The Best Dishes Eater Detroit Ate in February #DetroitFood

Broken Pavlova from Barda. | Courtney Burk

Great Lakes ingredients with Moroccan spices, cacio e pepe rice cakes, and more

With the Eater editors dining out several times a week, we come across lots of standout dishes, and we don’t want to keep any secrets. Introducing a new monthly feature, highlighting the best things that the Eater Detroit team ate. Check back monthly!

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Juicy Sean at Spiedo

307 S 5th Avenue, Ann Arbor

I cannot stop thinking about my colorful, informal, messy-fingered meal at Spiedo, a (relatively) new opening in Ann Arbor. Spiedo may mean spit in Italian — as in meat-roasting spit — but it’s a fish dish that I want again and again. Named for an on-again-off-again employee who also operates Tree Town’s Juicy Oistre food truck, the Juicy Sean features Lake Superior walleye. Inspired by a North African fish stew called chraime, chef-owner Brad Greenhill of Takoi marinates generous pieces of walleye in preserved, lacto-fermented summer tomatoes and Moroccan spices, before crisping them. Paired with turmeric rice, avocado, and prik nam pla (the Thai condiment made with fish sauce and chiles) it’s a delicious expression of using global flavors to amplify freshwater fish from right here at home. The dish comes as a bowl ($16) or a flatbread wrap ($15). — Stacey Brugeman, Fresh Coast correspondent

Stacey Brugeman

The Juicy Sean at Spiedo.

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Pizza at Cafe Prince

4884 Grand River Avenue Unit 1A, Detroit

Whenever I think of coffee shop food, it harkens back to memories of living above a cafe for eight years, where the menu consisted of Costco muffins, premade sandwich wraps, and bags of chips. Not exactly inspiring. So when I heard that Cafe Prince — which first made headlines in 2023 for including a simple carrot on its menu — makes pizza now every Wednesday, I was simultaneously dismissive and intrigued. Dismissive because the thought of a high-quality pizza coming out of a coffee shop seemed highly unlikely, but also intrigued, because if the cafe had the presence of mind to recognize that visitors might want a light snack that didn’t feel like it came out of a vending machine, maybe just maybe they might know how to execute a decent pie. The space does not have a full-sized kitchen, let alone a full-sized brick pizza oven. But thanks to innovations in more compact, tabletop ovens and the creative mind of barista/part-time pizzaiolo Arad Kauf, Cafe Prince is now able to produce an incredibly legit pizza. Kauf starts with a biga — a type of pre-fermentation of just flour and water typical of Italian baking that he allows to ferment for 24 hours. The shop uses an Effeuno Pizza Oven with Biscotto clay, which helps the crust to achieve that Neapolitan-style char. Pies are available for $16 each and can be topped margarita-style with house-made tomato sauce, basil, and mozzarella, or topped with pesto and mozzarella cheese. When tomatoes are in season, the cafe will use its own that are grown in a garden across the street. — Serena Maria Daniels, Eater Detroit editor

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Broken Pavlova at Barda

4842 Grand River Avenue, Detroit

I’m not a dessert person. I’ll always take an extra side or a cocktail to end my meal. But when I tell you that the Broken Pavlova at Barda is one of my favorite things I’ve ever eaten, that’s not an exaggeration. The traditional meringue-based dessert from, depending on who you ask, Australia or New Zealand pays homage to the ruffles on famed ballerina Anna Pavlova’s tutus, who toured the region in the 1920s. While the classic rendition typically tops a crisp meringue shell with whipped cream and fresh fruit, Barda offers a unique twist by inverting the ingredients and adding a dollop of salmon roe. The airy citrus mousse, made with a blend of orange, lemon, grapefruit, and lime, is topped with layers of dehydrated Italian meringue layered with a strawberry carpaccio and dusted with strawberry and hibiscus powder. I wouldn’t call it sweet, more tart, but that citrus element adds a pleasant richness. And the salmon roe on top adds a delightful salty pop to each bite. A serious happy dance happens whenever I get to enjoy this dessert. — Courtney Burk, Detroit-based freelance contributor

Courtney Burk

Broken Pavlova from Barda

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Cacio e Pepe Tteokbokki at Miss Kim

415 N 5th Avenue, Ann Arbor

I would eat pasta every single day if I could. Like a nice bowl of cacio e pepe, consisting of just grated pecorino Romano, black pepper, and spaghetti al dente — producing a rich, salty, sharp, and just a little bit spicy sensation in every bite. Lucky for us, Miss Kim founder and chef Ji Hye Kim is an expert at combining her training in Italian cooking with her love for and deep understanding of flavors traditional to Korea, and brings us her own rendition, made with the spot’s wonderfully bouncy crispy rice cake batons instead. At this beloved Ann Arbor establishment, Kim tosses her already popular tteokbokki in umami-rich miso butter, which helps to kick up the volume on the Parmigiano-Reggiano and black pepper. — Serena Maria Daniels, Eater Detroit editor

Serena Maria Daniels

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