Giorgio's

Lately we've been obsessed with Giorgio's Gourmet Diner. We went there on date night. We took Lauren's parents. We tried a bunch of stuff. The concept is really simple: really big portions of extremely good homemade food for not much money...sort of. If you stick to the left side of the menu or the back (sandwiches and breakfast) it's inexpensive (say $6-8) and delicious and filling. If you eat from the right side of the menu or the insert, it's more expensive ($13-20), more upscale, and there's even more to take home. The left side is traditional diner stuff like tuna melts and burgers, and the right side is the "counter gourmet": Steak au Poivre, Veal Marsala, Shrimp Bordelaise.....mmm. I haven't ordered off the right side yet, because delicious as it sounds there's no point.

Above we have a beef kabob off of the sandwich menu. It's the best thing I have eaten at Girogio's, and I will state this for the record: it's one of the 10 best dishes in Detroit. Go eat one tomorrow and tell me it's not great, and we'll go get another one to make sure. This is 5 or 6 ounces of steak (again, on the right side of the menu in one piece for more money) skewered and grilled, and served with zip sauce and rice or fries. It tastes phenomenal. If there is one knock against it I would like more beef, but then it would be on the right side of the menu and I'd never have tried it. A classic Catch-22.

So far we have collectively tried the beef kabob, the Giorgio burger (bordelaise sauce and Dijon mustard), the spinach pie, the clam chowder, the tomato-basil bisque, and some of the pasta. Noah loves the pasta with butter and parmesan from the kids menu. There's almost always a wait for a table at dinner, but you can sit at the counter in a pinch. This is a great place.