Cafe D'Mongo's Speakeasy
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Cafe D'Mongo's Speakeasy is a bar located at 1439 Griswold Street in downtown Detroit, Michigan. The bar is owned by Larry Mongo and his wife Dianne Mongo.
About
Founded in 2007, D'Mongo's, is widely regarded as one of the top bars in Detroit. In 2014, Esquire TV featured D'Mongo's on "Best Bars in America." [1]
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D'Mongo's was also visited by Andrew Zimmern and featured on his show "Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern" on the Travel Channel. [2] Also, Detroit-based film production company, Margrave Pictures, filmed "Boris the Porkchop Thief" inside D'Mongo's. [3]
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History
Squeezed between a concrete parking structure and a rabbi-less shul, the building currently housing D'Mongo's used to be owned by the Greek Seros family as the Seros Chilli Restaurant from 1917-1980's.
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In 1985, Larry Mongo purchased the restaurant from the Seros family and on June 4th, 1987, opened "Cafe Joseph." In 1993, Cafe Joseph was transformed by Larry's son Jerome Mongo, into an after-hours club called "Wax Fruit."
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At the time, seldom known rappers like Eminem and Kid Rock used to perform here. In December 1993, Jerome opened the famous rap music spot " The Hip Hop Shop" on 7 Mile Road with Maurice Malone and eventually closed Wax Fruit.
The current incarnation of D'Mongo's Speakeasy was opened in June 2007 by Larry Mongo & his wife Dianne Mongo.
Larry's family is from the South. In 1906, Sonny Boy and the Mongo family moved to Detroit from Kershaw, South Carolina. The Mongo family used to run liquor with Abe Bernstein and The Purple Gang. Larry met his wife in Detroit and for decades, they ran D'Mongo's Hairstyling on Woodward Avenue.
Nightlife
Being a speakeasy, D'Mongo's is only open Friday-Sunday late at night. Sunday's are now Jazz Night.
Live music is provided by in-house band Carl & Company. Fronted by Carl the Human Jukebox, Carlo & Co., play funk, jazz, rock and more.
The interior of D'Mongo's is famous for being a one-of-a-kind Detroit history museum. The walls are adorned with rare vintage photographs and ephemera.
The Place Case, curated by Ryan M. Place, is a series of curio cabinets featuring Detroit artifacts and memorabilia. These items are rare, historical, museum-worthy pieces. There are also photo's of Detroit gangsters, Michael Jackson's actual jumpsuit, old time piano and more, which fill D'Mongo's.
Annual events
D'Mongo's hosts three famous annual events:
Brazilian Carnival party (February)
Detroit Tigers Opening Day party (April)
New Year's Eve (December)
Food & drink
D'Mongo's is famous for inventing two hugely popular drinks: 1439 Griswold (whiskey and Faygo's Rock n' Rye) and The Detroit Brown (Vernor's Ginger Ale and Crown Royal). Quentin Tarantino has publicly stated that "D'Mongo's 1439 Griswold drink is my favorite drink of all-time."[4]
In terms of food, D'Mongo's is famous for: Peking duck (featured on Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern), Sloppy Larry's (Larry Mongo's sloppy joes), and Mexican food from Esto.
Esto's Garage is a pop-up inside D'Mongo's run by Esteban Castro and famous for their guacamole.
Celebrities
D'Mongo's is a popular hangout spot for celebrities such as Quentin Tarantino, Ryan Gosling, Charlie LeDuff, Sir Richard Branson, Sixto Rodriguez, Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell, Anthony Kiedis and others. .[5]
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See also
References
External links
- D'Mongo's on Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre Foods
- D'Mongo's voted one of Best Bars in America by Esquire
- D'Mongo's on Detroit Eater
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| Detroit | ||
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| Municipalities 40,000 to 80,000 | ||
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