Metro Times Admits It Fell for Como’s-Related April Fools’ Joke

FERNDALE — The Metro Times admits that it fell for an April Fools’ prank after publishing a story about an upcoming (but actually fake) Mexican restaurant in Ferndale. The publication caught wind of a “forthcoming” restaurant, El Tontos Cervecería and Cocina, via Facebook, that appeared to be taking over the space occupied by former pizzeria Como. And to the pranksters’ credit, a real sign (albeit a small one) was even put up on the building, which was recently put on the market for $4 million. But it turns out “tonto” means “fool” in Spanish, and the page came clean on April 2, prompting an update to the Metro Times story. Although to be fair to Metro Times, there wasn’t anything wildly ridiculous about the El Tontos page and its posts that screamed “joke” — and the page began posting well before April 1.

TAYLOR — Salsa slayers Garden Fresh Gourmet are getting into the food tech business, as its founders Annette and Jack Aronson open up a high-pressure food processing facility in Taylor this week. Named the Great Lakes HPP Food Innovation Center and taking up a 250,000 square foot building, the business centers around a pasteurization process that uses pressurized cold water to extend the shelf life — in short, the food is blasted with extremely high-pressure water, but so evenly that the food retains its form and doesn’t explode or fall apart. Drought Juice is one of the early adapters that has signed on to work with the facility.

EASTERN MARKET — Not news, but worth reading: Model D has a deep dive into the restaurant-bar-veritable museum that is 30-year-old Bert’s Marketplace. Read about that nugget of local history over here.

• April Fools — there won’t really be a Mexican restaurant replacing Como’s [Metro Times]
• Garden Fresh founders set to open high-pressure food processing facility [Crain’s Detroit]
• For over 30 years, Bert’s Marketplace has served food and preserved black history in Detroit [Model D]