Slow's BBQ and rocking Tamales

It's Sunday morning and I'm nursing a wicked hangover courtesy of an all night limo bender. What's worse is its a perfect summer day. The sun is out and it's going to be in the mid 80s all day. With a hangover like this I prefer it to be raining and miserable. That way I don't feel like a drunken loser for laying on the couch all day burping up last night's White Castles. You don't waste days like these in Detroit or sometime in February you'll regret it.

I've been talking with a friend about Slow's BBQ and we decide to take the bike down to Corktown to give it a try. She's a bike virgin and is terrified but I need BBQ so after begging and cajoling she jumps on the back complaining that the helmet is going to muss her pretty hair. Twenty minutes later we're pulling up to Slow's BBQ, alive. Mussed hair and hangover in full swing.

Walking to the front door I'm diggin' the building, it's brick and ancient. It sits on the end of a row of buildings none of which are as nice as this. I love BBQ joints, from Memphis to Austin to KC to just about anywhere someone with skills in smoke, rub and meat sets up a joint. I like the lowdown dirty feel of them. No pretension, just meat, sauce, table and chair, generally with authentic kitsch thrown up on the wall to remind you that you're supposed to eat with your hands. This is not Slow's. Gotta tell ya, I was surprised when I walked in. Exposed brick, copper on the bar and on the kitchen walls, modern almost arts and crafts ceiling, very cool. This is modern Detroit. Using natural elements like copper, wood and brick (not natural but give me some liberty) they made the place look like what Detroit should look like.

I've been told there is generally a good wait for a table particularly on the weekends but apparently they knew I was coming and gave us a table without delay.

I'm not going to go into all the menu items but let's just say it's well represented with all the BBQ staples from the different regions of BBQ heaven.

I'm always looking to try something new and the okra split pea fritters was a starter I had to try. God, I wish I didn't. They came to the table a dark almost black color. This isn't from over cooking this is from old fryer oil. Yikes, a Southern joint that doesn't know how to fry? Not feelin' good about this. I get past the color and faint scent of old used oil and cut into the big puffy fritter. To put it bluntly the fritter sucked. It faintly tasted of okra and had the color of split pea. There was a sauce on the plate but it didn't matter. Neither did the five sauces on each table. To put it in perspective, I eat everything. I don't turn my nose up on any type or style of food. This simply was not good.

Next came the grub. We decided to split a combo of Texas style brisket and pork ribs. Just so you know, I know Texas BBQ. Lived there six years and ate at least a ranch full of steer. On the plate was meat from two parts of the brisket. One is the lean thin sliced brisket many are familar with and the other is the fatter juicer part. I started with the thin leaner part. Good smoke, good overall flavor just a little dry. A good shot of the North Carolina vinegary BBQ sauce made everything better. The fatter part was delish. Juicy, beefy, smokey, what's not to love. On to the ribs. Smokey, nice rub, and a little dry. Hmmmm....., noticing a pattern. They could've used a little more meat on them bones but overall pretty good ribs. You get two sides with your meal and we chose the mac n' cheese and the green beans. I really dug the mac. Cheesy, black peppery, nice crust on top, just like Mom never made, yum. The beans had me a little worried. I was expecting Southern style, cooked a long time with a little pork, but these were relatively short cooked and covered in whole grain mustard sauce. Surprise, Surprise, Surprise (as my good friend Gomer would say), the beans were good. The mustard sauce was mellower than I thought and slightly sweet.

The both of us ate for under $20 bucks. The waiter took the funky fritters off of the bill. He asked how the were and I, well, I told him. I appreciated the gesture. If he hadn't I was going to tell all of you about the piece of food that was stuck to the side of his mouth the entire time we were there. That would be mean so I'm not going to do it. The other reason we ate for under $20 is that my friend eats like Kilpatrick cares about morals, very little.

Bottom line on my first visit to Slow's is, it was solid. Loved what they did with an old building in a shitty part of the city. The BBQ was good but far from the best I've had. The service was good and aside from the thing I'm not going to tell you about, I liked our server. I'll be back because I want the BBQ to be great and I want daring entrepreneurs like the folks at Slows to succeed in Detroit.

I mentioned Tamales didn't I? Si, I did. From Slow's we jumped on the bike and cruised into Mexican Town with the thought to see what's new and check out the shops. I was thrilled to see Taqueiria Lupita is still there. This is as authentic and good as it gets. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this place. I stopped in to see if the menu was the same and it is. The best thing is my knoweldge of Mexican food as grown greatly since my last visits to Lupita. I know shit from shineola and this is pure shineola. I''ll be back soon for ceviche tacos. Walking around we got it in our heads to get tamales. The panderia on the corner sold them back in the day so we went there. They still sell them. At $8 a dozen I knew we could do better. On the opposite end of Bagely sits Mexican Town restaurant. Their tamales are $5 a dozen. We left with one dozen chicken and one dozen pork. They threw in some salsa as well. Long story short, I've been eating them for days. Mio dios!! They are estupendo! Seriously these are great tamales and the salsa rocks too. Muy happy.

The rest of the day was a self guided moto tour of Detroit along the river. We rode through downtown, Indian Village, Belle Isle, Grosse Pointe and ended in St Clair for drinks on the lake. Gotta tell ya, I didn't think a ride in Detroit would be as satisfying. If riding in Detroit doesn't kill me, I think you'll read more Sunday posts as we're digesting detroit.