Visit: 12/23/2011
Yeah I know I'm like two months behind and I haven't even started doing anything yet. I've had a couple of sketch shows and some other things pop up. Get used to random posting.
Don’t expect to walk into the bar and order the beer you always get everywhere else. Unless you are a devotee of the Motor City Brewing Works, they won’t have it. No Schlitz tallboys for you, my friend. This is a brewery. You will drink their brews.
No, instead you’ll have to ask the nattily dressed bartender what they have on tap. He’ll point to a giant blackboard above the wall of windows peering out into the parking lot and then he will embark on an explanation of the different types, the bizarre names, and the impossibly detailed litany of enticing flavors you can expect when you take your first sip of whatever you decide to get.
I resisted the urge to buy a take-home jug for myself to just drink immediately (they’re available if you’re just looking to make a night of it at home) and instead ordered a pint of Ghettoblaster because, I mean, with a name like Ghettoblaster how can you not at least try it?
I turned to my sister and asked ‘what do you want?’ to which the bartender, dressed in his dark jeaned, t-shirt and vested uniform replete with a rakishly askew fedora, replied mysteriously ‘oh, I know what I want.’
We were both taken aback a little. Luckily, I had already ordered so I could just kind of look at him strangely without saying anything. It took my sister a second to decipher it though – was he hitting on her or was he simply privy to some great existential knowledge that left him certain of his place in the universe? – before giving up and placing her order.
It was an odd moment, but in a good way.
That ‘odd but in a good way’ serves as a nice description for the Motor City Tap Room in general. Located off of Canfield, itself a side street off of Detroit’s main drag, is a parking lot. At the back of that parking lot is another smaller parking lot adjacent to the restaurant. From there you enter what feels like the back of the building into the cozy bar area. It’s an affable atmosphere, even if it seems a little out of place among the cinderblocks. Dark wood next to colorful tiles; tasteful decorating against the somewhat industrial feel of the walls; old fashioned gears and carefully crafted beers; and a wait staff apparently willing to ask the tough questions.
If you had never been to Detroit before, you might think the existence of such a place would be impossible. ‘Detroit is a series of casinos, stadiums, and bombed out buildings’ you might think. And yet here we were, sitting at the bar surrounded by a pack of other twenty-somethings and thirty-somethings enjoying a beer and a pizza.
My sister had been there before since she works downtown and could vouch for the food, though to her regret she had never tried the wood-fired pizza before. Determined to remedy that, we ordered two. The nattily dressed bartender brought us a Mediterranean, covered in olives, spinach, cucumbers and feta, and the second, which amounted to a very high-class opened face gyro. Weird? But in a good way.
Having spent most of the day hung over and trapped on the Megabus, I devoured my share with a ravenously eager fervor that might have frightened a few of our neighbors. I didn’t care. I was starving and the pizza was delicious.
My sister ate her portion with infinitely more class, grace and manners, and was kind enough to mistake my grunting and paroxysms of delight for polite conversation. For desert, we sampled the seasonal pumpkin ale, which struck the right balance of beer taste and pumpkin flavor.
We were late for our concert at St Andrew’s Hall, though, and with that ended our stay at the Motor City Brewing Works. We paid the bill and I gave the room another quick look, resolving to spend another evening here sometime to ponder the deeper questions over another pint of Ghettoblaster.
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| See what I mean? Back of a building. Source for this photo is here. |
470 W Canfield (just off of Cass Ave)
Detroit, MI
Phone: 312-832-2700
Website here.
In brief:
Food? Great - Pizza in particular
Drink? Great - Craft Beers primarily
Cost? Not bad at all, given the value
Atmosphere? Good, but I don't know that I would have found the place without my sis
Haunt-worthy? Eh. Don't know about that. But worth the occasional trip.
Do You Approve? Yes.
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