Eminem Opened A Mom's Spaghetti Restaurant In Detroit

Late in September this year, Eminem surprised the world when he opened "Mom's Spaghetti," a restaurant and mini-Eminem museum in Detroit that serves, as you may expect, spaghetti.

Mom's Spaghetti is, of course, arguably the most famous Eminem meme, based on a lyric from his megahit "Lose Yourself," which goes, "Knees weak, arms are heavy, there’s vomit on his sweater already, mom’s spaghetti." The lyric was later immortalized by YouTuber Jay Green's Stuff, who replaced most of the lyrics to "Lose Yourself" with "spaghetti," gaining over 32 million views in nearly eight years.

At his peak, Eminem was known for being genuinely funny and subversive in his approach to music, so it tracks that he would embrace the meme and spin it into a bit of public good for his home city. The idea may have been inspired by a story from April 2020 in which Eminem donated "Mom's Spaghetti" to frontline workers at the start of the pandemic. It may seem odd that he would name the restaurant and its primary dish after vomited material, but that is likely not at the front of diners' minds.

Shortly after the restaurant opened, Eminem hit the top of Reddit for flipping the bird at an unknown offender while in the restaurant's drive-thru window.

"Mom's Spaghetti" returned to the forefront of public consciousness after the New York Times recently published a story on the restaurant and review of its offerings. Writer Luke Winkie said of the food:

This is not Italian cooking, nor does it try to be. Instead, it might be best described as … well, downright motherly. The greasy slop of the pasta, the sugary tang of the red sauce; it’s the spaghetti that emerges from your pantry on the last night before a grocery trip. Mr. Catallo said the noodles possess an inscrutable leftover chemistry. He means that as an endorsement, and he should.

Furthermore, the location is decked out with Slim Shady memorabilia, such as the Robin costume from the "Without Me" video and handwritten lyrics from Eminem himself.

"The sound was the soundtrack to the year I turned 10; seeing a relic of it up close felt like being in the Louvre," Winkie wrote about the Robin costume. "If Paul Newman could sell salad dressing and enjoy his golden years, maybe Marshall Mathers can do the same with spaghetti."

The article also includes quotes from locals and tourists who seemed enthused about the dining experience at Mom's Spaghetti, so it may well be a staple of Detroit tourism for years to come.