The New York Times sent a restaurant critic to Detroit. The result was an essay on Eminem’s cultural impact more than a food review.
The article detailed the critic’s movements around Mom’s Spaghetti with pedantic diligence, and while you could say that the author was lost for words that he would usually use, but could not deny the pull of the simple style Eminem implements in his establishment:
This is not Italian cooking, nor does it try to be. Instead, it might be best described as … well, downright motherly. The greasy slop of the pasta, the sugary tang of the red sauce; it’s the spaghetti that emerges from your pantry on the last night before a grocery trip. Mr. Catallo [the co-owner of Union Joints, which operates several restaurants around Detroit, including this one] said the noodles possess an inscrutable leftover chemistry. He means that as an endorsement, and he should.
That’s exactly what Eminem and Paul Rosenberg wanted to achieve, as they said in the interview at the restaurant opening: simple, reliable food that Marshall loved growing up.
However, Mom’s Spaghetti is not just a restaurant, it is a cultural institution. Not just because there is a merchandise shop that doubles as a small museum, but because people flock here from different corners of the world. Some of them choose the place as a destination, different generations of one family that share the love for Eminem and a table, some were led by pure curiosity, some did not even know what this place was until they entered attracted exclusively by menu options.
The review leaves the aftertaste of uncertainty and surprise that the author probably felt. Still, the restaurant’s social media team liked it nevertheless and shared it on the Mom’s Spaghetti Twitter account:
