well it's the 4th of July next week and
many people are having barbecues if you
are hosting one but don't want to cook
and are thinking of getting carryout
don't worry we won't tell or if you're
just craving some smokey baby back ribs
mac and cheese in the line you get the
picture we have just the spot for you
that's right our Michelle Oliver is
taking us to Clarkston so we can dine in
the D at the Union woodshop
here at the union wood shop wood is more
than just a part of their name it's in
their decor and it flavors all of their
delicious food I like wood shop because
it speaks to like a craft that speaks to
like wood shop in school or having to
make something in our case I mean
everything you see here is born of wood
so it made sense to give a nod to the to
the fuel now this joint serves mostly
barbecue like these slow smoked ribs but
it actually got its start as a French
influence cafe
you know the clerks and cafe was this
legendary joint on Main Street and
Clarkson and it had been around since
the 20s but living a block away I grew
up in the clarkson cafe i probably ate
here more than they did at home and so
for us it was an opportunity to kind of
preserve the building and the purpose
but we picked a terrible time to do it
because we did it during the recession
luckily this was not their first
restaurant it's a part of the Union
joints which also includes the clerk's
the Union and vinsetta garage among
others so they rolled with the punches
in style my wife does all of our
interior design work and always has and
when I was a clerks in cafe we had a lot
of fun with it we made it really funky
and then she kind of had to give it an
extreme makeunder to make it work for
barbecue but she had to do with the
elements are already here but in the
long run you end up for the place that's
really hot and honest and that's what
we're all about for food they focused on
what did really well for them in the
past wood-fired items we had always been
about comfort food the mac and cheese is
what we felt everything on and it's just
about that honesty that simplicity and
you can't out honest barbecue because
we're not out to reinvent the wheel
we're just out to respect a tradition of
slow cooking or barbecue and what we can
do in our back five smoker a great dish
that really shows off all of these
loving slow cooking characteristics is
the porker
[Music]
our porker is ground pork done in-house
bacon that we make cold smoked cheddar
cheese and topped with a hot link so if
you were to add up all the days it took
to make all this how long do you think
it'd be about eleven days
I joined on the last day of this process
so we start by seasoning the ground pork
patty with their brown sugar barbecue
rub a little sweetness to it it's got a
little spice a little garlic little
onion we also toss on their house-made
hot links sausage make it a little twist
you put diamonds on your burger horse
now time for a Jason Carr classic bacon
we cure it for ten days and then after
that we soak it for a little bit so this
is kind of like pork done three ways yes
we're gonna melt some cheese on it to
use our cold smoked cheddar cheese as
everything finishes brilliant we prep
the bun with us South Carolina
male it's got a little tang to it then
we have our pickle peppers we again make
those do then we stack it high with
first the bacon then the cheese covered
patty
and we finish it off with the hot link
this giant porker is served from the
side of fries
[Music]
[Applause]
joining us now alive
Dave viola the chef de cuisine at the
Union woodshop or as Tati was saying de
cuisine how about that sounds great to
me tell us about the spread all right
well we brought a bunch of things to
feature we have our our staple item the
mac and cheese it's mac and cheese is
legendary ours is we use pecan a cheese
from Michigan so it's a really good dish
it's a screen left there at the bottom
but yeah let's tip that over let me get
let me trouble you guys let the lady
come in here and cuz you guys got to see
this beautiful crust on top of this mac
and cheese you see that that's what I'm
talking about
crunchy on the top what's on the top
there bread crumbs aha and then a sweet
secret sauce béchamel that will never
tell that you'll never tell and then we
have our hot link on a hoagie we make
that also in the Chop House hoagies and
grinders navy beans Adam Sandler
reference there for you or up here this
is what we saw in the actual piece our
porker yes
the porker is that what you call him we
call it the porker it's everything great
about Michelle called is the Jason Carr
special part of the program there
alright and then we've got some chicken
nope we have our smoked calf birds with
collard greens and potato salad and a
cornbread muffin mm-hmm a little kick to
it
right there was we have our pulled pork
which is slow smoked for 14 hours do I
see yeah jalapeno in that cornbread yes
you do well it's about jalapeno some
cornmeal and a lot of love that's our
baby back ribs
we slow-cooked those two and we leave
ours without sauce on them because we
provide different sauces for you to try
okay
and on the end over there we have a
couple of pizzas and a sausage hanging
out all by itself yes just did it's just
to show off that we make our own sausage
we have a rocket pizza with prosciutto
and cheese on it and then just our
classic kids pizza all right
standard fare and then the lone sausage
do you have what kind of sausages is
that is it we call it our we call our
hot link it's just up
and press sausage at the woodshop with
some spices in it again
sorry secret but uh we do it ourselves
all right so let's get to business 4th
of July is around the corner if people
want to order from you do they need to
do anything special let you know in
advance they can contact us through
email union catering calm and then we
can set up some stuff for them obviously
we in Clarkston was such a small town
and we take so much part in the parade
so after 12 we'll do pickups ok all
right also if you want to try out the
Union woodshop we are giving away 5 $50
gift cards for your chance to win go to
our live in 2d Facebook page or the
contest page at clickondetroit.com
but as you can see we've put the
Facebook page right there on the screen
on the graphics alright and we've also
started a dine in the D group on
Facebook please join it to see all the
places that we cover get suggestions on
places to eat out and share your
favorite meals from local eateries if
you love food we would love to have you