"Detroit" news and stories

• Big-name chefs have gone Ivy League in this unorthodox Harvard science class.
• Detroit, trying to inch its way back from the economic brink, is firing up some barbecue.
• Is Eataly, the new Italian-food emporium off Madison Square Park, good or bad for Italian food? "The short answer is: yes."
• Long before New American Cooking there was classic California cuisine -- Sunset magazine knows it inside and out.
• Craving some ramen? Skip the supermarket and hit one of these New York noodle joints.

• A transplant patient has developed an insatiable craving for junk food - after receiving a new heart from a teenager with a taste for fatty snacks.
• A recent inspection of nearly 800 restaurants at 10 airports found dangerous food conditions.
• Pounded by the recession, restaurants are hoping that some menu magic with the right combination of prices, adjectives, fonts, type sizes, ink colors and placement on the page can coax diners into spending a little more money.
• Feeling especially lazy in the morning? Try this coffee mug that stirs itself.
• In Detroit, a man with a 5-inch knife in his chest stunned patrons when he walked into a diner, ordered a coffee and waited for an ambulance to arrive.

A weekly look at the draft selection in beer-friendly bars across the country.

If your definition of summertime doesn't include barbecue, beer and baseball it's time make some serious corrections to your agenda -- like, with a bright red pen.

In Detroit, those properly schooled in brews amble on over to Slows Bar BQ a joint that caters to fans of all three types of fanatic. Just a mile or so down the road from Comerica Park and in the shadow of the old Tiger Stadium, Slows is a popular pre- and post-game stop for Tigers fans. Manager Terry Perrone notes that its primary appeal is the food: "We're a barbecue restaurant first and foremost." Terry isn't stopping suds snobs with a nose for microbrews from slipping through the door, too, though.

With renowned Michigan names like Bell's, Founders and New Holland, Slows has no shortage of local breweries to draw from and stocks as many as possible: of 20 taps Perrone says they try to keep "no less than 14 from Michigan or the region." Some, such as Great Lakes Grass Roots Ale and Dragonmead Corktown Red, aren't readily available anywhere else. So though Slows puts eats first, Peronne admits, "We see more and more [beer lovers] as the notoriety gets out that we are a great destination to find these local beers."

Check out yesterday's complete draft list after the jump. (Got a fave on the list? Let us know what we should be sipping this summer).

More often than not, when people talk about cupcakes and the bakeries that specialize in them, New York and Los Angeles are the two cities that come up. From Magnolia Bakery and Buttercup Bakeshop in NY to Sprinkles in LA, the rest of the country gets passed over like plain cupcake for a cream-filled one. But non-coastal residents should know that there are plenty of cupcakes to choose from elsewhere in the US and, to prove this point, the Detroit News conducted a taste test of local chocolate cupcakes. Each shop was scored on a scale of 1-5, with one being poor and 5 being excellent:

• Papa Joe's Chocolate Cupcakes (4.5, $1.89) - "Sinfully wonderful!"
• Astoria Bakery Chocolate Cupcakes: (4.4, $2.50) - "Chocolate heaven!"
• Holiday Market Bakery Chocolate Cupcakes (4.2, 89 cents) - "A very grown-up cupcake.
• Party Cakes Chocolate Cupcakes (4.0, $1.49) - "Something to die for or maybe to die from."
• Cupcake Station Chocolate Lovers Cupcake (3.9, $2.75) - "Tastes homemade."
• Trifles Chocolate Cupcakes (3.9, $1.75) - "All-around great."

From the sound of it, Detroit may be better off in terms of quality cupcakes than either coast!

Source