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Welcome to the New Year! On today's show, we talk about checking out the recently opened Decent Detroit coffee shop in Detroit near the Grosse Pointe Border; Detroit-style pizza with a Cayman Island and Caribbean twist; and the closure of one of Producer Shianne's favorite spots, Yellow Door in Berkley.
More reading:
Decent Detroit: https://www.instagram.com/decentdetroit/
Munchies Caribbean Style Pizza: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WelYp21Z90
Yellow Door Art Market closing: https://www.facebook.com/YellowDoorArtMarket/posts/pfbid023k4PwdeAV3RqNWzCnqDVQp9DJVLomqrXtCSgAyUQAEQZHRySvNJdLHrn8cYdJzorl
Jer Staes: Hello, and welcome to your Daily Detroit, sharing what to know and where to go in Southeast Michigan for another year. It is Thursday, January 2nd, 2025.
I am Jer Staes. And Shianne Nocerini, thank you so much for changing the rundown from four to five, because I was just about to make that mistake.
Shianne Nocerini: You are absolutely welcome Jer. I looked at our document, and I said it's not 2024 anymore, Jer.
Jer Staes: I wonder how long I'm gonna do that.
Shianne Nocerini: Well, we only had one take for this. And Hallelujah, but sometimes, guys, it takes quite a few takes before we remember that it's a new year.
Jer Staes: Well, I'm so glad to see you, and I'm also so glad for all of our listeners. Thank you so much for tuning in!
We are going to have some fun today because for a lot of people, we're still kind of in holiday mode. I was pulling into the studio here at beautiful Techtown in Detroit, Michigan, and more than half of the parking lot was empty. It's kind of quiet around here. I've realized, as much as I worked, that I don't know, maybe this has changed. When I was a corporate guy/company man, the company I was at, it was like you are in. I feel like things have changed in the last few years.
Shianne Nocerini: I will say that usually the week between Christmas and New Year's was the week that my husband would go to work because there was nothing happening. So he was just basically was like, just finishing up tasks for the year, but also wasn't being inundated with like a lot of like day-to-day work.
Use it as a time to catch up, which I did a bit. And we did for a bit, because we went to Decent Detroit. We did. And did our annual kind of get together. If people don't know, Shianne, you are the producer of this show.
I am.
Decent Detroit Coffee Shop First Impression
And we all work together as a tight little team. And so every year we try to do a reset. Be like, "where are we? What are we doing?" We're doing more newsletters. We're doing all this stuff, but it's good to get in person, because we're all so busy.
We've got our heads down. So we went out to Decent Detroit, a place that recently opened right near the Grosse Pointe border, just south of Alter [Road] on Kercheval [Avenue]. Nearby will be things like POST in the city of Detroit, or Lucky Coffee and LeRouge Boulangerie in the park right there. Coriander, what is it? Coreander's Bookshop? Yeah, there's a couple of Coreander things over there. Anyway, what a fabulous time. This building was built in the 1920s. You and I are both from the east side.
We are.
Random fact, my mom and dad lived, before I existed, in the apartment building across the street. Take that for what you will. And I've seen this corner mostly vacant for a very long time.
Yeah, there's usually like things that'll pop in and then pop right out very quickly.
Yes, but this seems to have some legs. The owner Leo Olafssen, who I had a chance to talk to, he's actually from Sweden. [He] lives in Metro Detroit now, and he is involved in house music. He's like, you know a thing is about this place like you you meet this guy and ... do you know when like somebody's just automatically cool?
Yeah, and you didn't they're not trying to be cool. They're not trying to be over the top or any of that. It is just like oh, this is an interesting guy
Mm-hmm
and he's created an interesting space that I've been following on Instagram for months. I just went back and saw a post just like 22 weeks ago, which is a short time in these kind of developments. It was a raw space not even properly white boxed and they have Transformed this space keeping the old charm and adding a great little coffee shop right there.
Yeah I really liked this space. It was warm and welcoming.
They didn't take all of their furniture out of like the aggressive book. No, they didn't use the hipster starter set. The furniture is beautiful and like it's modern but like ... it's warm.
They had this like chandelier light in the front, and it was just so unique. Oh, I want it.
for the studio yeah if we're ever at a location where we can install that yeah I love how the lights actually shine down on what you're doing. Yeah it's beautiful. And great poster art
mm-hmm
really good. I thought we liked the coffee.
The coffee was really good. I had the peppermint mocha.
I'm usually not a mocha fan. But for some reason I was really feeling their holiday menu and I was like, "You know what? I'll give the peppermint mocha a shot." And I had it with oat milk, and it was delicious. [Do] you know how sometimes oat milk kind of has a weird after-taste?
Okay good oat milk doesn't. Right. The good stuff doesn't.
[It] did not have the weird aftertaste.
I'm somebody who has to stick to that.
Right. So I thoroughly enjoyed my pepper mocha.
Pictures are up on Daily Detroit. If you sign up for our newsletter, at dailydetroit.com, you will get these [pictures]. Also, [I will] put a link to that in the show notes because you're gonna want to check this place out. This is obviously not sponsored in any way. It's just a place that we saw, and we wanted to get out there. I was just so happy to see a place that in that old neighborhood cut right like in that kind of like ... you want this near you.
Yeah. We were sitting there, and we were talking. And Jer, you said, "you know, this kind of reminds me a little bit of like the Cups vibe."
Okay, so tell people.
Okay, so for those who don't know, Cup-A-Cino's was our local coffee shop on Kercheval in Grosse Pointe Park back in the 90s and early 2000s. And it was this eclectic space where you get coffee, and they had smoothies. They had all kinds of stuff, and they'd have open mic nights. And they'd have ...
Sometimes the vegan would cook the bacon. Yes. That little sideways sometimes.
Right.
But that was part of the charm.
Yes. I'm not saying this has that same. It does not have the same. But it has that same welcoming vibe.
Yes, exactly. So it was a nice addition to that neighborhood.
I love when a space is well executed, but also I really respect, to close this out, somebody who gets in there with their hands and really wants to do it. It seems like talking to him really quick, talking to Leo really quick, he's got some big ideas.
Yeah for the space which I'm really excited about. Here at Daily Detroit our studio. We've put a lot of blood sweat and tears into it. So when somebody does that kind of like hand-made but well execute, I have so much respect for it to go check it out: Decent Detroit. I will put links and everything in the show notes and don't forget to sign up for that newsletter!
Caribbean Detroit-style Pizza Discussion
I saw this video over the holidays, Shianne. And well ... yeah, I was intrigued.
Tell me more, Jer.
Well, we both have a love of Detroit-style pizza.
We do, yes.
And I saw a Caribbean Detroit-style pizza that I cannot try as it is in the Cayman Islands. We have not set up as a Cayman company. Maybe that's what we should do. Pull a full capitalism.
I mean if we had the money, maybe. We're a small project, Jer.
We can't even afford a ticket to the Cayman Islands. But this guy has a food truck, Diego Smith, and he was really in the food and saw that Detroit-style pizza was big on YouTube. He was researching it on YouTube, which I have seen the nation get interested in Detroit-style pizza. And he went back to the Cayman Islands after doing some stuff around abroad and doing private chef work. I will link to this video from Munji's in the show notes. It's a really interesting little interview.
But let's get to brass tacks. First off, before I get into the ingredients, how do you feel about riffs on Detroit-style pizza? Because oftentimes it's like, what are the typical toppings? And then you see other places really push the limits with it. How do you feel about freestyle Detroit-style pizza?
I'm kind of torn because there are places like Pie Sci and Grandma Bob's and Michigan and Trumbull who do have different types of toppings on their Detroit style pizza, right?
Grandma Bob's is excellent.
Yeah.
Michigan and Trumbull is excellent.
Pie Sci is excellent. And so is it the execution of the pizza that makes it Detroit style or is it only the toppings? I mean, what I was looking at, I mean, he's using the pans. He's got the charred, crispy, cheesy bits on the corners, on the edges.
Detroit style pizza the container or the whole the totality of the thing
Exactly.
I know some people would be like pepperoni or bust or whatever traditional.
Or for it to only have brick cheese right? Where is the sauce and where are the toppings?
So a lot of times the toppings need to be below. Mm-hmm.
So let's talk about some of the offerings. Now, he's got a standard pepperoni style that puts a tomato sauce on top. Okay now some of his more Cayman style seasoning pepper scotch bonnet pepper and Cajun style beef. There's also a jerk chicken. How do you feel about scotch bonnet? That's gonna be hot one.
It'll be hot. If there's cheese on it, that'll help with some of the heat. I'm not opposed to trying different types of flavors on my Detroit style pizza.
If he'd like to flash freeze it and like overnight it to Detroit ... this guy Diego Smith. I don't know, but should we try to make something like it?
Do we get engineer Randy involved? Because he engineers audio, alcohol, and food.
I mean, I think, I don't know, is this a question for Karen Dybis, the author of Detroit Style Pizza?
We need to put up the bat signal or pepperoni signal if you will.
I want to know what you think: dailydetroit@gmail.com. What defines Detroit style pizza and would you try a scotch bonnet pepper, Cayman style beef pizza, or a jerk chicken Detroit style pizza? And I wonder is there one here I haven't looked at yet? I wonder is there like the jerk chicken. I feel like that's something that would be I feel like possibility I could find that here.
I feel like I want to say I've seen something similar on like a Pie Sci menu, but their menu changes, right? It's not always the same.
It is a rotating menu. So maybe I have seen it in the past. Maybe we can reach out to our friends at Pie Sci and say, hey, do you actually have a jerk style chicken?
Well let me know: dailydetroit@gmail.com. What is your definition? Does it have to have the purity of the toppings? Or is it about the container? Let me know, and I'll put a link in the show notes and in our newsletter.
Yellow Door Closing
You have a closing to talk about.
I do have a closing to talk about, Jer. So in Berkeley, there is a store called The Yellow Door Market. It's owned by the people who own Chasing Fireflies, which is like right down the street. So in downtown Berkeley on 12 Mile, you've got Chasing Fireflies, and then Monger's Provision, and then The Yellow Door Market. And it was just like a space for makers and artists to have booths to sell their wares. And this is a place you've gone. I've been going to this place since they opened, basically, for 14 years. And I love it. But unfortunately, due to rising rental costs, they are going to have to close their doors. So the last day for The Yellow Door is January 18th.
But what they said in their Facebook post when they announced the closure is that they're going to close The Yellow Door Market, but because they own the building that Chasing Fireflies is in, they've been there for 25, it'll be 25 years this year. So Chasing Fireflies is next door? Is next door, right? That's the next door store, okay. Right, so they own that building. And they've been in that space for going on 25 years, and it needs an upgrade, right? Like they need new floor, all this stuff. So they're going to move Chasing Fireflies after they close The Yellow Door. They're gonna move Chasing Fireflies into The Yellow Door Market space for that time being. So that way they can do the renovations on Chasing Fireflies without closing the retail space. So while Yellow Door is closing by the 18th of January, you can still go shop in that space.
Are there deals to be had? I know that sounds cold, but are there deals to be had?
So there are some deals to be had, it's up to each individual maker and artist, but there are sales between 10% to 50% off, depending on the artist.
And where will you find this in Berkeley?
So it's on 12 Mile in downtown Berkeley, right next to Mongers Provisions, basically.
Oh, yeah, that's right, because that's the Mongers that's staying around in case because we didn't mention it. We were on holiday break. We were.
The Mongers is no more in Midtown. Right. The one on Cass. The one on Cass, they've consolidated to one location. Right. So that's up in Berkeley. And, you know, it's good to see like these local places find a place that they seem to be really doing well. And that seems to be downtown Berkeley. It is.
Yeah, so I'm sad to see the Yellow Door close, but I'm happy to know that Chasing Fireflies is staying open.
A decade is a heck of a run. Let's be honest about this ... there's some closings where it's like grand opening grand closing and all these other things but hats off to anybody who can make something go for 14 years you know sometimes things have a just a an evolution
Right, I do wanna point out, if you're sad that the Maker's Market is closing in Berkeley, I do wanna point out that there is actually another artist market just down the street on 12 Mile. It's called the Artsy Umbrella.
Now, I've never actually been to this location. I've never been in there before, but I saw them post a comment on the Yellow Doors Facebook page when they made the announcement. And I was like, looking at the actual, their website, and I was like, I know that storefront because it used to be city style way back in the day.
because they were one of the only places in Metro Detroit that you could buy Harvey C. Bell bags. You were obsessed with those for a while.
I was, I was obsessed with those for- So what is a, for those who don't know? A bag made out of seat belts. I imagine they're durable. They are very durable. I've had Harvey seat belt bags for like going on almost 20 years and I still have them and they're still like holding up and they have like a lifelong warranty and actually I need to send in a strap for one of my bags cause it finally broke. So anyway, the Artsy Umbrella is open. It's on 12 Mile. It's just down the street from, like across the street from chasing fireflies.
Well, I know what you're gonna have to do for the people, Shianne.
I'm gonna have to go in there and check it out. Right, for the people. For the people. For the people. Right, I do this for you.
All right. Well, thank you so much for listening to your Daily Detroit. Thank you to our members on Patreon! We had a few join over the holiday. I really appreciate you.
I need to get back to you with personal thank you notes. And of course, they'll have access to our member only Discord. We're going to be releasing our conversations early to our Patreon members in 2025, as well as other specific new benefits. We're going to have a ... I think we're working on coffee mugs. Yes. Because that was a huge request. We're also working on a trivia event. With our friend of the show, Mickey Lyons, coming up. And so I think what we're going to do is a weekend event, weekend day event, and then a happy hour midweek event on a regular basis. We've heard from people, our get together in the morning was really popular. It was. So we need to kind of do both because it kind of served with different groups. Yes. And I think it would be really fun to see all of you and really focus on community here in 2025, because look, we're going to need to stick together.
There's a lot going on in the world. There is. Think about our friends in New Orleans. We have some listeners in New Orleans. You're going through it right now. I really, I'm pulling for you.
And you know, New Orleans in many ways is a sister city. It is. Anyway, with that, I'm Jer Staes.
And I'm Shianne Nocerini.
Thank you so much for listening. Remember that you are somebody who will see you around Detroit. Talk tomorrow!