← Shannon Cason's Homemade
Shannon Cason's Homemade
Detroit Soul Food Tour | Everyday is a Story
00:09:39
No one makes everything just right, but all together it works out.
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I went on a Detroit soul food restaurant tour. Every day is a story. I'm Shannon Cason. It's Wednesday. What's more American than soul food is actually America's menu, when you think about it. The thing about soul food is no one gets everything right. My mother makes the best macaroni and cheese. There's no arguments about that. We don't have to debate it. My mom makes the best Mac and cheese. My ex wife, Cindy, she wins at collard greens. You can think that your grandma place, but Cindy wins. My ex wife wins at the collard greens. She just wins. Just face it. And then my ex mother in law, she has a good overall game, but she's good with the pies and the cakes and stuff like that. But she has a good overall game. I'm gonna give her a good overall game. Now, one of my cousins in New Jersey, Larry, he might even watch these podcasts. Larry throw down behind the grill. I put him up against anybody behind the grill. Chicken thighs. I never even used to like chicken thighs. Chicken thighs fall right off the bone. The meat just fall. You can eat the whole chicken thigh. It's cooked so thorough that the bones and the gristle, you can eat it all. Now, no one has every skill in soul food. They'll say they do, but they fall short in some way. Some people are good at this, but they're not that good at, you know, this other thing. Now, my uncle, my Uncle Nate, he's a soul food connoisseur. I help take care of him, like caretaking and all that. And to keep him eating, we have to give him the food that he likes. He likes soul food. He loves soul food. But like I say, no one does everything right. So to get him to eat, I have to do this soul food world tour around Detroit. Anytime I get him food, it's a journey around Detroit to all these different places to get their favorite menu items or their best menu item. So first I'm on the east side and I stop at Nun's Barbecue on Conant. And he likes their potato salad now, which is saying something because as you know, you can't even. You can't eat everybody's potato salad. But he likes nuns potato salad. Now, I haven't tried it yet. I'm gonna have to try it at some point because I like potato salad. But like I say, you can't eat everybody's potato salad. So. But knowing that he eat it, I might try it. And I also get a bottle of barbecue sauce from nuns. Just a bottle of barbecue sauce in the service at soul food places can be touch and go. Really. I'm gonna be honest. You expect a hint of bad service. You expect it. You just. It's just kind of come with the soul food places. You expect it. But nons is friendly enough. It's a night they nice to me, but I always have to check my orders because they've messed up my orders one time. And then my uncle go let me know about it for a whole week, you know, that they messed up the order. So I always check the order. Anytime I go to nuns, the next on the list, I get on 7 mile. So from Kona, I get on 7 mile, and a lot of the spots is on 7 mile. I drive to Baby Backs. 7 mile, just across livinois. Um, baby backs is obviously more barbecue, and a lot of barbecue spots is soul food spots as well. But unk likes their short ribs with no sauce. I think he uses the nun's barbecue sauce on the short ribs. So he likes their meat, but he likes nuns barbecue sauce. And this is all confusing, but this is how it goes. Just stay with me. The attitudes that baby back pretty cool. I get along with baby back really well because I know the owner. She's a family friend. Lil Willie's daughter, Liz. Lil Willie, you, You. But he likes their. Their peach cobbler too. So. So Liz in baby backs makes good peach cobbler. So I get the peach cobbler from baby backs as well. And then I jump back on seven mile. And this is the long strip with the most stops that I have to make. And I go to motor city Seoul. Now, motor city soul is a classic spot. That's a. That's a go to spot. Most of the soul food places in Detroit or soul food places all over the place. There'll be buffet style, so it'd be somebody behind plexiglass. And they'll have a buffet set up, and they're making your orders. You point to what you like and they make your orders. But being that it's plexiglass, you have to yell. You have to yell everything you want. So at motor city soul, he likes the oxtails, the black eyed peas, and the cabbage. And I like the cabbage too, so I always get a side of cabbage for myself kind of put to the side. And I eat it in the car while I drive around. The attitudes at motor city, Motor city soul got the attitudes you expect. They. They act like they don't want to talk to you. Kind of mean a little bit mean to you, you know, Pick what you want. Make a decision quick. They kind of got that kind of attitude. And I think it's the yelling, you know, all the plexiglass, and we've been yelling at them, so they kind of got a little attitude. But the people you were around. Cause you kind of waiting in line with a lot of people. We're all friendly, so we talking to each other. We kind of kicking it and everything. I remember I was talking to the guy yesterday. He was telling me about the roast beef. I haven't tried the roast beef. He was saying the roast beef pretty good. And I. And I was telling him about the black eyed peas because my uncle loves the black eyed peas. So the people in line are pretty nice. But the people behind the plexiglass sometimes got a little attitude, but they attitude change after I tip them. So I tip everybody. I go see. I always tip people, but after I throw a little $5 tip on them for helping me, you know, with my food order. Oh, thank you, baby. Thank you. Appreciate you, baby. You know, so I'm gonna start tipping them first to get my baby in. I like a good. Thank you, baby. I like. I love that, you know, but it's always after I tip. So I get back on 7 mile, and I know you think I'm kidding, going to all these places, but I'm not. I'm telling you, Unk likes food from different places, and this is how we get him to eat. We'll put the food in the fridge, and he can eat it throughout the week. He can eat whatever he wants. So the next stop I go still on seven Mile farther down is Crab House. Crab house has the grilled shrimp that he like, and he likes crab houses Greens. He likes the greens from the crab House. And the Crab house is expensive as hell. Is expensive. It sound like expensive called Crab House. But soul food spots just in general, are expensive as hell. Now, ever since 2020, all the stuff that happened in 2020, the prices never came back down. So everything is. It's like the haircuts. You know, the prices of soul food and haircuts never came back down. They stay sky high. So you just got to pay it if you like it, you know? And last stop on the list that I would go to before I go to my uncle is Popeyes. I mean, this is a basic spot. Popeyes, he likes their drumsticks. He wants six drumsticks, half spicy, half regular, and two bowls of that Cajun rice. So I got to stop at Popeyes and the service at Popeyes is, you know, it depends on the day. Crab house to crab house is expensive, but they're nice. They're nice. You spend it, the money you spend. And they better be nice. But popeyes, it depends. You get what I'm saying? You never know what you're going to get. So I drive everything to my uncle, and from the bed, he looks over everything. You know, he go, make sure he go eat a little bit of it. He go, he go put some out of the containers and, you know, bite into a drumstick. Then I put everything away for him to eat throughout the week. So what I got from all that, like, throughout the day was just because you do one thing good doesn't mean you do everything good. Everyone has their favorites. Everyone have their gift in certain areas. So question for you. What's your favorite dish at your favorite soul food restaurants? Now, this could be multiple restaurants. And this can be in Detroit or wherever. Maybe someone will be in your city one day. So favorite soul food menu item at different restaurants. What's the favorite? Who makes the best? Whatever. Let's talk about it. All right. Also, may want to buy me a meal for all these stories, go to My Patreon is patreon.com backslash Shannon Casen or cash at me direct $sign Shannon Casein. So God can get some smothered turkey with macaroni and cheese and some yams and all that good stuff. I right. Talk to you soon. All right.