Photo from restaurant website
Metro Times food writer Tom Perkins educates us on the difference between creole and cajun food before delving into a review of Faustina’s Creole & Soulfood at 16155 Wyoming Ave. in northwest Detroit.
The common sins that you encounter when it comes to cajun and creole cooking in the north are under-spiced dishes or one-dimensional, lazily prepared meals. There's a misconception that "creole" is Louisianian for "salt and cayenne bomb," and after the cuisine's heyday in the '80s and early '90s modern America's collective image of the cuisine developed into a Red Lobster caricature.
In reality, "ragin'" isn't common to the Louisiana lexicon and cajun and creole food is complex and full-flavored, rich from properly applied roux, and built layer by layer off a base of the "holy trinity" of aromatics — onion, celery, and bell peppers. For whatever reason, Detroit sees very little of that kind of cooking, but it can be found. The kitchen of chef Anthony Faustina in Faustina's, a small carryout spot on Wyoming Avenue just north of the Lodge, is one of the only places. Even so, it should be clarified that Faustina's isn't a straight-up creole restaurant, as it also deals in cajun food.
But there's enough creole and cajun territory on the menu that you'll experience tastes that are otherwise hard to come by 1,200 miles north of the Delta, and that's what we focused on. Of course, the jambalaya is the best spot to start. Faustina's version is deep, with shifting flavors. It's built off the celery-onion-bell pepper base, and possesses a strong thyme and garlic presence that's assisted by the sweetness of tomatoes and a cayenne kick. Faustina also thickens the dish with the roux, and that alone takes four hours to prepare. The shrimp and crawfish are mixed in along with spicy beef sausage — no pork in this restaurant.
The restaurant's website gives some background on the place and owner Anthony Faustina.
Chef Anthony's excellent preparation inspired by his late dad, Lenardo Faustina III, an international chef, president and executive chef in his lifetime maintained operations at WSU McGregor Memorial Center, City County Building cafeteria, Wayne County Court Systems and Detroit Edison facility at Livernols and Warren.
He has catered to notable entertainers and individuals like Prince, Aretha Franklin Patti Labelle, Steive Wonder, Anita Baker, Martin Lawrence, Late Mayor Coleman Young, Former Mayor Dennis Archer, US Court of Appeals Damon Keith, Former Chief Judge and Deputy Mayor Adam Shakoor, Former MI Governor James Blanchard, first African American Mayor of Atlanta Late Maynard Jackson, and more.
Chef Anthony, Executive chef in his own right have catered for such R&B and rap stars as Erykah Badu, Bun B (UGK), Scarface, Lyfe Jennings, Fantasia, B-legit, actor Idris Elba (The Wire and others), Detroit Board of Education and Judges Ruth Ann Garrett and retired Jimmie Lee Gray at 36th District Court.
