On my second trip to visit my Detroit friends and explore, the venerable Nailhed brought us to Eastern Market to check out some of the graffiti and abandonments. What I remember most about Eastern Market is that we ate lunch at Amore De Roma before exploring it. On my first Detroit trip I learned that the Detroit crew tended to subsist mostly on liquor during one of these multi-day exploring binges. Knowing this, I had brought half a dozen bagels with me in a zip-lock bag…I just don’t have the constitution to rely solely on 40s for sustenance. Imagine my joy, then, when we decided to stop at Amore De Roma, Detroit’s oldest eating establishment, for actual food to carry me through a long day of exploring and a night of intense partying at the Packard.

The other thing I remember is that we walked into Amore De Roma to be greeted by white linen table cloths and a Maître D’ wearing a tuxedo. Nailhed, being Nailhed and always prepared for anything, had slipped on a black jacket from his trunk which allowed him to blend into these new surroundings surprisingly well. In contrast, my other companion from Massachusetts and I were adorned with baggy camouflage and covered with asbestos dust from the morning’s activities. Since it was Detroit there was no way I was leaving my cameras in the car and so I had a dusty bag of camera shit with a tripod hanging off it to complete my ensemble. I feel like people just say things like this for effect but I can honestly tell you that the Maître D’ looked horrified after catching a glimpse of us. To their credit, though, the service was nothing less than fantastic and hospitable after the shock wore off.

My other companion and I, both being of Irish descent, were not used to the terribly exotic names and flavors the menu offered. Being the only thing on the menu we recognized and understood, we both ordered spaghetti with meatballs when the waiter came, no doubt adding to our already established cachet of being a couple of jamokes who couldn’t even clothe themselves properly. Nailhed just rolled his eyes. Despite not being the biggest fan of Italian food, the meal was absolutely fantastic and just what I needed to power through the rest of the day.