Detroit: The Rectory
This week, we are in Detroit’s Historical Boston Edison District, at a true community favorite. How do you know when a place is great? Look at when they opened and if they are still around. The Congregation, which is located on the outskirts of the Boston Edison District, opened its doors in early March of 2020. For those of you with short memories ,the world shut down because of Covid around March 13th of 2020, which is not great timing. But thanks to the owners dedication to adapting to change, The Congregation came out the other side stronger than ever.
If you are not familiar with the Congregation, it was founded by Greg & Betsy Murdoch, Amy Peterson and Antonio Luck. They wanted to create a place that would be a great gathering spot for their neighborhood. You can lean more about them here Beckerz Bites - Detroit: Boston Edison's The Congregation — Beckerz Bites from our April 13th, 2023 blog post.
While the Congregation is a coffee shop, cafe and bar, it only has the ability to serve up light fare, like pastries, avocado toast and sandwiches. It lacked the space for food that might attract people who want to have a sit down meal. Right next door was a historic abandoned 2000 Sq Ft house at 1920 Atkinson Street and was the perfect location for them to expand. In June of 2025 The Rectory was born.
The building had to undergo major renovations before they could open. It was reported in Crain’s that the rehab was close to $2,000,000 . . . which explains why it took so long to complete. Finally, the Rectory was able to open its doors in June, so we made it a point to be sure to get there. While the inside was not open for seating when we were there, it will seat approximately 17 people once completed.
There is a walk-up window for to-go orders as well as a covered outdoor patio/deck that seats around 60 plus there is additional seating at The Congregation. During the summer months, on the weekends you will likely find some sort of live entertainment in the evenings, or maybe a yoga class if its earlier in the day.
Let’s talk about the food.
They are a pizza place, and the pizza is fantastic! The homemade crust is a fermented crust, which gives off that sourdough aroma, and is cooked so perfectly you will not be tossing the crust aside. We opted for the “make your own pizza” with pepperoni, mushroom and onion, an order of their smoked meatballs and a Farro salad. The pizza was very good, a little light on the toppings but loaded with flavor.
They offer a 10 inch and a 14 inch pizza with choices of cheese, pepperoni or build your own with a variety of over 25 toppings to choose from. They also have 4 specialty pizzas to choose from, the Miss Mediterranean with peppers, olives, feta red onion and zaatar seasoning. The Sunday Sugo with meatballs, mozzarella, ricotta and basil. The Southern Pate with Nuske’s bacon, pimento cheese, mozzarella and arugula. And what seems to be the most popular, The Space Cowboy with ranch, smoked chicken (smoked in house) red onion, peperoni, mozzarella and BBQ drizzle. They also offer a limited time specialty pizza which happens to be the pickled and peppered pizza with mozzarella, pickled shallots, roasted red pepper, mushroom, sausage and pesto and a “Foldy Special” (a calzone) which is a BBQ Hawaiian style with marinara, mozzarella, ham, pineapple, red onion and BBQ drizzle.
We tried an order of their smoked meatballs as well, which is only one of the 2 shareables they offer, the other being a cheese bread. They are beef and lamb meatballs topped with their delicious marinara sauce, fresh parmesan and herbs. They were super tender and full of flavor. For their salads the offer a Caesar, a chopped wedge and Farrow. We tried the Farrow and it was a super choice to go with the pizza and meatballs we ordered and will go back just for it. I’m not sure which we liked better the Farrow or the pizza. If you are not familiar with Farrow it is a whole grain which is high in protein and fiber that resembles barley with a chewy texture and nutty flavor. The Farrow served at The Rectory comes with herb roasted carrots, pistachios, dates, pickled shallots, whipped ricotta and a red wine vinaigrette. The flavor combination was crazy good and we can’t wait to try it again.
The Rectory is open Thursday-Saturday from 4-10, and Sundays form 11-8. They are closed Monday through Wednesday.
Until next time . . . live well, eat well and enjoy life!
-Keith & Teresa Becker