DETROIT – To be certain, the 1,000-foot view of Detroit city reveals it's going to take a long time -- perhaps a generation or more -- to return it to its prior greatness.
But the ground level view downtown and in Corktown is a much brighter and more optimistic way of looking at Detroit. Yes, while there are many remaining problems in Detroit's neighborhoods, there is no debating downtown and Corktown have taken on a life of their own, and it's not all provided by Dan Gilbert, Mike Ilitch or Slow's Barbecue owner Phil Cooley. There are other smaller businesses taking root and growing like weeds.
First among them is the Bucharest Grill.
If you have not been there, the chicken shawarma sandwich is its calling card. But this is not a quick "let's wolf down something and get on with the workday" sandwich. It's a big-as-a-ball-bat, spicy, juicy, sit-down, savor-with-gusto, Romanian concoction. It has a garlic sauce that will keep vampires at bay for months. It has specially-marinated -- that's the secret sauce here -- and grilled boneless chicken breast, on a pita with tomato, lettuce, dill pickle, cabbage, a touch of mayonnaise, and is topped off with a handful of french-fries. They roll it all up in tin foil and twist one end so you can peel it and eat it ever so slowly and gingerly with a stack of napkins -- they might consider giving you a tarp option to keep your tie clean!
I give you this delicious detail because Bucharest Grill's shawarma is becoming one of Detroit's signature meals. There are photographers at Local 4 who would drive an hour out of their way in a work day just to get one, which is how I was turned on to this story in the first place.
From racing canoes in Romania to construction in Detroit
Today, Bucharest Grill's owner Bogdan Tarasob sat down with me for his first TV interview. He was a canoe coach in his homeland. He was an Olympic canoe racer before that. When he came to the United States from Romania he worked construction. Hungry at the end of the day, he could find no Romanian food or a place that served any. So, necessity being the mother of invention, he decided to open up his own.
His first store opened up just before Christmas 2006 two blocks away from Comerica Park. He figured he could sell Romanian skinless sausages outside the ballpark because in his native country it was the number one fast food. The shawarma was an afterthought. He made up his own marinade and decided the shawarma he's been eating around metro Detroit was dry.
So his biggest innovation outside the secret sauce was his determination to make certain all the juices from the chicken stay in the sandwich. This caught on like wildfire to the point where you cannot get inside the original tiny location at lunch time because it is so packed. He caught so much lightning in a bottle that two years ago he ended up opening up a second location on Michigan Avenue near old Tiger Stadium. That place is now packed all day, too. Now he's working on opening his third location at John R. and Piquette in New Center, and there is now a fourth location planned for Livernois and Seven Mile next year. He is now getting inquiries for franchising his stores. He's balking right now because he is still anxious about keeping the quality in his current stores high and keeping personal control over his operation.
Owner shows commitment to Detroit
This is a great success story whose true value shows in Bogdan's commitment to Detroit. He employs 100 people now. He has a food prep kitchen and headquarters a few blocks away from the Corktown restaurant. He lives in Detroit with his wife. Eight-five of his employees come from and live in the city of Detroit. He will be hiring more Detroiters as his business grows.
This is progress, this is success, and this is Detroit's future, if allowed to continue taking root. This is also the American Dream -- taking a good idea, rolling with the punches, working 18-hour days, seven days a week and with some luck and pluck you become an overnight success. Detroit can now boast this kind of success where it couldn't a decade ago. This is great news. There is no debating from the 1,000-foot view that hundreds if not thousands of these kinds of successes are needed.
But this is a healthy and welcome start. Who knew? The American Dream is alive and well in a city fresh out of bankruptcy. From any view, from any way you look at it, this is a very encouraging development.
Tarasob Bogdan