Between hell and heaven

Like a lovers' room, the ground being scattered with clothes and a purse flippantly half-emptied on the coach, the Rock City Eatery -a storefront in the Hamtramck neighborhood in Detroit- offers a chaotic view at the first sight. Don't trust this apparent mess, a treasure of surprise and delight is welcomed in this hipster-affordable restaurant.

From the pickled roasted beets to the Nicole's poutine to the Sichuan chicken wings, the menu of the RCE might disconcert the followers of consistency. There is none to expect from this place which is not devoted to any theme except eclecticism.

On the full-of-stains brown thick sheet that is the menu, there is no separation between appetizers and mains, just a succession of dishes whose price goes from $7 to $12 and that are to share or to keep jealously for one. The names of the courses are as exotic as varied. The traditional American Mac & Cheese stands alongside the Mexican Chicharron and Patacones and the Thai shrimp. The keyword of this menu is: condiment. Cilantro, curry, thyme, scallion, ginger, jalapeño, garlic, Harissa color the dishes and awake the taste buds. They can disturb or overwhelm them too.

The crusted lamb loin chop is a delight, particularly without the Ras El Hanout sauce, the perfectly-cooked flesh of the meat being sufficient in itself. However, the add of cilantro to the roasted brussels sprouts gives a delicate lemony freshness to the vegetables, soaked in a too present soy sauce.

As for the décor, it consists of a superimposition of raw materials -one part of the wall is made of red old bricks, another of cheap plywood-, luxury items like a magnificent glass luster, punk posters and unmatching tables and chairs, the whole being surprisingly contained in a 30m² rectangular room.

The system of the cutlery is both surprising and playful: you pick either silverwares or chopsticks from a glass jar. Help yourself, like at home. Like at home as well, the dishes don't match and each plate displays a new painting pattern and new sizes and shapes. As kitschy as nostalgic, especially if your grand-mother was fond of tableware collections.

In this scenery, you'll find a flowerbed of red, blue, green and purple haired and tattooed people, half of them bearing big beards (the other half being women.) A very hipster audience that will make a lot of noise. Well, that's good because it is preferable not to be heard after a gin fizz -well-balanced between sweetness and basil- and two pints of a syrupy local beer. Thanks to this loud and relaxed atmosphere, it is not embarrassing to be drunk here. Nor to wear a sparkling dolphin-printed T-shirt.

But this lack of coherence does not make the Rock City Eatery a mess. In spite of a reasonable waiting time if you don't have any reservation (around 20 minutes), the service is efficient and the waiters, very friendly. It might be hard to read the entire menu before the orders are taken. However, no pressure to choose, eat, drink and leave the restaurant. Going to the Rock City Eatery is like having a very convenient sex partner: it can go fast; it can also take hours. It depends on your needs.

The intensity of the inter-course depends as well on your desires. For the very lustful eaters, the Bourdain Dinner ($12), a marrow bone topped with raw urchins and assorted with homemade bread is a pure ecstasy. The way the bone is cut -in two vertical sections rather than in one piece, like two branches of celery- is surprising and playful. Topped on the marrow, the raw urchin color the dish which is seasoned with chimichurri, a South American condiment made of parsley, garlic, chili, oil and vinegar. The bread, both firm and fluffy, can be stuffed with this preparation but the marrow and urchins do not need any addition, they can easily be eaten with a spoon.

This surprising combination of products, once in the mouth, will explode in a multitude of flavors. The creaminess of the marrow is soon overcome by the salt of the seafood. The urchins, raw and fresh, lighten the oily meat and spread a subtle smell of ocean on the tongue. Finally, the kick comes from the chimichurri: the astringent garlic, with spicy notes, punches the dish which would have been a little flat without the condiment. The mix of textures -crusty with the bread, melting with the marrow and urchins- as well as the mix of flavors tends to create no less than a bite of heaven. A culinary orgasm.

The brussels sprouts, although too soaked in the soy sauce, are well-balanced with the cilantro, the entire peanuts and the green and red tomatoes cut in halves. Spicy but not too much, the vegetables are cooked in a delightful way: seared just enough to leave them fresh and crunchy.

The crusted lamb, prettily accompanied with romaine entire leaves, is both cooked outside and rare inside, the crust of spices around the meat impregnating deeply the flesh with flavors. Without the curried Harissa sauce, it would be flawless.

And now, to cap it all, the dessert. That's not complicated to choose, there is only a choice of two sweets, different every day. If you fall on the berries pie, be careful, you could fall in love. The lukewarm dough is thin and barely perceptible, being overwhelmed by the mashed fruits. With or without a scoop of vanilla ice-cream, it is a fulfilling and sincere dessert: no cheating, no artificial flavor. It is made by the chef himself, fresh from the day. The bread pudding is a success too. Although maybe too sweet, the texture, moist and tender, testifies of its quality.

  At the Rock City Eatery, the making out is messy but the pleasure, guarantied.