AIL AdL r .i The M .ichigan Daily - Wednesday,O ctober ,2008 S S W S 0 . -. . 0 * 663 *. I. new rules the statement rule 139: If you're registering- Magazine Editor: people to vote, Jessica Vosgerchian , l . tri~ie: don't look so dis- Editor in Chief: Andrew Grossman appointed when Managing Editor: people say they Gabe Nelson are already regis- Photo Editor: tered. rule 140: Chanel Von Habsburg- Don't complain Lothringen about being busy. Junk Drawer: We have too Brian Tengel much work to do Center spread design: to listen to your Hillary Ruffe whining. rule Cover photo: 141: D runk texts Chanel Von Habsburg- still exist in the Lothringen The Statement is The Michigan morning. Daily's news magazine, distrib- E-mail rule submissions ta uted every Wednesday during the TheStatement@umich.edu academic year. Inconvenient eats Kara Morris I Daily Staff Writer While many near- campus restaurants vie for student customers by accommodating their strange eating schedules, a few refuse to bend to the call for convenience. Are these limited-hour eateries worth your time? THE EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK with GABE NELSON A look at the big news events this week and how important they really are. Conveniently rated from one to10. 4 2 BANISHING OBAMA FAITHFUL Citing complaints of partisan conduct by volunteers, University Housing briefly banned a student group from signing up voters in residence halls. The decision has since been reversed, but it might have raised more of an uproar if everyone weren't so sick of being propo- sitioned by cheerful Obama supporters everyfifteen minutes. Yes, I'm registered. Yes, I'm registered in Ann Arbor. Yes, I'm registered at my current address, so leave me alone already. Iftyou don't wipe that smile off yourface, I'll vote independent. WAR OF WORDSMITHS The head judge of the panel that selects the winner of the Nobel Prize for literature told a reporter earlier this week that American authors are too insular and ignorant to compete with European authors for the prize, one of the most prestigious literature awards i the world. He'llregret saying thatnext timetEurope needs America to save them from fascists, and the whole U.S. cabinet sits there twiddling their thumbs and reading John Updike or Philip Roth. See what I did there? That's called irony. Screw you, Europe. HOMECOMING GOES GREEN If you haven't noticed- and you probably haven't - it's Homecoming Week. This year, the Michigan Stu- dent Assembly chose the theme "Go Blue, Live Green, bringing in environment-focused speakers and cancel- ing the traditional parade to avoid spewing exhaust. Conservation is important, but it seems all we ever hear on this campus anymore is eco-trendy dogma. If MSA really wants to fight climate change, I can think of a few major sources of hot air right on campus with which they're quite familiar. FRANK'S RESTAURANT singled The 334 Maynard Street te atm 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. America with ati In this nondescript Maynard thouge Street diner, any customer still sitting through at atable at 2:45 p.m. is given a direct Greek o remindertof the restaurant's hours and tom of operation. Down your coffee. It's The. time to go. Greek di, Yet, it isn't hard to pardon the can stap 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. hours at Frank's chicken Restaurant. Walk in and you'll mine- lucky, P diatelyfeel the humble, old-fashioned Greek fa natore ot Pete Poulos's tamily diner. you're lu "I'm old," Poulos said, explain- Whe ing that he can't keep the hours he eyed the used to. ers to m The native oftGreece bought the oftmyom restaurant from his brother-in-law and sag Frank in 1973, and ever since has well-cri taken pride in cooking everything Poul himself. tamily "I'm happy ta be here each day," sthy he said, showing me his cllectiont s asrthey letters and post cardstfrom past visi- genuine tors who love his cooking. Last week, by Frani he received three new postcards in a DETROIT From Page 5B is much more racially mixed. "Detroit in a lot of ways is friend- lier than Ann Arbor, Palazzolo said. "People say 'hi' to you on the street. A lot of people-find that once they live here for a while they start to know everybody." ROOM TO GROW This is not a stoiy about Kwame Kilpatrick or common crime, urban blight or SWAT-team raids of after- hours parties. These things exist in Detroit - it would be unfair to pre- tend they don't. But to ignore what else is going on outside the city's more sensational stories would be to fall into the dramatic suburban conception of Detroit as a city where good rarely happens. "We need various forms of alter- native media," Yakini said. "People only get a part of the picture. There is crime in Detroit; 'people that live here are impacted by crime. But there are many other realities out there that you don't iear about." Emily Linn, 30, csnes from a multi-generational family of native Detroiters. Since graduating from ay. diner's menu is as casual as osphere. You'll find a mostly in breakfast andlunch menu ew Greek dishes dispersed out. There's a feta cheese imata oliveGreek salad or a melet with gyros meat, feta atoes. daily specials advertise a few ishes and a couple ofAmeri- ples like Poulos's homemade noodle soup. Iftyou're really oulos might pull out an old ivorite for you - but only if icky. n I sat down at Poulos's bar, I e french toast ofttwo custom- y right and placed an order wn. Sprinkled with cinnamon ar, the dish is airy inside but sped around the edges. os treats his customers like wishing them a "good day" depart. If you're lookingfor ble flapjacks and a bit of conversation, be sure to stop ks. LE DOG 410 East Liberty Street 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Monday through Friday Operating out ofta conspicuous red shack adjacent to a houseon Liberty Street, Le Dog is an enigma to many passers-by. Its titletfood, the hotdog, is a staple oftthe rushed lunch. What kind of hot dog stand can afford to close its doors to the desperately hungry after just three hours? The secretof Le Dog's success is a rotating menu packed with comfort food and a price that's right at around five to seven dollars a meal. But ordering at Le Dog means adhering to strict stipulations. Only cash is accepted. And stern signs warning against talking on your cell phone is evocativetof the Soup Nazi from "Seinfeld." The soup selection is the main reason Le Dogneed notcaterto customers' desire for convenience. Offering six to eight soups a day, Le Doghas trained its clientele to memorize the weekly rotations and schedule meals accordingly. The cult followingof the lobster bisque, availableonly Thursday and Friday, is a prime exampleof Le Dog's hold on its customers. But Le Dog's everyday selections have followers, too. Jules Van Dyck- Domos, the stand'sowner, recom- mended I try his Gypsy Grill, a spicy sausage dressed in hot sauce atop a bed ofgarlic-mashed potatoes. The sauce, which tastes slightlyof bar- becue sauce, has a salsa consistency and is brilliantly packed with chopped tomatoes, peppers and onions. Some may complain about the inconsistencyof the menu, but it's ultimately the charm hole-in-the-wall that always leaves the customer wanting more. I know I'll go backfor another fix. the University in 2000 and moving back to Detroit, she's spent summers working in Paris and New York, but always finds herself returning home. "It sounds cheesy, but I do think it's an especially exciting time to be in Detroit," said Linn, who runs a small business called City Bird with brother (and 2006 University grad) Andy. "I was in New York for four months this summer, and I love New York, but it also made me re- appreciate the things I like about Detroit. Abigpartisthere are alotof opportunities to do your own thing or start things, and a great need." The city's lack of people has cre- ated a number of problems, obvious as the boarded-up buildings visible from the safety of your car. On the flip side, all of this extra, empty space - physical in terms of hous- ing, as well as space for ideas and innovation - presents opportuni- ties not available elsewhere. "If you do have a good idea in Detroit,because the city is sostarved for good ideas, you might not know what to do with all of the traffic that your good idea produces," VanDyke said. "It's a good problem to have, which you probably wtouldn't find in New York City." Growing up in the Dallas-Forth Worth area, VanDyke said he didn't feel any specific geographic alle- giance after graduation, and stayed at the University for a masters in urban planning, to pursue trans- portation activism. Now, as part of a collective, he operates a bicycle shop, The Hub of Detroit, and non- profit bicycle education programs, Back Alley Bikes. "People sometimes ask me, 'Oh, you got a masters degree in urban planning, and you work at a bike shop. Do you ever think of work- ing in the field?' " he said. "But I am working in the field. I'm 'shifting the modal split,' but I'm doing it one 14-year-old kid at a time." Campaigning for transporta- tion change in a city like Seattle, for example, with already established bike lanes, wouldn't be the same. "Your social capital investment has a way better return in Detroit," Van Dyke said. "If the city of Detroit has all these bike lane dreams, well, they're going to need some educa- tional and participatory resources to allow people to use those kinds of bikes at least." WHAT IT MEANS Whether you're conscious of it or not, moving to the city becomes part of the reversal effort, or what Alan Ehrenhaltcalled"demographicinver- sion" in an article this summer in The New Republic. Chicago was Ehren- halt's contemporary example of sub- urbanites moving back to the urban center, a city to which Detroit is often compared, for better or for worse. "There's sort of a generational shift away from living in the suburbs to living in the cities," Kurashige said. "People want tobe more envi- ronmentally conscious, people are interested in both ethnic and cul- tural diversity in terms of their activities ... I think because Detroit's population declined so quickly and the suburbs expanded exponentially, a lot of the sense of community was. lost. (It's) a connection and a sense of wholeness that people who are part of the suburbs are yearning for." Ehrenhalt echoed urbanist Jane Jacobs and the goals of most urban planners when he wrote about American dreams of a "24/7" down- town, "a place where people live as well as work, and keep.the streets busy, interesting, and safe at all times of day." Part of the reason why density is returningto formerly sparse city centers, according to Ehrenhalt, is becarise "the youthful AFTERNOON DELK 215 East Liberty Street 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Sunday You might be wondering w restaurant with the tagline "It's for you... Anytime" is onlyopen 3 p.m. But with the lucrative cater of Afternoon Delight accountin 50 percent of revenue, owneriT Hackettsaid he doesn't feel thi to corner any of the dinner mar "We've got people working around the clock," he said. "Thi too many restaurants in Ann A competefor a dinner spot" It's cleartfrom their large sa wich, salad and breakfast selec that the restaurant aims to be t perfect brunch place and nothi more. With more than 35 sandy that come with a complimenta to the salad bar, anyone who w variety and creativitytfor lessit will be pleased. The menu features severalc GHT hall staples, butquality ingredients make the difference. The classic grilled cheese sandwich is trans- formed by swiss and cheddar cheeses melted between slices of grilled sourdough. hy a The complimentary salad is too good good tobe free, featuring more until than a dozen unexpected options like matzo bread, artichoke hearts, ing side pears, roasted garlic and orange- g for infused balsamic vinegar. om Overall quality of the food was e need average. Although my Reuben was ket. stacked high with corned beef, the pumpernickel bread was soggy and ere are sauerkraut portion too small. rbor to All desserts are homemade. Look for the carrot cake, which is nd- prepared with shredded carrots, tions pineapple, cinnamon and nutmeg he and topped with a smooth cream ng cheese frosting. It's big enough to wiches serve-2 to 3 so at $1.95 it's a tasty ry trip deal. 'ants ' Is this campus caf6 worth its han $10 odd hours? With a variety and some novelty, it's at least an inexpensive dining way to appease a lunch date. urban elites" of today are looking for something like this, an experience "vastly more interesting than the cul-de-sac world they grew up in." University urban planning Prof. Christopher Leinberger, in his book The Option of Urbanism, suggests that the number of downtown resi- dents depends on supply more than demand. If both Ehrenhalt and Leinberger are right, a two-way pipeline between Ann Arbor and Detroit may someday show Detroit to be more than a textbook tale of deindustrialization. "Detroit is not going to get bet- ter without people investing in it," Palazzolo said. At the very least, a different con- sciousness,will expose more young people to substance beyond the newspaper headlines organizations like Detroit Summer, the ananual People's Arts Festival at Russell Industrial Center, Friday nights at D'Mongo's. "It feels like even in the last cou- ple of years, there are a lot more kids from U of M that are starting to go down to Detroit," Notorianni said. "You sort of need them to be stew- ards to the city, take others down and show them around, and show them what this city is all about.