• EAT Detroit draws more than a thousand diners for food sampling at select Corktown and downtown Detroit restaurants to benefit charity.

A dining frenzy tantalized the palates and taste buds of more than 1,000 patrons on Monday, June 10, with signature dishes from restaurants around downtown Detroit and Corktown.

Diners roamed the streets of Corktown and downtown at the annual EAT Detroit event, dashing into restaurants and feasting on samplings of signature dishes and drinks for the restaurant crawl-style event. A highlight of this year’s event is it began and ended with a VIP reception at the historic and renovated Michigan Central Station in Corktown.

Mitch Albom, Detroit Free Press columnist, founded and hosts EAT Detroit. The event is a fundraiser for SAY Detroit, the nonprofit Albom founded 20 years ago that helps Detroiters in need.

Albom mirrored, with permission, a José Andrés Dine-N-Dash event that he attended in Washington, D.C. The Andrés event follows a similar concept of visiting an array of restaurants and also has a charitable arm that benefits the renowned chef’s World Central Kitchen.

In its five years, Albom said the event has raised nearly $1 million.

“I think in our fifth year, this sort of cements the event as a permanent red letter, you know, charity day on the calendar,” Albom said.

Various diners said the excitement and highlight of this year’s event was its beginning and ending receptions at Detroit’s stunning Michigan Central Station.

It was the first time the opening and closing of the event happened at the same place. Albom said they are going to try and make the train station a permanent part of the event.

“You can kind of feel being in here (Michigan Central Station) that it’s (EAT Detroit) grown, and this would have been inappropriate in its first year. We weren’t big enough to do it here, and we weren’t organized enough to do it here.”

More than 1,200 people purchased tickets to the event, which sold out within a week, Albom said, plus an additional 300 to 400 bought VIP tickets.

Before heading out to restaurants, a VIP reception took place at the beautifully restored and renovated train station. VIP guests dined on appetizers from Detroit’s West Village award-winning Marrow restaurant and Leña, Brush Park’s Spanish-influenced eatery. Both restaurants have been named Detroit Free Press/Metro Detroit Chevy Dealers Top 10 Best New Restaurants in the past. Albom, Mayor Mike Duggan and Detroit Free Press restaurant critic Lyndsay C. Green spoke to the crowd, highlighting the event, Albom’s charity, cheering on Detroit and its restaurant scene.

Around Corktown and downtown Detroit, diners feasted on everything from fried catfish bites to roasted lamb shoulder, filet mignon au Poivre, fried lobster, chopped cheeseburger and Maurice salad and meatballs the size of golf balls served with marinara and whipped ricotta and pecorino cheese. Diners could also sip on various summery cocktails and mocktails.

It was the first time for friends Anna Sinagoga of Berkley and Diana Gomez of Rochester.

“It’s a great way to get people to come downtown and showcase the restaurants in an accessible way,” Sinagoga said.

Gomez added that they check out the menus in advance and would “try to get to as many as we can.”

For the roaming feast, diners boarded shuttle buses or walked to participating restaurants, sampling offerings from preset menus of food and drink.

More than two dozen restaurants participated in this year’s event.

This year, Julie Wallace of Eastpointe bought VIP tickets to get inside the renovated train station, which she called “impressive.”

“Last year we did seven restaurants and are hoping to get to a few more this year,” Wallace said.

The evening ended back at Michigan Central Station with a VIP reception featuring a beautiful and delightful array of desserts, including lemon tarts, cannoli, mango passionfruit tart and hand fruit pies. Providing desserts were MK Cannelle, Mad Nice, Prime + Proper, Sister Pie and Townhouse Detroit.

Scott and Melissa Ringlein of Ann Arbor have attended every EAT Detroit event and make sure they view the menus in advance

“We like just being able to go to a lot of these restaurants,” Scott Ringlein said. On of the favorite restaurant stops, Ringlein said was Le Suprême, which featured filet mignon au poivre.

The Ringleins said they always do VIP and make a weekend out of the event. This year, Scott Ringlein said, they took in a Detroit Tigers game, visited Pewabic Pottery and Detroit’s RiverWalk.

Michigan Central Station was also a highlight of the event.

“It was the first time I got to come here,” Ringlein said. “It’s beyond miraculous what they did.”

EAT Detroit 2026 is already on the website, taking emails to join a waitlist for advance ticket sales.

“You never know how big something is going to get, but I knew when you mixed food and walking and nice weather. You’re going to get some kind of crowd.”

Contact Detroit Free Press food and restaurant writer Susan Selasky and send food and restaurant news and tips to: sselasky@freepress.com. Follow @SusanMariecooks on Twitter.