First visit: May 2025
Mrs. RJG and I are on our first road trip of retirement. Or half road trip. We flew into Detroit and then drove back in a rental. The idea was to fill the SUV with goodies, including beer (see Bier Reise for current updates). Which we did. A successful trip overall with the usual curveballs these kind of trips throw at you. I plan on an update or two each day as time allows. Have about 10 of these to go.
Personal history with Detroit: Mostly business trips between 2004 and 2007. And I had a key interview here in 2016. Had that company made me an offer, Detroit would have been my Baltimore. And we know how that turned out. Perhaps for the better, as that proved to be the peak of my career. My first trip here however was a quick stopover in Livonia on my way to Ohio. This was way back in 1992. I went to a record shop (of course I did) and I didn't have enough time to mine Detroit. In fact this was my first ever record venture in the city. So it was fitting that we spent three nights in Livonia, and the first dinner was at DeLuca's in nearby Westland.
Location: Well if that sign doesn't go into the RJG Hall of Fame, I'm not sure anything else would qualify. I mean they're still advertising that they have "American Food". And Cocktails. Yeehaw! It's so great to see an old school Italian restaurant such as this still standing. This is the real deal, not a commercialized knockoff. It's a large restaurant with dim lighting. Everyone there was a regular but us.
Food: Red sauce Italian and pizza are their standards. They started us with a basket of buttered bread (awesome) and we got a half-liter of cheap chianti (both taste and price). I went with chicken parm and Mrs. RJG had the spaghetti and Italian sausage. We knew the portions would be huge but we surprised ourselves by eating most of it. We also surprised the waitresses who informed us we forgot our to-go box. I said we didn't have one. What? Obviously we were traveling anyway, but they didn't know that. We were just hungry lol. Dinners include a salad which came with a vinaigrette. The dressing was thin but with a bit of spice. The chicken parm was very flavorful according to my notes. And a small side of spaghetti which allowed me to help Mrs. RJG with her large portion of it (as you can see). Pasta was slightly al dente. Would have preferred a hotter temperature. The homemade Italian sausage was fantastic. The portion of meat was small comparatively.
Overall: For certain if we lived in Detroit we'd make sure to come by once a year. But for us there's hundreds of places to try, and who knows if we'll ever be back.
5/28/25
6/10/25 (new entry)
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