About Us
Gourmet Underground Detroit is a collection of food and drink professionals and serious enthusiasts dedicated to the propagation of local gastronomic knowledge. Our goal is to strengthen and build the food and drinks community in the Detroit Metropolitan region through the promotion of products, producers, retailers, bars, restaurants, and events.
We live in an era when enormous multinational corporations seek to define food culture for profit above all else. Through both traditional and new media platforms as well as real-life collaboration, Gourmet Underground Detroit works to spotlight genuine food and drinks that are gathered, grown, raised, processed and traded by your neighbors, for your neighbors. We emphasize sustainable and fair practices in a global context with a local focus.
From urban farming to progressive, upscale drinking and dining, Detroit is a city of opportunities. Gourmet Underground Detroit is part of a larger system of groups already formed and forming, whereby individuals with similar values can find each other for the purpose of cross-promotion, project partnership or simply sharing a potluck dinner, drinks and ideas.
The food revolution is here – grab your (pitch)fork and join in!
Other things to know:
Gourmet Underground Detroit does not say nice things about restaurants in exchange for free food. Our opinions are our own.
Gourmet Underground Detroit gatherings are not formal affairs where stuffed shirts try to outdo each other with obscure wines and rare foods. Gatherings consist of interesting people that are into food and drink and having fun.
We sell no products or services. We are not event planners. We do what we do out of a passion for the culture of food and drink.
Creators / Writers
Todd Abrams: Fanatic for all liquids fermented, distilled or otherwise mixed or brewed, Todd Abrams is a former restaurant critic and food/drinks writer for Detroit’s alternative weekly, the Metro Times, and currently peddles the finest drinks known to humanity at Elie Wine Company.
Evan Hansen: When not worshiping at the altar of Chambertin, making 6 dozen pierogi with the family recipe, ceaselessly re-mixing a cocktail recipe to perfection, scouring the entire web for the wines of Jean Macle, reviewing restaurants for the Metro Times, comparing the merits of sweet vermouths, and taking one extra free taste of cheese at Zingerman’s, Evan is a marketing director and creative mercenary.
Contributors
James Cadariu: Besides being the green coffee buyer and blender for The Great Lakes Coffee Roasting Company, a micro roastery based in Bloomfield Hills, MI., James is also a licensed attorney with a triumvirate of degrees from Wayne State University. He loves to cook, cure, ferment and do other things with beverages which may or may not be legal. He’s the kind of guy who would invite you over, cook from scratch, serve natural wines, force you to sign a dramshop waiver, then blog about it afterwards. View all of James’ posts
Noelle Lothamer discovered a love of food and cooking at a young age through her study of French and her travels in Europe and beyond. She considers herself a lifelong student of all things gastronomical, and while her kitchen forays are not always successful, they are certainly always enthusiastic. When she’s not in the kitchen or hanging around with the other miscreants of the GUDetroit, she can be found chronicling her culinary successes and flops on her blog, Simmer Down! View all of Noelle’s posts
Dave Kwiatkowski is a native Michigander, who has worked as an equity options market maker on the Chicago Board Options Exchange, has hosted a reality television show on Discovery Channel called “Motor City Motors,” owns and operates Detroit Bros. Custom Cycles in Ferndale, MI, and is currently in the process of opening a craft cocktail bar located in Corktown Detroit called “The Sugar House“. View all of Dave’s posts
Marvin Shaouni’s interest in photography started with a curiosity of the human condition and how its story could be told through the visual language of still photographs. As a freelance editorial and portrait photographer, Shaouni sees Detroit as the ultimate American story still waiting to be told. A city rich in its own history of creativity & innovation, it is ultimately the people that make this city a truly unique, one-of-a-kind urban experience unlike any other major city. Born in Highland Park, MI, Shaouni is a native Detroiter and a self-taught photographer. For the last three years, he has been documenting life in the city of Detroit as the managing photographer for the weekly online publication Model D.
