  Jt1 Member Username: Jt1 Post Number: 11789 Registered: 10-2003 |
Taste of Ethiopia will serve food prepared at the Southfield location buffet-style Monday through Friday 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday brunch, served from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., will serve waffles and crepes alongside more Ethiopian fare such as bulghar. I guess I'll have a total of 7 hours a week that I may be able to support this business. I just can't see it succeeding with hours of 11-3. I hope they are succesful and expand their hours but I wonder how many people that have told them downtown needs an Ethiopean place won't be able to support them due to their hours. | ||
Jt1 Member Username: Jt1 Post Number: 11790 Registered: 10-2003 |
Forgot to site the source: http://modeldmedia.com/develop mentnews/ethiopia14408.aspx | ||
Malcovemagnesia Member Username: Malcovemagnesia Post Number: 77 Registered: 12-2005 |
ummmm... ummm... "EM"? Do you mean they're opening an Eastern Market location but the kitchen will actually be in Southfield? | ||
Jt1 Member Username: Jt1 Post Number: 11791 Registered: 10-2003 |
The location is in Eeastern Market but it sounds like they'll be making the food in Southfield and serving it buffett style in Eastern Market. | ||
Gnome Member Username: Gnome Post Number: 1265 Registered: 08-2007 |
I could think of worse ideas, but it would take awhile. oh, I know, ... blind waiters might be a worse idea. Or placemats woven from the back hair of Khurdish women. hmmm, ... anyone else with another really bad idea? | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 2315 Registered: 07-2004 |
A vomit fountain? | ||
Malcovemagnesia Member Username: Malcovemagnesia Post Number: 78 Registered: 12-2005 |
Ethiopian food doesn't seem very appealing if it's not very fresh. Do a lot of downtown office workers head to Eastern Market during lunch hours? | ||
Jt1 Member Username: Jt1 Post Number: 11794 Registered: 10-2003 |
quote: What does that have to do with anything? | ||
Professorscott Member Username: Professorscott Post Number: 1301 Registered: 12-2006 |
My guess is that they plan to serve the people who already happen to be at the market - which is dead by dinnertime, but quite busy at mid-day. They certainly won't be the only lunch-only eatery at the market. | ||
Jt1 Member Username: Jt1 Post Number: 11795 Registered: 10-2003 |
You may be right but the other places have similar competition all over the area in what they offer. There are no Ethiopean places in or around downtown so they would offer something (In my opinion) that people would go to for the food, not the convenience. Just my opinion. Like I said, I hope they are succesful to the point that they decide to expand their hours. | ||
Gnome Member Username: Gnome Post Number: 1266 Registered: 08-2007 |
Seems to me cooking food in Southfield and carting it to Eastern Market is really bad idea. Assuming they'd have to start cooking around 7am to get it packed by 9:30 so they can travel to EM, unload, put it in steam tables for an 11AM openning ... then keep the above 140 degrees until 3pm. Can't wait to eat a rubberized lunch at 2:30 ... ...that's what that has to do with something. | ||
Jt1 Member Username: Jt1 Post Number: 11796 Registered: 10-2003 |
My bad - I didn't put the obvious together there. My apologies. | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 2316 Registered: 07-2004 |
I thought all Eastern Market meals were fully rubberized.  | ||
Gnome Member Username: Gnome Post Number: 1267 Registered: 08-2007 |
I should have been more clear and less sarcastic. What I've always liked about the Blue Nile et al ... is that everything seemed so fresh ... like they had goats in the back room of something. Buffets just remind me of SwedenHaus or Ponderosa or other beige food places. I shouldn't have made fun of Khurdish women, I'm sure their back hair is lovely and very soft. | ||
Huggybear Member Username: Huggybear Post Number: 326 Registered: 08-2005 |
Eastern Market is also getting two (count them, two) new pizza places. | ||
Texorama Member Username: Texorama Post Number: 229 Registered: 12-2006 |
I don't know . . . give them a chance. I eat lunch often with an office worker downtown, and we head to Roma or Sala Thai pretty frequently. Ethiopian cuisine is mostly stews and things that could easily travel from S'field. Not crazy about buffets, but this food, like Indian, would work pretty well on one. | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 6846 Registered: 08-2004 |
Gnome, they make Kashmir sweaters of it (as opposed to Cashmere)... I remember the Blue Nile when it was in Greektown. They did something that I thought was impossible to do... make food from lentils that actually tasted great! | ||
Sean_of_detroit Member Username: Sean_of_detroit Post Number: 379 Registered: 03-2008 |
Gnome, I would guess they have some sort of variation of a "just in time" delivery system, like Dell. It will probably be done differently then you describe. At least, I would hope it will. Of course, the problem with those systems is, (and will always be) the problems that arise in route. | ||
Downriviera Member Username: Downriviera Post Number: 451 Registered: 02-2008 |
Ethiopian food scattered all over the Lodge. Now theres a buffet. | ||
Gannon Member Username: Gannon Post Number: 12922 Registered: 12-2003 |
Remember, they're here by popular demand, at least that's what the signs say! I heard there was a little trouble with her builder, seems he had a little history with the landlord...and was banned from the property. Told to never set foot anywhere near it. Set her back a few weeks. Downriviera, we need to tip a pint when I'm in a better mood, you are fucking hilarious. | ||
Johnlodge Member Username: Johnlodge Post Number: 6769 Registered: 10-2003 |
A lot of restaurants with catering services prepare food to a certain extent at their restaurant, and then finish cooking on site. The food is just as good and hot and fresh. | ||
Diehard Member Username: Diehard Post Number: 501 Registered: 03-2005 |
A little off-point, but anyone remember Club Abyssinia, on Jefferson near the Belle Isle bridge? Not much on the atmosphere, but that was some tasty Ethiopian. What a shame that they got forced out by a greedy landlord. | ||
Detroitfats Member Username: Detroitfats Post Number: 44 Registered: 05-2007 |
Diehard- I used to love Club Ab. They would bring a huge plate of lentils (on a paper plate) and I would chase it down with cold African beer. I vaguely remember one of the local news channels doing an undercover report about the worst health code violations found in Detroit restaurants. They called it the "Dirty Dozen." Club Ab was mentioned as being a filthy mess. It closed soon after | ||
Rooms222 Member Username: Rooms222 Post Number: 109 Registered: 04-2005 |
Having had some Eritrean friends, Club Abyssinia was definitely like a local bar with great food. It was a wonderful place in the mid-90's. Hard to believe that was over 10 years ago. | ||
Diehard Member Username: Diehard Post Number: 502 Registered: 03-2005 |
The story I got from the owner was that the landlord pushed him out. He had apparently convinced himself that since a Starbucks was being built by the bridge that he was going to sell the building for a ton of cash. That was 1998, and it's still sitting there empty, although someone painted over the African murals outside. An undercover TV crew might've been the final blow, though. Never heard about that. BTW, wouldn't you think a hidden camera could find something "dirty" in just about ANY restaurant, if they wanted a story badly enough? | ||
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed Post Number: 3137 Registered: 04-2006 |
Did they ever build any residences in the Eastern Market? | ||
Detroitfats Member Username: Detroitfats Post Number: 45 Registered: 05-2007 |
Diehard----- You're absolutely correct. Some of the best meals I've ever eaten have been in places that were, at best, dicey. I don't know if the news report had anything to do with the place closing. The owner's story seems likely. | ||
Downriviera Member Username: Downriviera Post Number: 472 Registered: 02-2008 |
There is a really good Ethiopian restaurant in downtown Windsor called Marathon. | ||
Detroitman32 Member Username: Detroitman32 Post Number: 28 Registered: 03-2008 |
Rooms222:Please, don't affilate with intolerable Shabias. Anyaways, this is great! |
