by Xani
"If heaven doesn't have cupcakes, I'm not going."
It seems wherever I travel, I end up eating burgers and cupcakes! My most recent trip, which started in Cincinnati and ended in Detroit, was no exception. We absolutely had to hit Miller's Bar, yet another burger place on the list. So, during a break from our Passover prep work, EP, Karen, the two little ones and myself headed to Dearborn to check things out.
We arrived at Miller's Bar smack in the middle of the lunch rush. During our short wait, we observed the making of Miller's burgers in progress-- rows and rows of perfectly formed patties lined up in the griddle. Mouth-watering indeed. We were soon seated (in the non-smoking section... Side note: I go to a LOT of places and almost never get asked "smoking or non?" because "non" is usually the only option. So FYI to all smokers, Michigan may be the last place in the US where you can still smoke indoors), and munched on the house-made pickle slices (hey, we were hungry!) and Diet Cokes until our orders were ready.
A word about the orders: when we asked the waitress for menus, she gave us a look that said "I know you are first-timers." No menus at Millers. The menu is just burgers, fries and onion rings (although the waitress told us the cook would make a grilled cheese for the little girls-- how sweet!). In fact, if you check out the Miller's menu page online, you can see what they are talking about...
Soon enough out came lunch: three medium-rare cheeseburgers, one grilled cheese, and a couple of orders of fries and rings. No plates (the burgers were served on white butcher paper), no silverware, and no messing around-- these were some great burgers!
Check out that perfect medium-rare!
We all loooooved these burgers. Perfectly cooked, juicy, greasy, and flavorful. The cheese was perfectly melted and the bun was soft but not mushy. The fries and rings? Also top notch (especially the rings):
The little girls seem to enjoy their grilled cheese and their Mom proclaimed the lack of plates or silverware very "kid-friendly." So there you have it folks, expert parenting advice: bring your children to bars.
Overall I give Miller's Bar a full 9 out of 10 burgers! My highest rating since I established the rating system here. These are GREAT burgers, and at a very reasonable price ($5 for burgers, and its on the "honor system", meaning you don't pay your server, you go up to the bar after you eat and tell them what you had, and they tell you what you owe! Oh, Midwestern values... how quaint. We don't roll that way in Bmore!)
Um, anyway, I promised you both burgers AND cupcakes in this post, so off we go to The Cupcake Station in downtown Birmingham, MI. EP and I just HAD to check this place out for a number of reasons. Reason the first: It was, like, five minutes from Karen's house. Reason the second: Cupcake Station had been featured on our new favorite cupcake blog, Cupcakes Take the Cake. Reason the third: their motto is "Everyone loves a cupcake!" We concur!
Soooo many cupcakes!
After chatting with the helpful staff (who could tell how excited we were to be there) we decided to get a dozen cupcake minis (because whats the only thing better than cupcakes? Tiny cupcakes!!) and a local specialty, a Michigan Bumpy Cake cupcake:
Regular cupcakes and their miniature counterparts
Delicious cupcake minis!
We got a variety of flavors including coconut, chocolate peanut butter cup, lemon, carrot cake, Oreo, pineapple upside-down cake, red velvet, and classics like vanilla cake with chocolate or white icing. We ALSO got a complimentary extra mini in addition to our dozen (a baker's dozen, if you will) "to eat in the store." Fabulous!
As to be expected, these were a huge hit with the kids and adults alike! I felt that the icing was perfect: not tooth-achingly sweet, really great flavors (especially the cream cheese icing on the red velvet mini). The cake itself was also good-- maybe a tiny bit dry but overall everything was great!
Our trip to Detroit was full of fun, family, and delicious food. Who could ask for more? Well, I guess we can ask for more trips to Detroit!
Happy... burgers and cupcakes?? (why not?)
X
wait wait wait... have we talked about this place yet?? http://www.burgersandcupcakes.us/
ReplyDeleteWhere can I get cupcakes in Cleveland? Apparently I need to know this right NOW.
ReplyDeleteLauren totally beat me to it – there’s a place in Chelsea in NYC called Burgers and Cupcakes (it’s right near one of my favorite places, the Trailer Park Bar!). I think you might like it. ;)
ReplyDeleteHope you all had a great passover! did you see the chocolate buttercrunch matzah on Kitchenography?
ReplyDeleteE&X: i have another "burger joint" you need to add to your list and it's also in nyc. that is what it's called...burger joint...and it's in le parker meridien hotel at 118 w. 57th. super yummy. had to wait in a bit of a line but it was well worth it. i suggest taking the elevator to the roof of the building where the pool is to eat your feast!
ReplyDeletejeanne-- Burger Joint is on the list: http://men.style.com/gq/features/full?id=content_2526
ReplyDelete#9
I hope to try it soon! Thanks for the tip about the roof, sounds awesome.
oh jeanne is right, burger joint is awesome, though i did not know about the roof!! that is SO on our ever-growing list for the BCD NYC visit in june.
ReplyDeleteroopa, i used to work in chelsea and the trailer park bar was a fave too :)
Those burgers look fantastic! And I LOVE that t-shirt!
ReplyDelete