Just read that Ochre Bakery in Detroit’s Corktown neighborhood has landed on Bon Appetite’s 10 best new restaurants in the U.S. (Details below). So hope to visit. It appears to be not far from Woodward Ave. (my main reference point), west of the Shinola Detroit Store and the Wayne State U. campus. Now if I can only figure out a way to hear the Detroit Youth Choir, which recently took America’s Got Talent by storm!
8:43 a.m. I’m at Ochre Bakery, and the first thing I’m eating today is a danish, the crumbly, deep-golden pastry barely holding on to the squiggles of still-juicy rhubarb in the center.
8:46 a.m. Watching the guy behind the counter make a cortado, I realize that this is as much a Serious Coffee Shop as it is a bakery, which makes sense given that it’s owned by Jessica Hicks and Daisuke Hughes, the same people behind Detroit’s much-loved Astro Coffee. I’m getting lost in the idea that I could live in Detroit and this could be my coffee shop and I could eat this Danish every morning when…
8:57 a.m. My plate of scrambled eggs shows up, but to call it a plate of scrambled eggs is kind of rude given that it’s eggs softly scrambled with turmeric; tzatziki with slivers of kohlrabi; a big pile of bitter greens; a very generous serving of very good butter; two holey slices of country bread; and a tiny handmade ceramic bowl of cumin seeds, Aleppo-style pepper, and flaky salt that I can sprinkle over whatever I like.
8:58 a.m. Can we talk about this bread? I was so fixated on the pastry case, I didn’t notice the room behind the counter where cult local baker Max Leonard babysits the sourdoughs. So not only does this place turn out pastries and coffee and savory food at the highest level, but there’s also a high-key bread program?
9:18 a.m. I’m the person taking pictures of the blue and ochre (duh) tiles hand-painted by Hicks.
9:28 a.m. Yeah, I’m going to need a slice of the lemon-pistachio loaf cake, a piece of the chocolate banana bread, and one of every cookie (espresso shortbread, chocolate-hazelnut, oaty Anzac) to go. Or maybe I’ll just never leave. —J.K.
Wanna try Ochre Bakery’s food? Get tickets to the Hot 10 party.
THE PLAYERS: Chef-owners Jessica Hicks and Daisuke Hughes
THE SETUP: The dream of a sun-soaked bakery/café
THE ORDER: Spiced scrambled eggs with tzatziki, a seasonal Danish, and an Anzac cookie
THE MOVE: Grab one of everything from the pastry case to go—and a loaf of bread too.
Some new and old dining in the Detroit area this trip. New included a very lively ( for a Monday night) Mexican Restaurant in a humble, post-industrial neighborhood of downtown Detroit near the Ambassador Bridge (to Canada) called Mi Pueblo. I had good steak and shrimp Fajitas and a cheap margarita.
The next night we celebrated my birthday ( yes, the one in April, again) at Bella Piatti in snazzy Birmingham near the Townsend Hotel . I had excellent Scaloppine Saltimbocca (veal medallions, Parma prosciutto, fresh sage, white wine, lemon crushed potatoes). We shared a delicious Involtini Di Melanzane (Grilled eggplant rolls, seasoned ricotta cheese, tomato sauce.)
The old favorite was The Stage Deli in West Bloomfield, where I had a delicious “small” Mark beltaire salad ( with strips, on request, of corned beef, turkey and Swiss cheese with a creamy white ranch dressing and a bowl of kreplach soup. Yum!
Kids played in the sand, small groups (black and white, although not mixed) sipped drinks at outdoor tables, two bands played an stages near muscle cars on display (a fraction of the vintage cars participating in the annual Dream Cruise further north on Woodward Avenue). Barbara forgot her purse at our table, walked back to it after a few minutes and there it was waiting for her, all items accounted for. Gives you hope for Detroit’s continued renaissance.
We also wandered into Moosejaws, a Detroit outdoors store, among several inviting cafes and shops nearby and more to come — a big Shopping Center is rising soon on the site of the famous old Hudson’s Department Store that I used to go to with my mom in the 1960s and 70s. We also dropped in at a famous old auction house across from RenCen and by far the best piece for sale was a piece by Glen Michaels, father of a high school friend.
