Welcome to the photo series Eater Scenes, in which photographers visit some of the world's great food sites to capture them at a certain, and very specific, point in the day. Today, photographers Michelle and Chris Gerard visit Cadieux Cafe in Detroit, Michigan.
Founded in the early 1900s by a pair of Belgian immigrants, Detroit's east side landmark Cadieux Café is carrying on old world Flemish traditions well into the 21st Century. Locals turn out nightly for European beers and bowls of steaming hot mussels dressed in a variety of sauces, but stay for the obscure sport called featherbowling. Cadieux is one of only four locations in the world — outside of Belgium — that hosts a league.
Similar to bocce ball and curling, featherbowlers throw heavy wooden rollers down curved dirt alleys towards a small white feather sticking out of the floor at the opposite end. The object is to get as many of the cheese wheel-shaped stones as close to the target as possible. Meanwhile, opponents attempt to knock the balls out of the way. On Friday evening from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Eater photographers Michelle and Chris Gerard captured the crowd in the dining room, grabbing beers at the bar, and playing in the lanes at this one-time Prohibition speakeasy.
