Eating Detroit: Rodin. A Taste of France?
Thursday night my childhood friend and I made plans to go to dinner. Oddly enough we both suggested Rodin, a new French inspired restaurant next to the DIA. I spoke about the restaurant earlier in the day with Suai, who loves the space, so much so that she celebrated her birthday there. Since Gaston and I both had the same idea we decided on Rodin. Just out of curiosity I scoured the net for reviews and that was a very bad idea.
To say there were mixed reviews would be accurate. I found some good and even more horrible. Two of the good ones were from magazines, which I think are always biased because the restaurant rolls out the red carpet and offers the best food and service. We were on the freeway still debating if we would go, then we decided to go for a drink and go for dinner elsewhere.
Upon entering Rodin, I was not impressed. The space seems a bit empty and cold. There are cement floors, which doesn’t really help. There is a bar and several tables which extend into a larger area in the back of the restaurants. We made a beeline for the bar and a kind gentlemen gave up his seat so that we could sit together.
I was pleasantly surprised to see the stylish and warm-spirited bartender Melanie as we know each other through mutual friends. I told her about my hesitation and she promised the food would be good. While we decided on our food she made us some drinks. I had the Lush, which is similar to a sidecar and is on the happy hour menu (4pm – 6pm). It was fantastic, though Gaston got on me because I was drinking it too slow.
The menu was quite confusing to me. The restaurant is meant to have French influence as the owner spent time in France. The misuse of commonly known French food items was confusing. Also on the menu was “Fish and Chips”. This excited me. Melanie assured me it was good so I ordered it. Prior to putting the order she warned me that the salmon is served seared. That threw me off because having lived in London for a year I know that the commonly exported “Fish and Chips” features a fried fish and french fries. This dish featured seared salmon on top of smashed Yukon potatoes. :-/. I do not like the misleading title. #justsaying 🙂 The Fish and Chips was good. Not great. It was a little spicy for me. Gaston ordered the same thing and agreed it was good, not great.
While we ate our dinner we were engaged in conversation by Matt, a barback who shared similar frustrations about the gentrification of Detroit. This was interesting because he is white, but is concerned about how the city’s long time residents are being left out. This is not a conversation I have had with a lot of the city’s newcomers so it was welcomed.
So all in all I had a nice time at Rodin. I definitely think that you should try it out for yourself, but if it is French fair you are looking for I am not sure this is a contender. I may go back for some delicious drinks during happy hour, but unfortunately this is not on the top of my places to go in Detroit list.
Rodin
15 E Kirby St
Detroit, MI 48202
(313) 285-9218
