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Rock City Eatery is one of those places that still feels a little like an undiscovered gem, even though it sits right on Woodward Avenue in Midtown, following a successful startup run in Hamtramck.
Tables are usually available. Service is competent and swift. Drinks are good, dishes are eclectic and change often. Those pies, god those pies. And it won't break your wallet in two. It's fast and casual, but nothing like fast casual.
Most of this can be credited to chef/co-owner Nikita Sanches, who has found an elusive sweet spot he calls "comfort food with a twist" in the latest Metro Times, where he sits for an interview with Tom Perkins.
Surviving five years in any restaurant is an accomplishment, much less in a city like this, with a food scene being buffeted by national and global trends, while at the same time whipsawed by booming development. Sanches reflects on the sudden blooming of Detroit eateries:
It's awesome because there's way more options and you can get any cuisine you crave, and there's just more people coming to the city to eat instead of going to their local suburban restaurant, which kind of sucks for the suburban neighborhood spots. That's part of why there's so many places closing in the burbs — because people are looking more towards going downtown, having an experience and eating out in the city. But there's also more competition down here.
But...
It's a double-edged sword. There's more people coming down and there's more traffic, but it also brings out people who don't necessarily understand that not all restaurants are like Applebee's or Chili's or Outback Steakhouse where you get a bread basket and butter, and you can have 50 things on the menu, you know what I mean? So it's like the quality of a diner has maybe changed somewhat. But, I would say 99.9 percent of people that eat here are awesome.
What's more, those diners are changing, too:
The first wave of customers were people who want trendy food and to go to places right when they first open. So they come back a few times, and you're like "Oh, this is my customer base." Eventually what ends up happening, those people filter out and they move onto the next hotspot and what you end up with are regular people who were like, "Oh I heard about this place, I'm gonna try it out." And if they like it there, they are the ones that are going to come back. We've traded people out ... and it gets frustrating because it's hard to figure out like who am I really catering to? Is it these cool, trendy people who try new places all the time? Or is it people from Farmington Hills or Oxford going to Detroit for a game?
Fortunately, the menu is diverse enough that both would be satisfied. Although one wistful customer would like to see the roasted marrow bone make a comeback, complete with the shot of whiskey poured down the chute into your mouth.
