Dishing Up Detroit's History
COME HUNGRY—for food and for knowledge. Bailey Sisoy-Moore is determined to satisfy your appetite for both.
Sisoy-Moore is the founder and executive director of Detroit History Tours, which offers a slew of tours dedicated to sharing the history that shaped Detroit, with several based on food and drink. Those currently include the Detroit Classics Food Tour; Detroit Beer—A Heady History Tour and Tasting; and the Meandering Meal—A Walking Progressive Dinner Tour of Hamtramck.
A “born-and-raised city girl proud of her hometown,” Sisoy-Moore started Detroit History Tours in 2014 after noticing an opportunity that highly curated, all-inclusive tours in Detroit could fill.
“No one was doing a women’s history tour,” she says, adding that it became their first tour. The business now offers 26 public tours and sees more than 30,000 guests annually, with 22 guides and three luxury buses.
Sisoy-Moore and her husband, Jeffrey, also transformed the former Buhay Funeral Chapel in Hamtramck into the Detroit History Club to host events and to serve as the meeting spot from where the bus tours depart.
“The food tours really seem to hit a niche,” says Sisoy-Moore, adding that they make up about 20% of the business. “It’s a good group project because there’s something for everyone.”
The current food tour focuses on the big three of classic food in the Motor City—fish, burgers and pizza—and takes guests on a three-and-a-half-hour progressive-style dinner at restaurants considered classics for what they do. (No spoilers, but expect to learn the backgrounds of why certain foods and styles became popular locally.) Along with the food, guests will feast on food trivia, cooking demonstrations and details about Detroit’s “delectable past.”
“This is a full-meal tour, not a sample tour,” says Sisoy-Moore. “In fact, we do the dessert as a take-home. By the time they go to three restaurants, there’s no room for dessert.”
About 80% of the guests save it for later, even though the brand logo they’ll spot often warrants an uncontrollable squeal of happiness.
Ultimately, Sisoy-Moore’s goal is to open a discussion that fits into their “ethos of education,” joking that they call it history “by hook or by crook, to get people interested in history.”
The current food and beer tours range in price $67–$89 and include food, samples and nonalcoholic drinks (and 20% gratuity at each restaurant). Alcoholic drinks are available to purchase separately with a valid ID (part of why tours are for adults only). Sisoy-Moore also suggests arriving a little early because tours leave right on time to keep to a stringent schedule.
Unfortunately, those with food allergies or anyone who follows a highly restrictive diet should probably opt for a different tour, because the company isn’t able to accommodate special requests.
“There’s just no good mechanism to do it,” says Sisoy-Moore, adding that because of their relationship with the chefs and restaurant owners, visits are apt to include unforeseen surprises “because things like that happen on tours.”
“We love ya, but this isn’t a tour in which you’re going to have a good time [if your diet is restricted]. To be honest, I don’t want to sell you a ticket to a tour you’re not going to enjoy.”
The current food bus tour should run through December, while the Hamtramck walking tour continues until mid-October, weather permitting. The beer tour goes on a seasonal hiatus at the end of August. Tours tend to sell out, but Sisoy-Moore suggests checking back.
“We’re constantly adding new dates and times and all of our tours are available for private bookings,” she says, pointing out that private tours are highly customizable. “Your imagination is really your only limit.”
“At the end of the day—whether it’s a food tour, a ghost tour or any of the others—however we get people to learn I’m perfectly happy.”
To learn more,
visit detroithistorytours.com.
