From cafes to fine cuisine

Knowing a bit about casinos' options can help you choose well
March 1, 2002

BY AMY CULBERTSON
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

Nobody's likely to mistake Detroit for Vegas, so don't expect celebrity chefs or cutting-edge cuisine at the local casinos.

That doesn't mean the Detroit and Windsor casinos don't take their food operations seriously, or that you can't eat reasonably well on a hometown gambling jaunt, if you know how to choose.

But there are a few things you need to know. First, the casinos are feeding a lot more folks than a free-standing restaurant will, day in and day out. And they're cooking to please a middle-of-the-road mass audience, one that generally skews older than the customer base of most free-standing restaurants. That often translates to food that diners who are used to assertive seasonings and a chef's personal attention are apt to characterize as bland or mass-produced.

Second, don't expect the Vegas stereotype of loss-leader low-priced dining. Except for Casino Windsor, prices at the high-end restaurants are jacked up to such a level that no one who hadn't just won a big jackpot would be likely to spend his or her own money there. The buffets aren't cheap, either, at least not on this side of the river. (See the chart on Page 12E for prices and hours.)

One of the factors behind those prices is that meals in the casinos' restaurants are often prizes given as rewards for frequent slot or table-game play, known as comps. Casinos are not allowed to offer free liquor as comps, though, so you'll find the wine prices in their high-end rooms much more in line with those in other local upscale restaurants.

Here's a summary of our visits to local casino food operations:

MotorCity Casino
Across the board, MotorCity's kitchens are the most successful. Even MotorCity's sandwich stop is a cut above the rest, an outpost of Matt Prentice's Deli Unique.

As for the buffet, well, when was the last time you found two duck preparations, lotus root or fluffy couscous on a steam table? Winners we found: minty Vietnamese cold rolls, decent sushi rolls with wasabi, sesame-scented Asian noodle salad, seafood au gratin in individual shells, smoked salmon, creamed herring, robust red-skin potato salad, juicy baked chicken, fragrant Asian-spiced duck, honest-textured mashed potatoes, an inspired red cabbage side dish with raisins and apples. Yes, there's a big prime rib and a roast turkey, too.

Pastry is a strong point, and the lavish cheesecakes, tortes, cookies and the like will sate any sweet tooth. Faves: a lush trifle with real booze and whipped cream; tart lemon icebox pie; chocolate-dipped coconut macaroons.

In Iridescence, MotorCity's fine-dining room, you can find yourself forgetting you're having dinner in a casino. If the menu's not as adventurous as it once was, the room is even prettier since a recent redo, elegant and contemporary, with black-linened tables.

There are the obligatory steaks, but it's safe to order seafood: We had a silken sea-bass special that was beautifully cooked. A knowledgeable maitre d' -- who suggested a zinfandel that was cheaper and better than our first choice -- is a plus. You'll pay plenty for it all, though, if you don't have a comp.

MGM Grand Detroit
MGM's Grand Buffet is the most spacious and best-laid-out of all the local casino buffets, and the most handsomely outfitted. It's divided into seven stations, so you don't get the bottlenecks you sometimes do in more conventional buffet lines.

We found the bayou section had some creditable fried seafood (skip the salmon patties), and the Wok Station, featuring a Mongolian Barbecue set-up, was a welcome stop. Not so successful were the American Grill or the Italian or Mexican stations. If we went back, we'd start by filling up on the tender, sweet cold peeled shrimp, then go for the fresh and flavorful Caesar salad and hit the Wok Station to choose our own fresh veggies and meat to be stir-fried on the spot. For heartier appetites, the prime rib and baked-potato bar are good bets.

The MGM's upscale Hollywood Brown Derby is deliberately retro, with steaks and chops, handled with respect; flaming table-side preparations; even souffles for dessert. A tender grilled Atlantic salmon proves the kitchen can handle fish, too.

MGM also has a more moderately priced dinner option in Venti Uno (21), a contemporary Italian room with an open kitchen and good service.

Greektown Casino
This casino's location smack in the middle of downtown's Greektown dining and entertainment district makes it an interesting exception to the typical casino dining formula. Though it has an upscale restaurant, the Alley Grille Steakhouse, Greektown Casino uses the restaurants that surround it to feed its customers, encouraging traffic in the neighborhood and interaction between the casino and the eateries around it, many of which are part of the casino's comp programs.

As for the Alley Grille, it's positioned as a fine-dining room at dinner, with prices that don't rise quite as high as those of MGM's Brown Derby or MotorCity's Iridescence. An oasis from the gambling areas outside, it's reminiscent of a mid-20th-Century upscale hotel dining room, with substantial furnishings, dark wood and a piano lounge in front with a retro-'40s feel.

The menu is mid-20th-Century as well, with steak-house standbys, the obligatory lobster tails (two for $36), an appetizer list skewed toward seafood and a couple of shellfish and fowl offerings. Entree-wise, you're safest with red meat; our prime rib was rare as ordered and suitably tender. In fact, the beef was more easily chewed than the sea bass special, overcooked by several minutes.

Casino Windsor
Casino Windsor is the one area casino whose food prices are somewhere in line with the outside market. It also has the widest range of options, including a mall-style food court on the bottom floor with grilled meats and burgers, pasta, pizza, Asian dishes, subs, wraps and desserts. The Lotza Matza deli offers potato pancakes, lox, blintzes and chicken in the pot along with stacked sandwiches.

The Terrace Cafe is a 24-hour all-purpose sit-down cafe, but I'd pick the Garden Buffet over the cafe's tepid institutional fare. The buffet isn't as ambitious as its counterparts across the river, but it's much cheaper, and it does have fresh and interesting salads, good breads and pastries, excellent steamed mussels, creditable fried chicken, flaky sausage rolls and the requisite prime rib.

The food at the attractive fine-dining room, the Riverside Grille, won't win any awards, but its setting makes up for a lot: Adjoining the posh lobby of the casino hotel, it's completely removed from the casino action, and it commands a dramatic view of the river and the Detroit skyline.