Tracy J. Chappelle 
Eminem made a surprise appearance at the grand opening of his Mom’s Spaghetti restaurant in downtown Detroit on Wednesday, serving some of his special pasta to his most devoted fans.
Fans started lining up around 10 a.m., seven hours before the announced opening. At around 4 p.m., an hour before opening, the first dozen fans were called to the service window, in the alley between the newly opened Union Assembly and the Fillmore Detroit, where they were served portions of Mom’s Spaghetti. by Slim Shady. himself.
“This has been my dream my whole life,” said Erin Farrer of Detroit, who got to meet Em, take a picture with him, chat with him, give him a hug and get his autograph. Em signed her container of Mom’s Spaghetti, one of the first served at the new location, “and I cried from my eyes,” said Farrer, 24, who says she’s been a fan of Eminem ever since. remembers it.
Eminem wasn’t expected at the opening, but like most of his moves over the past decade and change, it’s been done in secret. He left soon after, but passed by the hundreds of Stans – the name given to Eminem’s superfans – who lined up on Woodward Avenue and Montcalm Street, where the line stretched halfway through the Housing agglomeration.
His vehicle pulled up in front of Courtney Frost and Jamie Matzinger, who drove 40 minutes from Monroe to attend the opening. “It experienced it,” said Frost, who met Em’s eyes from her vehicle as she lined up under the Fox Theater marquee.
She didn’t expect to see the rapper on Wednesday but was glad she did. “You never know with him,” she said. “It’s Eminem.”
It’s Eminem, and Mom’s Spaghetti – and its upstairs merchandise hub dubbed The Trailer – is now Eminem’s little Detroit hunk. Jack White has his Third Man Records store and vinyl pressing plant in the Cass Hallway, and now Em has his own dedicated corner at Union Assembly, the restaurant that opened last week in the space between the Fox Theater and the Fillmore Detroit.
Mom’s Spaghetti has a history dating back to 2002 as a rather unappetizing benchmark in Eminem’s Oscar-winning “8 Mile” theme “Lose Yourself”. It first appeared as a pop-up at The Shelter in 2017, linked to the release of Eminem’s “Revival” album, and has been following it ever since: it was available when it performed in a series of festivals in 2018, and last year, Em served portions of pasta to frontline workers at several area hospitals per month after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Union Joints team, which runs Union Assembly and several other Metro Detroit restaurants, has been on board Mom’s Spaghetti since day one.
“It started out as a crazy experience,” Union Joints co-owner Curt Catallo said Wednesday. It was never meant to be the best spaghetti in the world, but instead was made to taste like reheated pasta for a day.
“It’s a scratchy sauce designed to taste like a jar,” Catallo said. “This is great pasta that we cook the night before and reheat in a wok, as if you were reheating it on a stove the next day.
“We wanted to make the best leftover pasta ever, from scratch,” Catallo said.
“It’s far from a gourmet dish,” said Chris Springer, cook for Mom’s Spaghetti, who worked for Union Joints for eight years and appeared in Mom’s Spaghetti commercials that began to air on television. local last week. “We had to redo the sauce several times because it was getting too fancy.”
Nothing out of the ordinary about Mom’s Spaghetti, resembles a small corner of a bodega, with cloudy, striped windows. It’s full of shelves full of candy, soda, chips and Bic lighters for sale and labeled with cheap orange stickers.
“There is nothing accidental about space, but everything has a cheeky undertone,” said Catallo, who said space had been under construction for about three years.
Hours are flexible and will coincide with downtown events, including concerts at the Fillmore and Fox. The menu is simple, with Mom’s Spaghetti available for $ 9; Mom’s Spaghetti with Meatballs, $ 12; and the ‘Sghetti Sandwich, which is exactly what it sounds like, costs $ 11.
As for the taste? Mom’s Spaghetti passed the taste test for Derek Yeutich, 31, of Delta, Ohio, who grabbed a box of spaghetti with meatballs shortly after 5:30 p.m. they do in there, “he said.
The trailer features mommy spaghetti hats, t-shirts, beer glasses and more, as well as Eminem t-shirts, hoodies, limited edition photo prints, vinyl albums and tapes . There are also Eminem memorabilia on display but not for sale, including a custom Slim Shady rhythm machine and a pair of extremely limited Eminem Air Jordan IVs.
The small space is adorned with wood paneling, a shaggy green carpet, and windows with mosquito nets. “It’s made to mimic the upbringing of Marshall and (Eminem’s ‘8 Mile’ character) B. Rabbit,” said Ian McManus of Huntington Woods, who helps direct The Trailer. He expected the store items to sell out quickly, especially a rack of vintage Detroit sports T-shirts, some of which were worn by Eminem at one point.
Alex Ceslik, who arrived from New Jersey for Wednesday’s opening, lost about $ 1,500 in the store. But that’s nothing for the superfan, who has followed Eminem throughout his career and typically travels anywhere Eminem does a gig or makes an appearance.
“I used to cut school to see him when he did ‘TRL’,” Ceslik, 35, said. He said he relates to Eminem’s music because they had a similar upbringing, and he grew up without a father and faced bullying and harassment throughout his life. “His music has always really touched me and motivated and inspired me. It always puts me in a good mood,” he said.
Eminem’s manager, Paul Rosenberg, was present at the opening and was doing a live show with Jude “Rude Jude” Angelini on Shade 45, Eminem’s SiriusXM channel.
Hip-hop music, including Mobb Deep’s “Shook Ones (Part II)”, reverberated throughout the Union Assembly, which served repeat customers while separate lines for Mom’s Spaghetti and The Trailer extended across the board. ‘outside.
Brendan Linden was one of the lucky fans who arrived early enough to meet Eminem and have their picture taken with him. A few hours later, he was still shaken.
“I am totally amazed,” said Linden, who arrived from the Bronx Wednesday morning to attend the opening. He befriended several other people online and enjoyed the day he spent in downtown Detroit celebrating all things Eminem related. “It was really nice to be surrounded by all those who love the same artist,” he said.
And the same spaghetti, it turns out.
@grahamorama
