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Tienda Mexicana Serves Great Tacos; Beans & Cornbread Cooks Well-Balanced Southern Soul

Eater reads the reviews so you don't have to.

Beans & Cornbread.
Beans & Cornbread.
Foursquare/Stephanie W.
Brenna Houck is a Cities Manager for the Eater network. She previously edited Eater Detroit and reported for Eater. You can follow her on the internet at @brennahouck.
Sylvia Rector pines for more actual French food on Au Cochon's menu: "Au Cochon won't whisk you away to the streets of Paris," the critic writes. "But many of the dishes it offers are delicious in any language." The new eatery by chef Zack Sklar is an "inviting, handsomely finished space" and features a "tightly edited menu" headlined by a cheeseburger. Rector gives the skate meuniere, roast chicken, and chickpea crepe entrees her stamp of approval, but "wouldn't re-order" the salmon with creamy lentil and mushroom ragout or the "too-oily shoestring-style frites." [Freep]

Molly Abraham revisits old favorites at Beans & Cornbread: Marking its 18th year in Southfield, Beans & Cornbread is proving that "soul food in the suburbs can be a viable business enterprise if it is handled with the same care that would be devoted at a more upscale restaurant." The gumbo is "almost a meal in itself" and "has a nicely balanced spice level." The critic also likes the sautéed catfish, fried chicken, and smothered pork chops. However, she suggests going off-menu with an order of "Swamp Thang" — a mixture of fried catfish, rice, collard greens, gumbo, and jumbo shrimp. Beans & Cornbread receives three stars. [Detroit News]

Serena Maria Daniels gives an unqualified stamp of approval to Tienda Mexicana: "If ever you want to get to know about the undercurrent of bigotry in your neighborhood, just hop on Yelp," the critic writes of her brief visit to Tienda's page. This hole in the wall restaurant-market combo serves what are "undoubtedly the best tacos here outside of Southwest Detroit and arguably in all of metro Detroit." The taco meat is "magnificently marinated," and includes typical options like carne asada, carnitas, chorizo, chicken and al pastor as well as "melts in your mouth" lengua (beef tongue) and tripa (tripe). The tortas also deliver "old-school flavor, especially the milanesa de res variety." [Metro Times]

Beans & Cornbread

29508 Northwestern Highway, , MI 48034 (248) 208-1680 Visit Website

Au Cochon

260 N Old Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, MI Visit Website

Tienda Mexicana

31642 John R Road, , MI 48071 (248) 589-1607