Food

Local turkey farmers have full plates of business this Thanksgiving

By Newsroom

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November 21, 2013

Detroit-area turkey farms see demand for local, organic as something to be thankful for this year. Excerpt: "Christine Roperti, owner of Roperti's Turkey Farm in Livonia, is gearing up for Thanksgiving. "People are always thanking me for being here," she said. "They say, 'I don't care if it's $5 a pound. You can't beat your turkeys.' I love doing it."... Mike Liabenow, manager of meat and seafood at Joe's Produce in Livonia, said his department began carrying organic turkeys raised in Michigan for the first time this year. "It's something that's been on the rise a couple years in the business," he said. "Everyone wants to keep everything in Michigan." More here.

Latest in Food

Mitten Crate helps locals discover Michigan-made foods

By Newsroom

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Health

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November 21, 2013

Andrew Chmielewski is a foodpreneur, running a small toffee company called Dave's Sweet Tooth. Cory Wright is a restaurateur who ran his own restaurant in New York City before recently moving back to Metro Detroit. The two friends came together to start a new venture called Mitten Crate. The Royal Oak-based firm sends a package of Michigan-made food products once a month to people who subscribe to the service. "It is a great way to be introduced to Michigan-made products," Chmielewski says. "They might not be able to pick them up at a store otherwise." Chmielewski and Wright noticed that while Michigan-made food products are quite popular with their local audience, that sphere of influence is often limited to about a 30-mile radius of where the company is based. Mitten Crate helps Michiganders overcome that barrier by introducing them to a handful of new products each month. "There is a wide range of products," Chmielewski says. Some of those products include McClary Bros. Old Timey Drinking Vinegar (Ferndale) and Al Dente Pasta Co (Whitmore Lake). The company got its start in August. It sold 70 boxes in its first month and 144 last month. Chmielewski expects to see those numbers to continue to grow exponentially in the near future. "We hope to have triple-digit growth going into the holidays," Chmielewski says. Source: Andrew Chmielewski, co-founder of Mitten Crate Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Michigan growers use new technology to put apples to sleep

By Newsroom

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Community Development

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November 14, 2013

After last year's pittance of an apple crop, Michigan apples are an economic sweet spot again. Excerpt: "This year's Michigan apple crop is expected to be 10 times as plentiful as last year's puny output. While the big bounce-back is welcomed in the nation's third-largest apple-producing state, the bounty presents its own challenges: How do growers, packers and processors maximize storage to avoid flooding stores with the fruit, thus crashing the market and lowering growers' profits?... A fairly recent innovation called 1-methylcyclopropene, or 1-MCP, temporarily stops apples' ability to respond to their own cues for ripening... Known commercially as "SmartFresh," it "has been a game-changer for apple storage and is partly responsible for the up-trending consumption of apples in the U.S. over the last 5 to 10 years," Michigan State University horticulture professor Randy Beaudry said. He is involved in updating a traditional apple refrigeration method known as "controlled-atmosphere storage," or "CA," to double the time Honeycrisp apples can be stored. In a typical year, Michigan's 9.2 million trees produce 20 million to 23 million bushels, pumping up to $900 million into the economy...The state distributes to 26 states and 18 countries." More here.

Tasty health food stirs up interest in Berkley’s new Republica restaurant

By Newsroom

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Arts & Culture

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November 14, 2013

The owners of the new Republica in downtown Berkley are calling their endeavor a food and drink revolution. The menu is designed for meat lovers, vegetarians, and gluten-free eaters. The idea people behind the menu are a family with a history in restaurants from metro Detroit to Chicago. The idea is to serve rich, memorable meals that don't leave your stomach feeling rich and fatty afterward and to serve food and drinks grown or made locally, from Michigan farms to nearby bakeries and to focus on healthy, natural food, not processed, not fried. Craft cocktails and Michigan beers are served from a bar that was one of many major, stylish renovations to the restaurant that was formerly the Berkley Bistro & Cafe. It's located at 1999 Coolidge. Comments and reviews on Twitter, Facebook and Yelp are showing locals are loving the fresh food like the urban farm sandwich and fresh fruit cocktail drinks from the bar. Source: City of Berkley Writer: Kim North Shine

Closed metro Detroit Caribou Coffees come back as Peet’s Coffee & Tea

By Newsroom

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Arts & Culture

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November 14, 2013

Six closed metro Detroit Caribou coffee shops are re-opening this week and next week as Peet's Coffee & Tea. After months of renovations and employee training, Peet's Coffee & Teas opened Nov. 11 in Royal Oak, Novi, Shelby and Commerce townships and Rochester Hills. A shop in Grosse Pointe's Village business district is opening Nov. 18, as is a store in Ann Arbor. The new Peet's are retaining and retraining many Caribou employees and also hiring new ones as well as investing in upgrades and decor at the new shops. The Emeryville, Calif.-based company began selling the rarity of small-batch, high-quality roasted and brewed coffee from its first store in Berkeley, Calif. in 1966. The company is in the midst of an eastward expansion. It recently opened 18 stores in Ohio and four in the Pittsburgh area. Many of its new stores are just doors away from Starbucks, which opened in 1971, five years after Peet's first shop. Friends of Alfred Peet, the founder of Peet's Coffee & Tea, opened Starbucks after being taught by Peet, a Dutch immigrant who, as the story goes, was appalled by the coffee Americans drank. He wanted to enlighten them and teach them how to find the best beans and make a better cup. Starbucks initially sold only roasted beans, not brewed coffee, but has since far surpassed Peet's in size. Source: Peet's Coffee & Tea Writer: Kim North Shine

Mystic Kettle becomes FT biz for Huntington Woods couple

By Newsroom

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Health

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November 14, 2013

Randy and Larry Lipman always enjoyed kettle corn while at farmer's markets and other community events. They often noticed the person making it couldn't keep up the demand at those events. Then one of the kettle corn makers went out of business because of a divorce, the CFL over the Huntington Woods couple’s heads went off, and Mystic Kettle was born. "It started as a part-time weekend thing," Randy Lipman says. That was 2010. At the time, Larry Lipman had a home preservation business maintaining foreclosed homes for banks before they were sold. The demand for Mystic Kettle's product prompted Larry Lipman to dissolve his business earlier this year and pursue kettle corn making on a full-time basis. "We became so popular so quick we got a second kettle," Randy Lipman says. "We couldn't keep up with the demand with just one kettle. My husband and I now do this full-time." They also hired two more people to work for them on a part-time basis. Part of what drives that demand is the higher-quality product the Lipmans strive to make with all local ingredients, such as non-GMO corn. All of those ingredients are made by Michigan companies, which is a large point of pride for the Lipmans. Source: Randy Lipman, co-owner & operator of Mystic Kettle Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Schramms Mead sweetens Ferndale’s bar scene

By Newsroom

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Arts & Culture

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October 24, 2013

The Metro Times (Ferndale's newest media resident) has a terrific profile of mead connoisseur Ken Schramm and his newly open tasting room. Excerpt: "Now, at 54, Schramm is finally getting into the production game. With laughing candor, he says, “I’ve had the books out for 10 years, and now I’m finally getting into the business when other people have had a five-year head start — and I’ve told them all my tricks! What kind of a businessman goes out and teaches everybody everything they need to know to be more successful than you are? Apparently that’s me.”" Read the rest here.

C.A.Y.A Smokehouse Grill opens in Wolverine Lake

By Newsroom

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Arts & Culture

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October 10, 2013

There is a lot to go on about with the C.A.Y.A Smokehouse Grill in Wolverine Lake, and customers are coming, from the nearby lake crowd to destination diners, to see what's it's all about. There is the food -- a specially smoked and creative menu made up of locally sourced ingredients from farms within 100 miles and never treated with chemicals or artificial ingredients. For example, the pork is pink because it comes from farms that don't pump it up with solutions. There is the building itself, a mix of rustic and industrial with copper, barn wood, iron, exposed cement-brick walls, exposed ceilings and an eye-catching, sleek black onyx bar. The bar serves specialty drinks and has six Michigan craft beers on tap. Jeff Rose, co-owner and chef, comes from two of metro Detroit's top restaurants: Michael Symon's Roast in Detroit and Toast in Birmingham. Rose co-owns C.A.Y.A with Rachel Mandell. They have 25 years of experience in the restaurant industry. Rose has also manned kitchens at Tribute, Big Rock Chophouse and Iridescence. Rose broke away to introduce his own restaurant concept -- a smokehouse bistro -- a casual restaurant that shows off what can be done with a smoker. Many of C.A.Y.A's meats are smoked for 10-14 hours over hickory, maple, oak, apple and cherry woods until they are tender. They emerge with a caramelized outside and are served by chefs specializing in sides and desserts. "It's important for us to be able to provide our guests with not only a great dining experience," Rose says,"but also offer the highest quality and freshest food available." There's room at the grill for 100 to eat inside and 60 on the covered patio. The restaurant is located at 1403 Commerce Road at Pontiac Trail. Source: Jeff Rose, co-owner, C.A.Y.A. Smokehouse Grill and Jaclyn Robinson, spokesperson Writer: Kim North Shine

Peteet’s Famous Cheesecakes creates following in Oak Park

By Newsroom

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Entrepreneurship

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October 10, 2013

The Peteet family ran its own real-estate company for decades until the recession hit and the bottom fell out of the real-estate market. To put it simply, the business lost everything. So the family decided to embark on a new venture, cheesecake. "I looked around and said something has to change," says Patrick Peteet, owner & head baker of Peteet's Famous Cheesecakes. "That’s when we started the cheesecake bakery." The Oak Park-based business has made a bit of a name for itself in its first three years. Its cheesecakes are all made in Michigan, from scratch, and always consist of two layers. They are certified kosher. The bakery started out with 10 flavors and now has more than 90 flavors in its portfolio. "We have some flavors you have probably never heard of," Peteet says. He adds that the baker's best seller is Sweet Potato Cheesecake. Peteet's Famous Cheesecake can be found in 15 restaurants across Metro Detroit. It is expanding into other sweets, such as ice cream, cookies and pushup pops. The bakery has reached the point now that 50 percent of its retail business comes from outside of Oak Park. The company also plans to open a second location next year. Source: Patrick Peteet, owner & head baker of Peteet's Famous Cheesecakes Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Atwater Brewery turns Grosse Pointe Park church into beer hall

By Newsroom

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Arts & Culture

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October 3, 2013

Come spring, Atwater Brewery will be brewing and serving its Detroit-born suds from a closed Grosse Pointe Park church that's being converted into a beer hall-style restaurant and outdoor biergarten. The impending opening of Atwater in the Park will be celebrated at the just-completed biergarten at 1175 Lakepointe off of Kercheval Avenue this Friday, when Atwater hosts the GPP version of its annual Bloktoberfest with German beer, food and music by the Polish Muslims. The renovations on the new brewpub are happening now at the church which fronts Kercheval and is a few blocks from the Detroit border at Alter Road. A sign at the construction site reads: Born in Detroit. Brewed in the Park. Atwater's Detroit brewery in Rivertown will remain in operation. Atwater owner Mark Rieth is a Grosse Pointe Park resident who is excited to be part of a the revitalization of the Park's business district, led in large part by the local Cotton family, which has bought property and brought in business owners who can attract crowds and offer quality and creativity. Rieth has said the church pews and other parts of the church will be re-used in the redesign. At 7,000 square feet it's a big space to re-do, but beer tanks take up a lot of room and Atwater has many fans, especially locally. The beer hall will be in the basement. On the main floor, the pews will be used as bench seating and there will be a circular bar. There will be separate rooms for seating and a merchandise area for beer and beer supplies. Outside, long tables and other changes will make customers feel "just like you're in Munich," Rieth says. There will be 40 beers on tap, and Atwater is currently hiring staff. Atwater opened in March of 1997 in a 1919 factory warehouse on the Detroit riverfront and prides itself on carrying on the history of Detroit breweries and using malt and hops from Germany to turn out traditional German lagers. Atwater previously ran a restaurant in Detroit and then converted it to brewing only. Recently, a tap room opened in Detroit, where 14 beers are on tap. The brewery also has tours and event space. Atwater's annual Bloktoberfest at its Detroit facility this weekend from 4 p.m. to close at the tap room at 237 Joseph Campau St. Source: Atwater in the Park Writer: Kim North Shine