Vinyl Tasting takes on 2Pac
BasBlue
110 E. Ferry St, Detroit, MI 48202
April 19, 2025
A culinary event so exquisite, I had to go back for more.
Because when you’re making menus based on musicians and their music, it’s easy to flip the record and do something completely different every time.
So we’re back for more Vinyl Tasting, which I’ve crowned – with ease – the most exciting culinary experience you can have in Detroit right now. The bimonthly, rotating pop-up is the brainchild of chefs Jermond Booze and Amber Beckem, who worked so well in the kitchen together at other gigs that they struck out on their own.
There are wine pairings, vinyl records-turned-placemats and some of the tropes you’d expect from a white tablecloth fine-dining experience (in the best way). But I can’t remember the last time I had a fine dining experience where the DJ rocked 2Pac throughout dinner service and patrons got up to shake their booties to ghetto-tech records as dessert got dished out.
2Pac was the star of this Vinyl Tasting, staged yet again at BasBlue, a multifaceted, women’s-focused nonprofit that operates a cafe and event space out of an old Victorian manor just north of Detroit’s cultural district.
His fourth and final album released during his lifetime (he died just seven months later), “All Eyez On Me,” sold over 500,000 copies in its first week and is considered today one of the greatest rap albums of all time (no lies detected here).
If you’re thinking 2Pac as a six-course inspiration is a stretch, consider that the insanely talented California rapper had an idea for a restaurant on his mind before he was killed in a drive-by shooting. According to Eater Los Angeles, Powamekka Café was originally conceived by 2Pac as a place to “play and parlay,” according to notes found by his family. Different pop-up versions of his vision have been done in Los Angeles and New York over the years.
In the hands of chefs Booze and Beckem, tracks like “Heaven Ain’t Hard 2 Find” were turned into “Heaven Ain’t Hard To Food,” a slightly abstract take on sweet crab surrounded by a “rice cloud” and finished with yuzu mayo, tomaro pearls and chives.
The mega-hit “California Love” became a noodle dish with smoky 5-spice mushrooms, preserved mustard greens, crushed peanuts and crispy okra – a wonderful blend of L.A.’s Asian influence and soul food credentials.
The star of the meal was “I Ain’t Mad At Ya,” a lamb taco with smoked bean puree with citrus-pickled shallots and a pomegranate-tamarind hot sauce topped with a slice of avocado on a homemade tortilla.
“Thug Passion” capped off the matinee dinner service, a champagne-caramel pound cake with passionfruit mascarpone and candied orange zest that I’m still fantasizing about today.
With 2 oz. wine pairings, the six-course dinner clocks in at $150 per person, which is a steal compared to what you’d spend drinking and eating at more traditional fine dining restaurants in the city.
The vision for Vinyl Tasting turns it into something completely soulful; without a doubt the best way to spend your cash dining out in the city. Can’t wait for the next one.
