I am a secret eater

It may provide fodder to my detractors to confess that I am a secret eater, but it's true. Any objective observer will have to admit, however, that in the true Supergay spirit, I do it with panache.

My dual occupation of man-about-town/man-of-leisure opens the door to many interesting opportunities, and one such opportunity arose recently when the following message arrived in my inbox:

This message is to inform you that you have been chosen to join a select group of aesthetes in an uncommon event - an undergound dining experience in an extraordinary locale. Join us for an experimental feast.

Fancy! Exclusive! I'm in.

So earlier this week we headed to the secret meeting point, got directions to the locale and zipped over to the empty Detroit landmark building that was home of "ClandesDine."

Setting the scene.

It was a secret dinner that was, frankly, brilliant. The guests filed into a space that was neither quite fully abandoned nor close to finished, but had that great Detroit "in between" feel. The fare for the evening was an elegant six-course meal with wine pairings presented by Chef Marc Djozlija of the Wolfgang Puck Grill at the MGM.

And whom did I not know at this dinner? Well, some people, but it was a real collection of Detroit movers and everyone was quite excited to partake in this foodie experiment. From where I was seated all I could see were people cooler than I am, and I had to wonder how I was going to have time to kiss up to all of them in a single dinner! Thank God people were amenable to switching spots.

Not to be purposefully vague, but I'm not sure how much I am supposed to talk about the details of the evening. So instead of a detailed play-by-play of amazing food and wine, presented by some of the most notorious foodies in our community, it might be easier to say that par for Detroit, it was borne of a desire to create something fantastic and altruistic, not something overtly commercial. The creative energy and room for experimentation in Detroit that people love to talk about was on full display, both in the presenters and the attendees. Too bad TIME magazine couldn't be around to witness this Detroit..

Here's your detailed play-by-play.

Our Chef, and our New York Times spokesmodel.

I don't always have the time or the drive to blog on here about how Detroit still revs my motor, but rest assured it does. And I'm not the only one. One dear Detroit friend who can be as critical as I am about the city's shortcomings was celebrating her birthday this night, and days later was still saying, "It's like the birthday party I've always wanted."

But didn't even know existed.
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