Chris Handyside

Chris Handyside can wax nostalgic about hanging out in Royal Oak before there was a Barnes & Noble or a Starbucks and a Caribou and an American Apparel – the days when skateboard punks and the girls and boys with Robert Smith (of the Cure, for all you kids who weren't there) coiffed hair lurked on the suburb's Main Street drag looking for goth on vinyl and cobweb earrings.

Royal Oak is now, for lack of a better word, trendy, and has more mainstream appeal than what Handyside usually favors. He's a critic, after all, and makes a few bucks on being opinionated and right.

But he does have a few Royal Oak places that he can either highly recommend or at least recommend with few reservations.

For drinks and dinner

"I still like Gus's – that's a hold out of the old culture," he says of Gusoline Alley, the rock and roll dive bar. "That's worth going to."

And, along those lines, he doesn't mind the low-key atmosphere of the Inn Place – a bar and burger joint "that feels like an old Up North place, like a bar in Alpena." Think small, deceptively smoky ("You smell like you've been to a nightclub when you leave, but you don't notice it when you are there."), friendly and, best of all, really good burgers.

Chris likes the sushi at Ronin, but says he tries to ignore the uber trendiness all around him when he's there. "It's douchey. I don’t know how, but you're able to ignore it somehow." His advice: "Go early because the staff is more attentive and there's not as much hair gel." Sage words.

Lily's Seafood is another place he likes. "In the summer they have a patio and you can sit outside and play board games." He likes Cafe Muse -- although he hasn't visited their new place – for a nice brunch. And says places like Bastone – the Belgium brew pub – make a nice standby. For quieter moments, he loves Goldfish Tea, a tea room with dozens of leaves to try and good table space if you have a group. "They've always been really super informative. If anything, they are more informative than necessary."

Music

A lot of Royal Oak's edge from back in the day was lost with the chain invasion. Chris is a music guy, so he's likely to venture to other venues to hear the best local bands. However, he says once in a while – check the write-ups in publications like Metro Times, which he may have written, coincidentally – a noteworthy band stops in R.O.

For blues, Memphis Smoke is "reliable," he says, with a note of reservation in his voice. "You can catch a decent bunch of dudes who used to play rock music there."

The nightclub Luna still has 1980s dance nights, "which my wife likes to go to with her '80s loving friend, and they have fun." More reservations noted.

Royal Oak Music Theater is a classic venue and pulls in decent bands. "It's still a non Live Nation venue that manages to bring in stuff. And then you get Duran Duran when they come through." And Peter Murphy, Bauhaus, and whatever alternative band is reuniting that year. Still, some newer bands making waves in the indie rock scene might happen there. Iron & Wine have played there, for example. Again, check the listings.

Fifth Avenue Billiards "still has the occasional scene-making band, in addition to their usual Friday-Saturday-Sunday cover band," he says, although he hasn't seen a show there in awhile. And if it qualifies a scene-making band, Chris would know. So, kids, the advice here is: check your listings.

Shopping

Chris does some of his food shopping in Royal Oak. Holiday Market has a good array of gourmet options. He also likes the Royal Oak Farmers Market. It's open year round and has a lot of locally grown and organic goods. On Sunday's it transforms into a flea market.

He's done his holiday shopping at the Bohemian Rhapsody boutique on Fourth Street – somewhere between Naka and American pop. And the new Cloverleaf Fine Wine Shop makes for good browsing (and sampling later).