from local goods,
but I think utilizing trim is what we call it.
It for us is like a creative engine.
There's always new trim.
(06:12):
There's some from vegetables,
there's some from meat.
It changes all the time
and it kind of functions as like a mystery basket
for your menu.
So thinking of new ways to use the same items
that are trimmed from meat or trimmed from produce,
you want to be inspired
and that's kind of the way that we stay inspired
by local goods that we get to work with every year.
We go to every farm that we source from.
(06:32):
We meet the farmers,
we kind of see how they're raising the animals
and make sure that that's in line with our standard practices
and that's kind of like the vetting process
before we work with a farmer.
So we're going to be making a peach and lomo salad.
The lomo is the loin of the pig that is cured in salts
and then hung to dry.
So I have not had lomo before.
Ooh. Yeah, it's delicious.
It's like prosciutto.
It dries a little bit more because it's not protected
(06:54):
by a bone anywhere.
So super tasty,
really great with peaches.
We're gonna toss the peaches in some housemade chili oil,
some giardiniera that we chop up as a dressing, hazelnuts,
and then a bunch of local herbs.
They change every day and they kind of just like reflect the season
so kind of like a Midwest spin on a classic dish.
(07:14):
Well, I'm excited to try this.
Let's make peaches.
Let's make it. Cool. Sweet.
I'm gonna watch you make it.
This looks great. Mmm.
The broth is cool,
the chili is hot.
The lomo is savory.
The nuts are crunchy
and there's the herbs that are so fresh.
(07:35):
This is really good.
I'll finish this.
Please do.
I'm like, that is a good peach.
I'm ending my day in Detroit with cocktails and jazz
in downtown Detroit.
I'm about to try the Cliff Bell's cocktail
here at Cliff Bell's in Detroit, an iconic jazz club
(07:57):
dating back to 1935, named after John Clifford Bell,
the man who is a legend in his own right,
and we are diving in to learn about that legend
and also see some live jazz.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Michael Brockway sits down with me at the bar, which
(08:18):
is a throwback to the days of prohibition.
With Cliff Bell back in the day it
was,
he would just open speakeasy after speakeasy during Prohibition.
So Cliff Bell, he was kind of a renegade, an outlaw.
There is like a big positive in the community
with music and food and everything like that
but he also had this thing going on the side
where he's, you know, smuggling booze around and stuff like that.
(08:39):
You have a lot of old photographs.
You have some memorabilia and like artifacts here.
These little tabletops, we call 'em sweetheart tables,
Cliff Bell invented them.
Once the renovations and stuff were going on,
then we made sure that came back.
How much of this is original?
We try to keep as much as possible. The bar is pretty much
the same.
(08:59):
And the ceilings, this rounded ceiling
is that part of the acoustics?
Oh yeah. It definitely gives a nice touch to the acoustics.
When you experience Cliff Bell's jazz club,
it's the upscale food, the amazing music,
the atmosphere, the community, and jazz.
The sweet, sweet jazz.
(09:21):
So many sweet sounds and flavors combining in Detroit,
the city where Motown and the motor industry
have influenced so many aspects of life, including food.
Thanks so much for listening
and if you like this podcast, please subscribe.
(upbeat music)
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