Saturday, November 15, 2008

Riffles - Northville, Michigan

Opened by the former chef of the prior Riffles (which is now Deadwood reviewed in this blog), this Riffles is in the former spot occupied by Helen's and before that the famous Crawford's restaurant.

Riffles is a great cozy place, specializing in comfort food style home cooking such as pot roast, meatloaf, turkey dinners and Northern Michigan chicken stew with homemade biscuits. They also have a variety of sandwiches, soups and salads.

My parents are huge fans already, my father quite addicted to both the turkey dinner as well as the open faced turkey sandwich at lunch, layered with stuffing, potatoes and cranberry sauce and covered in gravy. My mom loves the pot roast in particular.

I will say the turkey dinner is quite nice, the only real fault I find is with the skin on mashed potatoes, a no no for me with a gravy which calls for a creamy potato. I like skins on redskin buttery garlic mashers though. The gravy is good and the stuffing is spectacular. I would prefer a bit of dark meat too but that is just me. I love that it has the cranberry sauce which is an essential to me.

The onion soup was a stunning delight and is not to be missed.

The pumpkin cheesecake is unbelievable and if you are at all on a diet I will advise you to avoid it as it could well be addictive. The apple pie looks stellar and after the cheesecake I didn't dare take a bite.

The prices are reasonable, the staff beyond friendly. The owner is a charmer and the experience very homey and nice. Makes me very happy indeed. Please stop in, this place deserves a visit and you will not regret it. I know I will for sure be back. The Pretzel Chicken is calling to me.

3 comments:

Bewildertrix said...

Pumpkin Cheesecake :o Be still my beating stomach. The pumpkin is strictly relegated to savoury dishes here in New Zealand (we are very pedestrian) and so pumpkin pie, ice cream etc. are almost unheard of let alone the wonder that is pumpkin cheesecake. Two of my favourite foods combined. Hips and thighs be damned!

AngelOfDevs said...

You must visit the states. Pumpkin is everywhere this time of the year, mostly in sweet form. There are pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin cakes, the list goes on and on. Best of all is indeed the pumpkin cheesecake, rich and sinful and so very bad for you.

Maybe I can make friends with the baker here and get you the recipe. I haven't tasted one this great ever.

I love this food blog. It gives me the excuse to splurge on the periodic cheat, even if it is only a big bite sometimes.

Bewildertrix said...

The land of pumpkin worship! To think, my Nan (and many Brits) thought the pumpkin lowly and fit only for pig food. Yet she quite happily ate the homely turnip. She first ate pumpkin regularly once in NZ and that was the 60's. I have no idea if the pumpkin snobbery continues still in the UK.

I have tried pumpkin pie. A English/South African girl at my university liked to make it and I was fortunate to try some although at the time I though it was pushing the freaking envelope, big time.

Right. You've inspired me. I need to start experimenting with pumpkin, sweetly. If I can roast it, quiche it, filo it, fritterise it, there's no reason why I can't put it in a bloody pie or in muffins! Thank you ;)