The weather was really nice and the turnout was also very good. We were there early which was good, and I then knew why as Suleman (in yellow shirt) turned out to be the mosque's muezzin!
The imam though, had to go to England for some function, thus the khutbah was read by a replacement imam, who talked about mirroring the qualities of the prophet pbuh.
After work, Stu, my colleague, brought me around to for our kosher and halal foodstuff hunt. We we zipping around in his cute Smart car, which actually got a lot of attention as there were very few of them in Michigan.
Our voyage started in the Mediterranean Market, which I've been with Suleman, another colleague. Stu wanted to see what was there as his wife said that the shop had really good cuts of meat, purchasing them earlier in the day for our Saturday's cookout.
We then headed of to JB Russo, a local deli. What we found was a great collection of Italian delicacies as well as authentic ingredients, not found in many other stores around town.
I got to source some truffles (from China!) as well as truffle oil and dried morels. Stu however, didn't get his kosher cheese. I was also looking for dried anchovies, but definitely realised that that was the wrong place to look for it.
The store hand, Yasmeen, who is a Muslim guy directed us to the Halal Depot, a South Asian shop along 44th St. He said that they might stock some stuff that would be useful, so we then went there at about 8.30 pm. Unfortunately, even though the sign on the door said that business was till 9 pm, there wasn't anyone in the premise, and the lights were all out. They also had some sewing machines in the shop, plus some authentic looking Indian garments. This is a place definitely worth visiting again.
Stu drove me to another store that he said was along the way to the office. This time, we went to the Middle Eastern Market which was owned by a nice guy by the name of Imad.
Imad showed us around and I was impressed again with the array of middle eastern and halal foodstuff that he has stocked in his shop. Stu asked Imad about a local halal diner, J 'n' J's, which Imad said was owned by their family. Great stuff! I was particularly hungry and so went searching for the joint.
Stu was telling me about how the place we were going to was in the rough part of the neighborhood as we drove along, and I can actually sense the quiet, tense hostility of the area. It seems that the neighborhood in Division along Franklin and Todd was the roughest part of the town, and if you look at my pictures, you might get an inkling of what I mean.
Here you have people hanging around at porches, giving you the kind of look that made you know that you'd be in a lot of trouble if you stayed along for too long..
Thankfully, we found the place we were looking for and were greeted by the friendly shopkeeper Khader.
Khader was so impressed by our ride, so much so that he asked Stu to let him sit in the car. Khader, from Jordan later told me that he was working as a part time college professor in the U of Arizona's campus downtown.
He surprised me further by telling me that he used to work for our two biggest competitors, and is now looking for a full time job after being laid off. "Why don't you open a good Middle Eastern halal restaurant?" I asked. Well, he replied that there are none currently as there have been very little demand for such cuisine, as well as the state of economy which has been very slow.
I also met to 'hood brothers who grew an interest in Stu's car. The guy in the white bandanna is Angelo who thinks that my Sampoerna is the coolest smoke he had for a while. "How much are these?" he asked. "Two bucks" (cue look of amazement and shriek of horror..) was my reply as he expressly asked for another two sticks to put on both his ears..
Well, the food wasn't that great anyway, but like I said to Stu:Turkey Bacon: 4.99
Food at J 'n' J: 18.21
Experience in Division: Priceless
Haha. For a rougher experience, Stu's going to get me to Detroit..
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