A light meal — As you may have heard, Detroit's streetlights are being replaced with more efficient LED-based lamps. Not everybody's happy with the change, though. The residents of Indian Village, for instance, have banded together to keep their historic 100-year-old street lamps by upgrading them with new technology. It will require working hand-in-hand with the Detroit Public Lighting Authority and the city of Detroit, and it will take money, too. That's why Indian Village Historic Collections is hosting a silent auction and three-course meal at Craft Work on April 26.
The auction offers chances to bid on items from Shinola, Craft Work, Parker Street Market, Canine to Five, private artists, and more.Tickets include a three-course plated meal and two beverages of your choosing. The event happens at 4 to 7 p.m. April 26, at Craft Work, 8047 Agnes St., Detroit; 313-469-0976; tickets are $125, $100 for HIVA members, at bit.ly/1NS7BMx; email info@historicindianvillage.org for more information; to donate see gofundme.com/IVStreetLights.
Popular and popping — Foodlab Detroit is a group of small food businesses helping each other with the aim of creating food businesses that turn a profit without exploiting workers or the environment. We've interviewed several of their members, because they're some of the most creative people making shelf-stable foods under Michigan's cottage food laws. Now it's their chance to invite us to the table for an event at POP, above the Checker Bar & Grill in downtown Detroit. The meal will be a Caribbean-inspired collaboration featuring Crème Détroipolis and Demitart Gourmet. Expect sweet potato coconut curry soup, a plate of stewed eggplant, sweet onions and Roma tomatoes, a dish of chicken curry roti and a Vernor chocolatsde dream cake. It all happens 7-11 p.m. on Thursday, April 23, upstairs at 124 Cadillac Square, Detroit; $20 in advance, $25 at door; tickets at bit.ly/1GQdHJ9.
Eggs at sundown — It's an unusual event at Iridescence: It's called Breakfast for Dinner, and it features an evening of "culinary flair" that brings together the creative kitchen at Detroit's only AAA four-diamond-rated restaurant with the skilled cocktail service of Ferndale's Oakland Art & Novelty Co. It takes the form of a meal of seven courses, each with its own twist on breakfast favorites, and each created by a local chef, including chef Lane Lehman of Toast, chef Doug Hewitt of soon-to-be-open Chartreuse, and many more. It all starts at 6 p.m. Sunday, April 26.
Too many chefs? — Breakfast for Dinner won't be the only thing bringing chefs together this week. For instance, the chefs dinner series at the Reserve at Big Rock Chophouse is hosting its sixth and final dinner this coming Wednesday. A cocktail reception with hors d'oeuvres and mingling starts at 6 p.m., and dinner is served at 7 p.m. The list of participating chefs includes Chris Johnson of Rochester's Meeting House, Alan Merhar of Tecumseh's Evans Street Station, Jeff Rose of Wolverine Lake's C.A.Y.A. Smokehouse Grill, and more. Each chef try making an appetizer and course that pairs perfectly with a fine wine selection — no easy task. We've seen the ingredients list, and it looks like it's going to be quite a spread. Dinner begins at 7 p.m. April 29, at the banquet facility next to Big Rock Chophouse, "The Reserve," at 245 S. Eton St., Birmingham; 248-647-7774; tickets are $190 per person inclusive of tax, tip, and valet; see bit.ly/1EacmfX for tickets, or thereservebirmingham.com for more information.
Don't forget — Savor Detroit, the five-night dinner series celebrating Detroit chefs and benefitting Gleaners Food Bank, is coming up April 27-May 1, with cocktails at 6 p.m. and dinner starting at 7 p.m. at five Detroit-area restaurants; tickets are $125 per person and are available at savordetroit.com.
