Hour Detroit magazine named Parc its 2018 restaurant of the year in its March edition — yes, Daily Detroit readers, there’s still a place for print media — and so this week’s episode takes you down to Campus Martius for a conversation about the restaurant, the award, food and the city’s fast-changing dining scene.
We chat with Parc’s executive chef, Jordan Hoffman, and Hour Detroit Editor Steve Wilke in a wide-ranging conversation that touches on everything from the restaurant’s gorgeous urban setting to the lamb rigatoni topped with feta cheese, an homage to the influence of Greektown.
Hoffman is a native of Adrian who has cooked in kitchens in Paris, Miami and Las Vegas before returning to Detroit to open Parc. He describes his cooking as Midwestern, blended with his French and Italian training.
“It’s meat-centric,” he says. “It’s braises, it’s great vegetables in summers, it’s challenging yourself with root vegetables in the winter…
“I grew up with long braises on Sundays, roasting the chicken, grilling, the wood fire grill is a big part of what we do here and the fact that we’re doing it over really fantastic local hardwood, it’s fun and it’s intriguing. I get to use great product that is from Michigan, that all I have to do is just really give it an opportunity to shine, throw It on a wood fire grill, hit it with the right aromatics and then do some small accompaniments to really challenge that dish and we’re ready to go.”
Wilke discusses Hour’s approach to covering food in Detroit, the shifting dining-scene dynamics between the city and suburbs, and some of his favorite Parc dishes.
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Our thanks as always to our friends at Podcast Detroit for the support.
