Slows Bar BQ Opened Before Corktown Had Anything, and It Is Still Here

Here is the thing about Slows Bar BQ that people who arrived in Corktown after 2015 sometimes miss: when this restaurant opened in 2005, there was not much else on Michigan Avenue.^{1Slows Bar BQ opened in 2005 at 2138 Michigan Ave, as reported in the Detroit Free Press.} The old Tiger Stadium had been demolished. The blocks around it were quiet. Slows filled a gap in the street with smoked meat and a long bar, and then people came, and then more restaurants came, and now Corktown is a neighborhood where you can eat Thai food two blocks from a wood-fired Alpine restaurant three blocks from a West African brunch spot. None of that happens without someone going first. Slows went first.

The founders, as the restaurant tells it, chose Corktown because the rents were low and the building at 2138 Michigan Avenue felt right. They were not restaurateurs with a portfolio. They were people who wanted to open a barbecue place.^{2The founding story of Slows is drawn from the restaurant's own public accounts and interviews in local media.} The simplicity of that origin matters because the restaurant still operates with a similar directness. Slows is not chasing trends. It is not rebranding. It is smoking brisket and pulling pork and running a bar that stocks enough Michigan craft beer to keep you occupied during the wait.

The Food

Brisket is the center of the menu, and it should be. Smoked low and slow until the bark develops that dark, peppery crust and the interior turns pink-edged and tender. At Slows, the brisket is sliced thick enough that each piece holds together on a fork but yields without resistance when you bite into it. Fatty slices have rendered, translucent edges. Lean slices are still moist, which is the harder trick. A two-meat plate with brisket and one side runs $19. That is a fair price for barbecue that has been smoking since before dawn.

Pulled pork is the other staple, served on a sandwich or as a plate. The pork is smoky, shredded, and piled high enough that the bun cannot fully contain it. The sauce lineup at the table runs from a thin, vinegar-tangy Carolina-style to a thicker, sweeter Kansas City variation. I prefer the vinegar sauce on the pork, because it cuts through the fat without masking the smoke. The pulled pork sandwich ($14) with coleslaw and a side of beans is the meal I order when I am hungry and do not want to think about what to eat.

Mac and cheese ($6) as a side is better than it needs to be. Creamy, sharp, baked with a crust on top that adds texture. Most barbecue sides are afterthoughts. Slows' mac and cheese is the kind of side dish that people order on its own and eat as a snack while waiting for the main course. The coleslaw is crisp and tangy. The baked beans are sweet, porky, and thick enough to hold a spoon upright.

Ribs come in half and full racks, smoked until the meat pulls from the bone with a gentle tug. Not fall-off-the-bone (which is overcooked, if we are being honest about it). The rub is peppery with some sweetness underneath. A half rack with two sides runs around $22. On a Friday night, the ribs go fast.

The Bar

The bar at Slows runs long and stocks Michigan craft beer heavily, with a rotating selection that leans toward local breweries. Atwater, Founders, and a handful of smaller operations show up regularly. The cocktail list is short and functional. Bourbon features. If you are waiting for a table on a Friday night, and you will be waiting, the bar is where you should spend that time. The wait can push past an hour on weekends, but the first beer softens the wait, and the second one makes you forget about it.

The Room and the Neighborhood

The dining room is loud. Brick walls, a concrete floor, and a room full of people who drove here specifically to eat barbecue. The noise on a Saturday night is the kind that makes you raise your voice and lean across the table. Music plays, but the crowd provides most of the soundtrack. Tables turn at a reasonable pace. The staff moves fast without rushing.

Corktown's dining corridor has grown around Slows in the two decades since it opened. Takoi is two blocks east. Sugar House, the cocktail bar, is right next door. Ima is across the street. The walk from Slows to any of them takes two minutes, which makes it easy to eat barbecue for dinner and end the night with a cocktail or a bowl of udon without moving your car.

I wrote in our Corktown guide that Slows is not the most interesting restaurant in the neighborhood anymore, and I stand by that. Takoi is doing more ambitious work. Alpino is doing something entirely different. But Slows built the corridor those restaurants now occupy. It attracted the foot traffic. It proved that people would drive to Corktown to eat. Every restaurant that opened on this stretch of Michigan Avenue after 2005 owes Slows a debt, even the ones that have since surpassed it.

The brisket, sliced thick, bark cracking, smoke flavor running all the way through. Twenty years in, and they still get up early to light the pit.

Slows Bar BQ is at 2138 Michigan Ave, Corktown, Detroit. Lunch and dinner. No reservations. Expect a wait on weekends.