Yesterday we were invited to Hard Rock Café’s Media Day and sampled their most popular dishes and cocktails. It was a chance to talk with other media members and discuss what is happening at Hard Rock Café, which if you haven’t been paying attention is pretty substantial.
Every Thursday evening there is a local band that performs and part of the proceeds go towards fighting cancer through the Karmanos Institute. In addition, there is a happy hour Monday thru Fridays between 4-7PM where you can get half off well drinks, draft beer, and house wine. They also have added free parking and shuttle from the Compuware visitor parking lot.
Here are the menu items we sampled
To start things off I ordered the Sleepy Hollow: Equal parts of Chambord, Midori, Blue Curaco and Stoli Raspberry are combined with Crème and Sweet n Sour Lite mix. It was very tasty, not too sweet.
A bit later a Mango Berry Cooler arrived at the table. This non-alcoholic drink (although rum would work great in it) reminded me of being on a tropical island. Fresh Strawberries, mango’s, pineapple juice, orange juice and sweet and sour with Sierra Mist.
Sleepy Hollow and Mango Berry Cooler
The first food item we sampled was the Twisted Mac, Chicken, and Cheese. Grilled chicken breast tops off twisted cavatappi pasta tossed in a lightly spiced 3-cheese sauce, with garlic, roasted red peppers, and Romano parsley bread crumbs. The chicken was cooked perfectly and the cheese sauce had just a hint of spice.
Twisted Chicken Mac and Cheese
Next on the menu was the Rock Chop Salad. Crispy iceberg, roasted turkey, ripe tomatoes, seasoned bacon, sweet red onions and crumbled bleu cheese tossed with smoked ranch dressing. This was one of my favorite chopped salads I’ve had. The bacon was crispy with great flavor, the quality of the bleu cheese was evident, and the smoked ranch dressing put it over the top. Definitely order this one!
Rock Chop Salad
The Local Legendary Burger – Pizza Burger is a creation from one of the local servers and only served in the Detroit Hard Rock. Each location has their own variation created by a staff member. 10 oz Burger Patty topped with Mozzarella Cheese, Bacon, Marinara Sauce, and finished with fresh lettuce and a slice of tomato. This was a good burger and probably would have been a little more enjoyable for me if cooked to order (which you can do when you visit).
To end our sampling, we finished with Local Pulled Pork Sliders. Hickory-smoked pork, topped with with Bar-B-Que Sauce and Asian Cole Slaw and served with seasoned fries. If you like pulled pork sliders, you’ll enjoy Hard Rock’s version. Bar-B-Que Sauce is sweet, not spicy and the Asian Cole Slaw adds a nice contrast to the sweet sauce.
Local Pulled Pork Slider
Other things we learned about the Hard Rock Cafe: They make all their desserts from scratch and next year they are adding an outdoor patio.
Check out Hard Rock Cafe Detroit on Facebook.
