Filet mignon au poivre. Spicy garlic shrimp. A cool and refreshing Persian cucumber salad.
Those were just a few of the incredible edibles that whetted the appetites of and cooled off more than a thousand ticketholders roaming around downtown Detroit and nearby neighborhood restaurants Tuesday evening for a culinary feast benefiting a local charity.
At Tuesday’s EAT Detroit event, even soaring temperatures didn’t keep people from the annual roaming feast, which put more than two dozen Detroit restaurants in downtown and popular dining neighborhoods in the spotlight.
Select eateries in downtown, Corktown and Midtown showcased a sampling of signature dishes and drinks at the annual EAT Detroit restaurant crawl, dine-and-dash style.
Mitch Albom, Detroit Free Press columnist, founded and hosts EAT Detroit, which is now in its fourth year. The event is a fundraiser for SAY Detroit, a nonprofit Albom founded nearly 20 years ago that helps Detroiters in need.
SAY Detroit started in 2006 when Detroit hosted the Super Bowl and Albom spent the night in a homeless shelter the city provided to get people off the streets while tourists were in town for the championship game. That experience was the impetus for the foundation to help Detroiters be “super all year long,” Albom told the EAT Detroit VIP crowd on Thursday,
Albom modeled EAT Detroit, with permission, off of the World Central Kitchen’s Dine-N-Dash event from renowned chef José Andrés, according to the SAY Detroit website.
Rick Kelley, SAY Detroit executive director, said the EAT Detroit event has become one of their most popular fundraisers for the nonprofit that helps Detroiters in need.
“It engages our supporters to enjoy all what the city has to offer, including incredible small bites from an eclectic and diverse community of restaurants," he said. "We raise more than $100,000 a year from the event, thanks in large part to both our sponsors and ticket buyers (close to 1,200 for 2024). Our nonprofit’s mission is to provide pathways to success for Detroiters in need, and we’re grateful and humbled by our supporters who allow us to help achieve those goals.’’
How it works
The event kicked off for those holding VIP tickets, which gave them special access to restaurants, with a reception in the Shinola Hotel's Birdy Room. There, Albom broadcast his WJR-AM radio show and greeted guests who listened to jazz by Alexander Zonjic while enjoying strolling appetizers from San Morello, including meatballs, sheep’s milk ricotta crostini and tomato basil arancini (rice balls) and marinated steak skewers.
For the roaming feast, diners shuttle or walk to participating restaurants and dine and drink on samplings of preset menu items. Throughout the event footprint, there were more than two dozen restaurants.
Many ticketholders are event alums, having been to several of the EAT Detroit events and said doing so allowed them to try restaurants they may not otherwise get to.
“We've done (EAT Detroit) for several years and enjoy it,” said Jodi Kennedy, of Rochester. “It’s a positive experience, especially for smaller restaurants, and affords you the opportunity to go into a lot of restaurants we would have never heard of.”
Jerry Hiner, of Shelby Township, has attended several EAT Detroit events and likes coming to “downtown restaurants because of the food and originality.”
This year, armed with a mapped-out plan, Hiner and his fellow diners made it to 17 of the 27 on the list using the shuttle and following the app. The app, Hiner said, worked perfectly.
A chance to visit different restaurants in one evening was the draw for Frodet and Mike Dawisha, both of White Lake Township.
“It’s all the different restaurants … we never knew how many there are,” Frodet Dawisha said. “Every time we come downtown there’s a new restaurant.”
Loree Frank traveled from Rockford on the state's west side with a group of 10 friends from Grand Rapids and metro Detroit.
“I buy tickets and we all have a girl’s night out and stay downtown,” Frank said. “I love to support foundations.”
It was the first time attending the event for Cerise Carrington and Paul Humphrey, both of Redford Township. Midway through the evening, they’d visited six places. Aside from Le Supreme running out of macarons, everything was good, Carrington said.
While the event benefits SAY Detroit, Albom said, it seems to help the city’s growing food scene.
“The amount of restaurants that we have in here who have been named best restaurant, or maybe the Free Press’ best restaurant, or some other group’s best restaurant, it’s incredible,” Albom said. “Probably a third of them have won some kind of award as being the best in Detroit, and that's pretty remarkable … so I'm looking forward to trying some of them myself.”
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The event features 27 restaurants, the most since its inception and the restaurants, he said, are all “clamoring to get into (EAT Detroit), whereas we used to have to try to convince them to get into it.”
“I'm really happy to see that it's sort of become a red-letter date on the calendar and I think we've passed the trial-and-error stage, and now it's going to be a permanent event,” Albom said.
Albom said the best part of the event is “it’s painless.”
“This is all fun,” he said. “This is the best night of charity and fun … and it comes at a time when Detroit has become food central and one of the great food cities in America.”
Contact Detroit Free Press food writer Susan Selasky and send food and restaurant news to:sselasky@freepress.com. Follow @SusanMariecooks on X (formerly Twitter.)Support local journalism andbecome a digital subscriber to the Free Press.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: EAT Detroit restaurant event benefits SAY Detroit charity
