Community Corner
Dearborn's Crave to Help Forgotten Harvest with Feed Your Passion Event
Giving to charity, says Crave owner Khalil Ramadan, is an investment in the restaurant–and in good karma.
On a strip of Dearborn retail space where stores and restaurants sometimes struggle to stay open, has stood strong for nearly seven years, serving up what Real Detroit magazine has named the best sushi in metro Detroit for just as long.
Rich in success, owner Khalil Ramadan says they like to give back.
This Sunday, they’ll do just that when they take part in Feed Your Passion, a benefit for Forgotten Harvest and Altamirage RockCity Kitchen. Both nonprofits work to fight hunger in metro Detroit.
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Held at the MotorCity Casino Hotel, the event will feature live entertainment and tasting stations from at least 15 metro Detroit restaurants. Crave will be served alongside such Detroit favorites as city staple Slows BBQ, Iron Chef-owned Roast and specialty cupcake shop Just Baked. For $35 a ticket–$125 for VIP, which includes a private reception–guests can enjoy all-they-can-eat gourmet munchies in one of Detroit’s premiere casinos.
Ramadan says Crave is ready to wow the crowds.
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“We try to give a lot of heart into preparing something, because we know we want to try to win that customer over to bring them back to Crave,” he explains. “Ideally, that’s what you’re trying to do.”
Crave will be serving up exclusively sushi dishes–a point they’re adamant about when they do charity events. Choices will include their most popular roll, called the Manhattan, which is a mixture of raw and cooked ingredients.
“The Manhattan is an all-American roll,” says Ramadan. “It has a lot of components people who try sushi are used to–tuna, king crab, shrimp. So we kind of mixed all of that together and made a roll out of it.”
The other option from Crave available at Feed Your Passion is something not yet on the restaurant’s menu, called a Tostonea. A true Crave original, Chef Dennis said that he hopes to get it on the menu soon. With marinated Yellowfin tuna, sprouts, avocado, tomatoes and cucumber–all piled onto a crispy fried wonton wrapper–it’s as unique as it is delicious.
But more than impressing guests of the Sunday event, Ramadan sees the investment as a smart one for bringing business back to Dearborn.
“We do it because we feel like you can pay for an ad and hope somebody’s going to come try your food, but we’re always confident enough that we want to serve the best of the best at a charity event, because we know that if they try our food, they’re going to come back to the restaurant,” he says. “We’re always contributing our time and always making sure we’re doing the best of the best dishes for the quickest amount of time you can serve at these places.”
Plus, Ramadan adds, he believes in karma.
“I believe doing good deeds,” he says. “No matter how that good deed comes to them … some kind of spiritual entity is always going to come back to you and reward you.”
“Everything comes around,” he says, and adds with a laugh, “and you want to make sure–especially on a Sunday–you don’t waste your time.”
Feed Your Passion begins at 2 p.m. Sunday at the MotorCity Casino Hotel. General admission tickets are $35. Purchase tickets online, or by calling Cindy Corey at 248-967-1500 x115. Tickets purchased by telephone after March 21 must be picked up at Will Call the day of the event.
