COMMUNITY
FOODIE
FIVE THINGS YOUR KIDS WILL LOVE THIS MONTH
Commonwealth Cafe: Within the Republic of B'ham
On the menu: Panache and freshly ground coffee, one cup at a time.
By Jeffrey Hermann
e want it to be about quality, all the way
down to the decisions about the sugar,
the salt and the water," said Hubert Yaro,
co-owner and operator of Commonwealth Cafe in
Birmingham. "We think there are distinctions there
that people notice:'
Yaro's appreciation — it's actually closer to rever-
ence — for cooking's building blocks is a glimpse
into his nuanced approach to culinary preparation.
He and business partner James Hayosh act as the
customers' Beefeaters — guarding their expecta-
tions — at Commonwealth.
Breakfast can be either base or intricate. Low-key
items include the steel-cut oatmeal with brown
sugar and almond milk and toast (three bread
selections served with honey butter and preserves);
vanilla bean yogurt with granola; or a whole-wheat
buttermilk waffle.
Feeling frisky? There are more complex (yet,
not intimidating) items: a fried egg sandwich with
guacamole, salsa, Pinconning cheddar and hot
sauce on multigrain; Mediterranean quiche (feta,
spinach, red onion and kalamata olives); or sweet
potato hash.
Weekend brunch gives you a few additional
options, including the Common Breakfast of Calder
Dairy eggs, sweet potato hash, a warm baguette
and more. Come later in the day for five-bean chili
or the tomato soup and outstanding grilled cheese
(Manchego, Boursin and Halloumi cheeses on
ciabatta).
I especially liked the hearty, but light, Common-
wealth salad, with mixed greens, marinated grape
tomatoes, sunflower seeds, fennel and shaved
Parmesan cheese — served with roasted shallot
vinaigrette and a toasted baguette.
Though, to get a deeper sense of the Italian cum
East Coast-style cafe, I'd be remiss by excluding
their coffee in this review.
They take the dark, bitter compound seriously
— and pride themselves on doing it well. Beans
from the world's best growers are on the menu's
rotation and roasted in-house.Take heed:Your cup
— whether it's a sweet Brazilian, a rich Ethiopian
or a light Colombian — will take a couple of extra
minutes to make; they only grind beans just before
CIRQUE D'OR
brewing. But, after the first sip, those lost minutes
seem inconsequential.The cappuccino actually
gave me pause.
Despite other responsibilities (the pair own and
operate Royal Oak's popular sushi house Ronin,
too), the owners can usually be found behind the
counter, chatting with their guests — or even out
on the floor with the rest of the personable staff.
Hayosh and Yaro designed the Commonwealth
interior themselves, giving it an unfussy, minimalist
vibe with white walls and high ceilings; the wood
farmhouse floors soften the space.
Everything at the restaurant errs on the side of
freshness, with local and organic produce incorpo-
rated as much as possible — depending, of course,
on how it improves the food.
-"Our standards are high,"Yaro said sheepishly.
"For the food, the ambiance, the staff; our heart and
our money go into everything."n
Commonwealth Cafe
300 Hamilton Row, Birmingham
(248) 792-9766; gocommonwealth.com
$$ (moderate) out of $$$$
BOOKWORM
This is not your run-of-the-mill, daring young man on the
flying trapeze-kind of show: The Golden Dragon Acro-
bats, representing the best of a tradition dating back more
than 25 centuries, scale poles, spin umbrellas with their
feet, build human pyramids on moving bicycles and more;
there are only two performances of Cirque D'Or at the
Meadow Brook Music Festival.
Combining award-winning acrobatics, traditional dance
and spectacular costumes — for an edge-of-your-seat
performance of spellbinding skill and beauty — the Golden
Dragon Acrobats are in their 32nd year of continuous tour-
ing and made their sold-out Broadway debut to adoring
families in 2005. $17 $22. 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday,
May 28. Meadow Brook Music Festival, 6 Championship Drive,
Auburn Hills. (800) 745-3000; palacenet.com .
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FAMILY HOOTENANNY
Detroiters, get your wig on! For its third year, the Detroit
Wig Out (held April 30, at the Magic Stick Lounge) lets
charity-minded revelers don their favorite coif benefiting
workshops at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit.
Wait! There's still time for your little wiggies to strut their
colors, too, from 3 5 p.m. Sunday, May 1, for a Wig Out
Family Hootenanny at the Garden Bowl in the Majestic
Theatre complex. Live music by local family favorites Mr. Se-
ley, the Aprons and Academy of Music Performance, plus a
musical instrument demo; bowling; arts and crafts provided
by MOCAD; and, of course, super-fun wig-wearing. $10/
adults; kids are free. Garden Bowl at the Majestic Theatre,
4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit. mocadetroit.org ; detroitwigout.
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COM.
OH, THOMAS!
It's been more than 65 years since the Island of Sodor
— the fictional home to a group of anthropomorphized
railway cars and their ilk — began capturing the imagina-
tion of children in The Railway Series; and from that collec-
tion of stories came Thomas the Tank Engine. Oh, Thomas!
For three Saturdays and Sundays only, April 30 May 1,
May 7 8 and May 14 15, Thomas, Sir Topham Hatt and
the rest of the Sodor-ites will call Greenfield Village their
home, offering rides around the village, storytelling, live
music, arts and crafts, shopping and more at Day Out With
Thomas. (Trains leave every half hour from 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m.;
$11.75-$33.75.) Reservations and tickets for all events are
required. Greenfield Village, 20900 Oakwood Blvd., Dearborn.
(313) 982-6001; thehenryford.org .
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Not Quite Unforgettable
Joshua Foer's book on memory is worth a read if you
forget your standards
By Yoni Apap
he blurbs for Joshua Foer's Moonwalking With
Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering
Everything (307 pp.; The Penguine Press; $26.95)
promise that the book will remind us how important
our memories are to our sense of self. All too often,
what proves memorable about Foer's book is what's
been incidental to his life, not useful to our own.
After covering the United States Memory Champi-
onship, which tests skills like how accurately contes-
tants retain lists of random words or the speed with
which they memorize the order of a deck of cards, Foer
decides to train for the event himself.The resulting
book is half an in-depth look at how memory works —
half chronicle of Foer's training.
The look at memory tends to be the more interest-
ing half, studying savants who can memorize phone-
books and amnesiacs who can't remember if they've
had breakfast that
morning.
He also interviews
M OONWALK
a memory guru who
comes off as a kind
ornerol r
of self-help huckster
and spends time with
WITH
a teacher who claims
advanced memoriza-
tion techniques give
his high school history
EINSTEIN .)t
students an edge on
the New York Regents
Exam.
As Foer trains, he
JOSHUA FOER
learns that imagining
what you need to re-
T
6 May 2011
I RED TIIREAD
member, using concrete imag-
es and places, is key. Apparently,
the more salacious the image the
better, and thanks to him, I have an
image of Claudia Schiffer, swimming
in cottage cheese in my foyer, stuck in my
head. And that's among the more tame images that
Foer shares from his preparation.
The book requires the scientific reporting skill of a
Malcolm Gladwell (Outliers) and the self-deprecating
humor of an Al Jacobs (The Year of Living Biblically).
Unfortunately, Foer channels neither author here,
failing to bring Gladwell's clarity of purpose or Jacobs'
humor to his writing.
He proves himself capable, and at times quite
engaging, when he's not talking about himself. The
book's feel is uneven at times precisely because Foer
has not fully found his own voice as a writer.
In addition, the author fails to follow up on compel-
ling leads. For example, covering the World Memory
Championships in Oxford, England, Foer reports that
women take a totally different and seemingly effective
approach to memorizing poetry. given that a woman
took first place
He then does nothing with the possibility that gen-
der affects the ways we remember things. Similarly,
Foer only hints at a possible role ethnicity plays. A
world-class memory, it would seem, does not impact
intellectual curiosity one iota.
That's not to say there's nothing to learn from his
book. I did remember I had to write this review — by
imagining Foer holding a huge promotional poster
for the book while perched on the computer in my
den.
GREEN STREET FAIR
Get your family's carbon footprint to downtown Plym-
outh on May 6 8 for the fourth annual Green Street Fair
to enjoy some family-friendly fun; and, since you're there,
educate and inform yourself about the benefits of green,
organic and eco-friendly products and services. Enjoy per-
formances by the "Pickle Boys,"who will give the gherkin-
ders in the crowd a lesson in homemade instruments out of
recyclable materials — craft a canjo, a Mom's Day maraca,
a kazoo and more. Noon-7 p.m. Friday, May 6; 10 a.m.-7
p.m. Saturday, May 7; noon-5 p.m. Sunday, May 8. Visit
greenstreetfaircom for details and specific event times.
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MATTHAEI BOTANICAL GARDENS
AND NICHOLS ARBORETUM
Created more than a century ago, the Matthaei Botani-
just a few blocks
cal Gardens and Nichols Arboretum
from U-M's central campus — today provides hundreds
of secret spots for families to discover in its more than
700 acres. Bursting to life in springtime, Matthaei is rich
with trails to explore. In the Gaffield Children's Garden,
designed from a kid's-eye view, children can climb into an
oversized bird nest, explore a fairy and troll knoll and dart
through a maze. Enjoy monthly Sensational Nature activi-
ties and classes, like scavenger hunts; the little ones will
love the Children's Tea Party with a garden story, cookies
and tea, and a wind chime and clay pot to craft (10 a.m.-
noon, Saturday, May 14). Also not to be missed is Behind
the Scenes at Matthaei, where little green thumbs can
learn the secrets of the gardens (10 a.m. noon, Saturday,
May 21), $2-$5. (734) 647-7600; mbgna.umich.edu .
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— By Lynne Konstantin
www.redthreadmagazine.com