So the teaser scene on the home page was taken looking East down Michigan Avenue from the corner of Michigan Ave and 12th Street. I provide this information for those of you who may know the D pretty well, and would thus never recognize this corner lined with cars and -- can it be? -- even pedestrians. The D has fallen on hard times lately, you see, and since the Tigers no longer play in the now-dark and hulking stadium down the street at Michigan and Trumbull, life has really drifted away from this particular corner of the city. It is, in other words, the last place you'd expect to find this:
Sweet baby Jesus: that's barbecue! (Brisket and pulled pork pictured above, with spicy black beans and corn bread on the side). Apparently, as they say in the moving pictures, if you serve up mountains of tangy-smokey meat, they will come. And they weren't kidding. This place was packed -- the people were lined up out into the November cold, patiently waiting their turn for a helping of that sweet, sweet pig. Once you make it in, I'd recommend gilding the porcine lily and going for "The Big Three," a sampler of pulled pork, pulled chicken, and brisket, shown here with mustardy green beans:
While you're there enjoying your orgy of meats (the ribs also received a thumbs up, along with the blackened catfish) don't forget to wash it all down with something off the bar's killer beer selection, which ranges from local microbrews to obscure Belgian triples. I like a bar with a gimmick, and Slow's comes through there as well with a list of 20+ bourbons, mostly standards but a few rare gems mixed in as well. (All of which leads me to wonder how exactly people go out to the bar in a city where everyone drives everywhere -- any help on this Angelinos?) To round it all off, the place has a great vibe, with low lights and a polished-wood-and-exposed-brick look setting just the right note throughout. The patio looked pretty swank, too, even if it was covered in snow.
So I'm excited about the place. Was it perfect? Not quite: the first few beers we asked for were out, and our large-ish party (only six, though) was relegated to a table set up a little to close to the servers' entrance to the kitchen (does this bother anyone else, by the way? I don't want to see and hear what's going on backstage, unless its an open kitchen and is supposed to be part of the show). For now, Slow's gets a pass on shit like that, more for what it represents than what it is: just keep in mind, there's barbecue -- on 12th St! Check it out.
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